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Fast409A
p/fast409aThe fast, easy way to get a 409A valuation.
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Eric Ries

Fast409A - The fast, easy way to get a 409A valuation.

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The Fast409A process blends the best of software and human expertise. Each valuation takes an hour or less of your time to submit, is delivered in days not weeks, and is customized to the nuances of your individual startup.

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Ryan Hoover
It seemed to take far more time and money than it should have to do our 409A valuation way back in the day. It's one of those things you have to do as a startup but can be very distracting.
Alexis Ohanian
@rrhoover I love the whole suite of apps that the LTSE team is building out for founders -- absurdly useful and beautiful!
Pavitra Bhalla
Maker
Hey guys, I'm the lead engineer for Fast409A at the LTSE. 409A is a chore that needs to be done by every founder, so we built a streamlined process to get it out of the way easily. I'd love to hear what you think!
Thomas Leitermann
Great idea! I was working at a startup in Boston (Cignifi) when we had to do a 409a. I was in touch with the firm doing it and remember it was a pain and took a lot of time: gathering everything, sending it over, conferencing on the phone,... If this service takes away only a bit of that it's incredibly helpful!
Pavitra Bhalla
Maker
@thomasleiterman Thanks for sharing your experience with 409As. We built Fast409A based on such stories and feedback from users. Would love to hear more specifically about your pain points last time.
Pavitra Bhalla
Maker
@thomasleiterman Do you remember how long the process took for you, both the time you had to spend gathering together your info, and the time it took for your valuation to be completed?
Thomas Leitermann
@pavitrabhalla let's try, although that was some 5 years ago. One pain point surely was understanding the wording of the requests, another one was getting the required details and explaining any specialties in the existing share structure... Hope this helps, although it might be skewed from my memory :D
Thomas Leitermann
@pavitrabhalla I'd guess the from start to finish it was some 2 to 2.5 months. With gathering everything taking about 1-1.5 months and the completed valuation some 2 weeks. But I also remember that it took time to get the contract for the valuation ready which took another week or so. Having that as a fixed price is a huge timesaver.
Pavitra Bhalla
Maker
@thomasleiterman Thanks for sharing. To add perspective, our fastest submission took only 9 minutes from sign up to completing all the information. Once the information is submitted, the valuation is ready for review in 1 - 5 days.
Aaron O'Connell
So excited to use Fast409A! I'm the CEO of tech startup so I do stuff like fundraising and financials, but on a day-to-day I do software development and marketing, you know, the stuff that actually makes your company grow. It's hard juggling all of those responsibilities and getting a 409A valuation is at the bottom of my list of things I want to spend my time doing, but at the very top of my list of CEO responsibilities. So thanks @ericries for making the process quick and painless!
Pavitra Bhalla
Maker
@204nocontent Aaron, happy to help with your next 409A. Would love to get your feedback after you use the product.
Pavitra Bhalla
Maker
To celebrate our launch, we are offering free 409A to the first 10 companies to complete the data submission process. Get started now :-)
rsweetland
I recently completed a valuation with Fast409A. Their service was affordable, fair and most importantly FAST. They turned around the 409A in 25% of the time estimated by any other firm. Despite this, the 409A report was thorough and defensible, using multiple formal valuation methods to determine a valuation that I ultimately thought was quite fair. Before I discovered Fast409A I had spoke with a few other firms. The best alternative (with 4x the turnaround time) required a large amount of legwork on my end to assemble various official financial documents. Hours of work on my end. Fast409A streamlined the onerous 409A data collection process, working with me to get the key pieces of information to complete the valuation. So not only is it a faster overall turnaround time, it's also faster for the Founder (or finance person) who has to cull the necessary financial information. I would highly recommend Fast409A. They saved weeks of delay during a time when I don't even hours to spare. Lastly a pro-tip: Don't issue stock to employees / advisors / etc until you get a 409A. If you have, you already done this, your may find yourself in need of a 409A...fast. (See @philipithomas comment for a more thorough explanation of when / why this is needed.)
Pavitra Bhalla
Maker
@rsweetland Glad to hear we saved you time. +1 on the pro-tip
Andy Cook
Does the price include a yearly renewal or do you pay each time it needs to be updated?
Marcus Gosling
Maker
@andygcook Hey Andy, each valuation is performed by our partners SVB to arrive at an up-to-date price, to review the analysis with you the founder on a call and to prepare the final report. Our service is not subscription based so you pay for a fresh 409A each time you need one -- every 12 months, after raising a priced round, or when you start issuing stock options for the first time.
Chris Hutchins
We're big fans of Fast409A. After working out a few issues with our cap table (thanks @pavitrabhalla for all your help) we got our 409A back much faster than our last 409A. Overall great experience!
Pavitra Bhalla
Maker
@chris_hutchins Always happy to help! :-)
Alex Farrill
At Open Listings we needed a 409A on a really tight deadline and @pavitrabhalla and team were able to deliver. The support was top notch and made the process easier than it had been for us in the past. Give them a try! Thanks again
Pavitra Bhalla
Maker
@pharkle Really glad I was able to help with your 409A deadline.
Ranidu Lankage
Highly recommend Fast 409A for all those founders out there considering getting a 409A. Eric and amazing team at LTSE provide great tools and top notch service.
Pavitra Bhalla
Maker
@ranidu Thanks for the compliment.
ssnacks
I really wish I had this a month ago before doing our last 409A with eShares. We have been an eShares customer for over a year and their extortion tactics they have pulled lately have me encouraging everyone to abandon them. I am happy to see great alternatives coming out. Keep up the great work!
Pavitra Bhalla
Maker
@ssnacks We believe in data portability. You can import/export data between our system and eShares.
Graham Seymour
I'm pleased to work in close proximity to the LTSE team in SF at times - great to see Ries & friends moving this forward.
John Schenk
As a finance guy, I keep steps one and two perpetually updated. So, this probably doesn't help me much. However, I think Fast409A is a great tool for non-financial founders and startup execs. Nice job, gents!
Theron McCollough
Much needed. A 409A has always been a thorn in my side. Glad this product exists. Reading about how to augment the cap table to look at your future company is pretty cool also. Collecting all of the pieces for the valuation, finding the lawyer, bank and waiting to hear back is such a brain and time suck I've pushed it to the back burner, although when you need it, it needs to be done. Creating a way to make this process easier, is a big win for founder.