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Kirsty Nathoo

Partner Emerita, Y Combinator · 2 appearances on the record.

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executiveoperatorinvestorycombinator.com ↗

Kirsty Nathoo spent nearly 15 years at Y Combinator, serving as CFO and Partner while overseeing internal finances and guiding founders on accounting and fundraising. She played a key role in developing and standardizing startup finance practices, including the SAFE framework.

8statements → 3claims → 2claims resolved → 3.75/5average certainty → 1.75/5average debate potential → 4said about them ↓

2 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not checkable as stated how the 3 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

3 assertions · 4 insights · 1 disclosure · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 3 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 2 are resolved, and 1 names no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Kirsty argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Nathoo: Closing Option Pools in Priced Rounds Are Usually Around 10%
“And usually the closing option pool, which is negotiated as part of the term sheets negotiations, it usually is around 10% of the post round shares.”
Kirsty Nathoo Mar 6, 2018 ▶ 12:36 Carolynn Levy and Kirsty Nathoo - Startup Investor School Day 1 · Y Combinator

Everything Kirsty Nathoo said on the Y Combinator Startup Podcast that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight
Nathoo: Lawyers frequently make errors on SAFE conversion cap tables
“The cap tables that we see, and we've now seen thousands of cap tables, it's surprising how many times the lawyers actually get the conversions wrong.”
Kirsty Nathoo Mar 6, 2018 ▶ 32:21 Carolynn Levy and Kirsty Nathoo - Startup Investor School Day 1 · Y Combinator
Insight
Nathu: Startup co-founders should generally split equity more or less equally
“We generally say that equity should be split more or less equally between co-founders. That doesn't necessarily mean exactly equally, But we generally find that where there is an equity split that's very mismatched, you know, one founder has 90% and the other …”
Kirsty Nathoo Feb 23, 2015 ▶ 8:31 YC Panel at Female Founders Conference 2015 · Y Combinator
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Nathoo: Series A leads push pre-money SAFE conversion targeting 20% ownership
“Series A lead investors are getting more clever about this and realizing that if the safes convert in the pre-money, then the, Lead investors getting less dilution. And really all that's happening is if the safes do convert in the round, they'll just massage t…”
Kirsty Nathoo Mar 6, 2018 ▶ 49:05 Carolynn Levy and Kirsty Nathoo - Startup Investor School Day 1 · Y Combinator
Disclosure
Nathu: YC accepts proportionally fewer solo founder applicants
“We don't accept that many proportionally to the numbers that apply because there's so much to do in a startup.”
Kirsty Nathoo Feb 23, 2015 ▶ 11:51 YC Panel at Female Founders Conference 2015 · Y Combinator
Insight
Nathoo: A SAFE Valuation Cap Is Not the Startup's Current Valuation
“They think it's a current valuation of the company. That's really not what it is. All it is, is a way for you to be rewarded for coming in at the earlier stage, ah, when in theory you're investing at a riskier stage.”
Kirsty Nathoo Mar 6, 2018 ▶ 10:36 Carolynn Levy and Kirsty Nathoo - Startup Investor School Day 1 · Y Combinator
Assertion Supported
Nathoo: Closing Option Pools in Priced Rounds Are Usually Around 10%
“And usually the closing option pool, which is negotiated as part of the term sheets negotiations, it usually is around 10% of the post round shares.”
Kirsty Nathoo Mar 6, 2018 ▶ 12:36 Carolynn Levy and Kirsty Nathoo - Startup Investor School Day 1 · Y Combinator
Assertion Supported
Nathoo: Priced Round Term Sheets Usually Specify SAFEs Convert Pre-Money
“Next thing is that the safes convert into shares, and although the safes themselves don't, ah, state this, the term sheet will usually specify that the safes convert in the pre-money.”
Kirsty Nathoo Mar 6, 2018 ▶ 12:55 Carolynn Levy and Kirsty Nathoo - Startup Investor School Day 1 · Y Combinator
Insight
Nathoo: SAFE Investors Cannot Know Final Equity Ownership at Signing
“At the time that you actually sign your safe, you don't really know how much ownership you're going to wind up with after the priced round, and the reason for that is that even though the safe says how the safe's going to convert, it doesn't specify how many s…”
Kirsty Nathoo Mar 6, 2018 ▶ 19:28 Carolynn Levy and Kirsty Nathoo - Startup Investor School Day 1 · Y Combinator

The other half of the tape: Kirsty Nathoo's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 3 times in 1 episode on the Y Combinator Startup Podcast. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Geoff Ralston 3

Statements about Kirsty Nathoo, by other people (1)

Assertion Supported
Ralston: Carolynn Levy invented the SAFE after Wilson Sonsini
“Carolyn is the Is the person who actually invented the safe. She used to be attorney at Wilson Sonsini before coming here, and Kirstie is the CFO of YC.”
Geoff Ralston Mar 6, 2018 ▶ 0:42 Carolynn Levy and Kirsty Nathoo - Startup Investor School Day 1 · Y Combinator

Every mention by year

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0112018episodes it came up in
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2018 3 mentions in 1 episode

Appearances (2)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Carolynn Levy and Kirsty Nathoo - Startup Investor School Day 1 · Y Combinator Mar 6, 2018 23m
YC Panel at Female Founders Conference 2015 · Y Combinator Feb 23, 2015 3m
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