Troy Henikoff

Founders are often optimistic about growth. Sometimes, that confidence leads to funding ideas that don't fully pan out. Royalty-based growth capital is structured to limit downside risk compared to traditional venture-backed paths. Vik Thapar of Cypress Growth Capital explains that, even if outcomes fall short of early expectations, founders often still exit with meaningful results because they retain the majority of ownership. 🎙️ Tune into the Private Equity Value Creation Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gxkEsH3Z 👇🏽 Find Us Here https://lnkd.in/gTdPMk8P #privateequity #privateequitypodcast #privateequityvaluecreation

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🚨 Community Bulletin: Open Opportunities Across the MA Startup Ecosystem 🚨 If you’re a founder, operator, builder, or expert looking to plug in right now, here are some high-signal opportunities worth your attention 👇 💸 MassVentures START Grant Program: MA startups can secure $100K–$500K in non-dilutive funding to move federally funded research from lab to market, plus commercialization support and business guidance. ⏰ Deadline: Feb 23 👉 https://lnkd.in/gbiuZyaK 🛍️ Women Entrepreneurship Bazaar at Babson College on March 7: Women-led businesses are invited to vend at the Babson Women Entrepreneurship Summit on International Women’s Day. 👉 Apply: https://lnkd.in/ge7qYKPi 🌱 Greentown Labs Mentor Pool: Industry experts, operators, and former founders can support early-stage climatetech startups with flexible, high-impact mentorship across GTM, fundraising, product, tech, and leadership. 👉 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eRPzACBV 💻 Demo Your Infrastructure Software to Real Buyers on Feb 24: Infrastructure software founders can demo in front of technical + product leaders, a room full of software engineers, and local VCs — with real feedback from real decision-makers. 👉 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gpMkZHMV 🚀 Techstars Startup Weekend Boston (May 1–3): A hands-on weekend going from idea to execution alongside founders, operators, and builders. 🎟️ Startup Boston community gets 20% off with code STARTUPBOS 👉 https://lnkd.in/gd4gKPNY 🩺 UMassM2D2 $200K Challenge – Women’s Health: Open to early-stage startups, academic teams, and founders tackling unmet clinical needs in women’s health, from diagnosis through treatment. ⏰ Deadline: Feb 15 👉 https://lnkd.in/dPZ6G6EC 🏢 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium Innovation Showcase on May 19: 10 early-stage startups will pitch enterprise-ready solutions at one of the country’s top CIO convenings. Built for founders solving real enterprise IT problems. ⏰ Deadline: March 31 👉 https://lnkd.in/gBQ6VggY ⚕️ MIT Hacking Medicine GrandHack 2026 (March 13–15): An in-person health innovation hackathon bringing together builders, clinicians, engineers, designers, and founders to tackle real healthcare challenges. ⏰ Deadline: Feb 15 👉 https://lnkd.in/geKjUZ2j Got something to amplify? Drop it here: https://lnkd.in/eSZRVc8Y

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Fundraising? Nail Your “Use of Funds” Story Many founders fumble here: They raise $500k but can’t explain exactly how they’ll use it. Investors want to know: ✅ How much will go to growth? ✅ How much for product development? ✅ What milestones will this funding unlock? Your “use of funds” isn’t just a slide in your deck. It’s a reflection of your priorities and execution plan. Clarity here = confidence from investors. Before you pitch, ask yourself: “Can I explain exactly how every dollar raised will drive us forward?” Founders, how did you allocate your last funding round? Let’s learn from each other. #FinArchitect #InvestorReady #StartupFunding #FounderTips #VCInsights

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ESOPs are a retention tool that most startups design too loosely at the start. Vesting schedules, cliff periods, exercise prices, pool size relative to the cap table each of these decisions has downstream implications for hiring, fundraising, and eventual exits. Founders who build their ESOP policy before they need it rarely have to undo a bad one mid-round. The best time to get the structure right is before the first grant goes out. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gKcsbPNM #ESOPStructuring #StartupEquity #EmployeeStock #AbhijithPremanAndCo #APCALLP

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Plaid is built to make it easier for businesses to build and scale financial products that people trust. That trust starts with knowing who you’re working with. As Plaid helps platforms onboard and support millions of businesses, verifying business identity accurately and efficiently is foundational. That’s why Plaid partners with Middesk to automate business verification during onboarding — confirming core business details, reducing manual review, and helping teams make confident risk decisions without slowing down the customer experience. Together, we help Plaid deliver faster onboarding, stronger compliance, and a more durable foundation for growth across the financial ecosystem they power. We’re proud to support Plaid as they help teams move fast while maintaining trust at scale. #KYB #KYC #AML #BEV #businessverification #financialservices #onboarding #compliance #smallbusiness #SMBs

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Fundraising isn’t about chasing investors. It’s about scheduling so smart they chase you. Our Virtual Pitch Scheduler eliminates back-and-forth and puts your fundraising on autopilot. Imagine compressing weeks of investor outreach into a single day of focused pitching. That’s not speed, it’s leverage. As a leader in venture and fundraising: what matters more to you, maximum investor exposure or filtering for the perfect fit? 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐔𝐬 ➡️ https://stepup.one/ #FundraisingTools #InvestorRelations #StartupGrowth #PitchSmarter

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Struggling to keep your cap table clean and compliant as your startup scales? Managing equity without expert support can lead to costly mistakes and lost time. Founders who wait until chaos hits often face expensive legal bills and investor headaches. At CapTablePro, we partner with startups from seed to pre-IPO, offering proactive, white-glove equity management that keeps your cap table audit-ready and your team empowered. For example, one early-stage startup we supported avoided a $50,000 legal cleanup by staying proactive with our expert guidance. The takeaway: partnering with an equity administration expert isn't just a luxury—it's a necessity to protect your company's future and focus on growth. Are you ready to move from chaos to confidence with your equity management?

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