Founder Institute’s Convertible Equity Featured in the Wall Street Journal

Earlier today the Founder Institute's new early-stage investing vehicle, Convertible Equity, was highlighted in the Wall Street Journal in an article by Jessica Vascellaro entitled “New Tack in Early Stage Tech-Investing.”

The piece illustrates the issues "haphazard approaches to seed investing in the past" (namely, Convertible Debt) have created, and how the Founder Institute's "Convertible Equity" approach aims to mitigate those issues. According to Vascellaro, "The unruly business of early-stage technology investing is starting to look more grown-up."

Convertible equity is intended to be an alternative to convertible debt - keeping all of the same benefits of speed and flexibility, but without the risk of debt. Tom Arnold, CEO of PetHub and graduate of the Seattle Founder Institute, is an advocate for the new investment vehicle, and says he recently raised $100,000 of Convertible Equity from friends. He loves that it “doesn’t get carried as debt on [his] books”.

For more information on Convertible Equity, see the documentation here, or read the following articles;