Ankur Nagpal reflects on shifting investor sentiment in Silicon Valley regarding solo founders versus multi-founder teams.
Insight
Nagpal: Nothing gives more tax benefits than owning a business
“The first sort of overarching piece of advice I have for everyone is, even if you have a full-time job, consider starting a side hustle, because nothing will give you more tax benefits than having your own business.”
Insight
Nagpal: Founders should always take secondary liquidity if employees get equal access
“I think you can always, always, always take a secondary if someone offers it to you with the caveat that you make the exact same offer to the rest of your team. I think that's a really important rule, but otherwise, I know a lot of investors are like, oh, you …”
Insight
Nagpal: Startups should give first employees 2x to 4x more equity
“Fundamentally, I do believe early startup employees, like the first few people are undercompensated in terms of what are like norms of how much to give early employees. Like historically, a lot of people, you know, would give First employee, one percent, and s…”
Assertion Supported
Nagpal: Founders can rent home to business 14 days tax-free
“Another crazy one is you can actually rent your house to your business for up to 14 days a year and pay no taxes on the income. It has to be legit. It has to be for like a meeting, an offsite or something, but literally, you know, income from one hand into the…”
Opinion
Nagpal: VCs who pushed founders to sell secondary shares are now complaining
“Because a lot of VCs, frankly, are, they're the ones who Kept telling the founders to take secondaries because they wanted to buy into these companies that they weren't able to, and now they're upset about it.”
Insight
Nagpal: Founders should not move geographically just for tax optimization
“Don't let the tax tail wag the dog. So I would rather live where I want to, and then figure out my taxes. So again, to me, the whole point of having money is to be able to live where I want.”