10 Early Mistakes Startup Founders Should Avoid

Startup founders are faced with the difficult task of having to make critical business decisions on a daily basis. Working with thousands of companies and founders over the years, our partners at Gust have witnessed many situations in which having better information from the start could have prevented poor decision-making and painful lessons. The Gust team shares their list of early mistakes that founders should be aware of so they can avoid them and have a better chance of future success.

Mistakes to avoid

1. Forgetting to file an § 83(b) election
2. Not paying taxes
3. Issuing too many authorized common shares to the founding team
4. Granting fully vested stock to a cofounder
5. Not complying with securities laws
6. Leaving due diligence prep until the last minute
7. Investing too little or too much money in your own company
8. Seeking investment before the company is ready
9. Lying
10. Being a jerk

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