In this episode, Hall welcomes back Henry Yoshida Founder and CEO of Rocket Dollar Inc. Rocket Dollar was founded in 2018 with the belief that retirement is changing. They believe that people should not be limited in their investment options as they work towards the retirement they envision for themselves. Rocket Dollar makes it safe, simple, and fast for people to take control of their retirement savings.

Henry is a successful entrepreneur and an experienced angel investor. He was the founder of the venture capital-backed robo-advisor retirement plan platform Honest Dollar (acquired by Goldman Sachs), and MY Group LLC (acquired by CAPTRUST), a $2.5 billion assets under management investment firm. He was a Merrill Lynch Vice President, and proudly serves as a Central Texas Angel Network Partner, Techstars + Capital Factory mentor, and NextGen Venture Partner.

In this episode, we catch up with Henry and what he has been up to since our previous episode. Since we last spoke, Henry has been progressing his business and spending most of his time on the entrepreneur operator side of things. He shares some of his investing experience with both the best and worst experiences he has encountered and shares what he ultimately thinks is key- balance. In a startup, you have to come to work and you have to execute every day, but there's always a limited lifeline for every startup by definition until it's no longer a startup.

The terms sheet sets out terms such as Pari passu, Last Money in Rules, Exclusivity and confidentiality, and Conditions of Financing

Pari passu is a Latin phrase meaning equal footing and without preference. This clause basically states that if the startup issues any new classes of stock then it shall have equal rights with prior classes. This applies to liquidation preferences, voting rights, and so on.

The term prohibits the founders from creating a new class of stock that puts existing investors second in line.

Last Money In Rules term says whoever puts in the most recent funding calls all the shots.

The exclusivity term seeks to prevent the founders from engaging other investors for some period of time. A 30-day duration is typical.

Tied closely to the idea of exclusivity is the confidentiality clause. The investors do not want the founders to reveal any deal terms or other information to competing investors.

Conditions of Financing terms require founders to formalize items such as employment and non-compete agreements with the startup and legal assignment of all inventions and other intellectual property to the startup entity.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today!