

Ask HN: How the hell Zuck holds 28.4% after all those rounds from VCs? - sinzone

In every round of financing it's not only about money raised and valuation as many may think; but the story is way more complicated. Especially because of all the pro-rata rights accumulated by investors over time, the option pool for employees, etc.<p>This would have diluted Zuck and the other founders in a more substantial way.<p>Look at Google: 1 seed round + 1 series A and Larry and Sergey have only 10% each. Or Groupon, Zynga, etc - the common is between 7 and 15% of the company for a founder that approach an IPO.
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kls
It cannot be taken for granted that Mark was fairly shrewd at business in his
own right. I see shades of Gate's more than I see shades of Larry or Sergey. I
was clear for day one that Mark knew he was onto something and that he would
be willing to walk away from the table. When you have the capability to do
that you set the terms. After possible the first round he no longer was in
absolute need of capital. He had the users and could have chosen the slow
growth option. After MySpace did themselves in, he was holding all the cards
because the competition was then well in the rear-view after that event.

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somagrand
Simple raising money on increased value of the company. If the company is
dramatically increasing its value every round little dilution occurs.

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tbrooks
By Sean Parker's advice.

