Equity Formula:

You should give up n% of your company if what you trade it for improves your average outcome enough that the (100 – n) % you have left is worth more than the whole company was before. In other words, does accepting the investment for the percentage of your company, make your company overall worth more than it was prior to the investment, then you should take the deal.

Lead Investor:

Getting the first substantial offer can be half the total difficulty of fundraising. What counts as a substantial offer depends on who it’s from and how much it is. Money from friends and family doesn’t usually count, no matter how much. But if you get $25-$50k from a well-known VC firm or an angel investor like Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, or Edge Case Capital Partners, that will usually be enough to set things rolling. Most investors are influenced by how interested other investors are in you.