FF Class Stock for Founders
A form venture capital funding in Silicon Valley is getting increased interest from founders of start-ups.
It is called the “FF class” of stock, for founders who want to cash out a small percentage of their stake in a company so they don’t have to wait until the company is sold or goes public.
This practice is not entirely new. Many founders through the decades, including at Intuit years ago and Jonathan Abrams at Friendster more recently, have sold shares in their company to their venture backers and gotten cash to enjoy life a little more. But with the favorable start-up climate now, VCs are doing more to accommodate founders, entrepreneurs are getting more sophisticated, hearing more about these sorts of terms, and increasingly asking for them.