History
A signed contract, not a myth, financed Fairchild's founders
Museum archives date the 1957 resignation and financing, but not a founder equity split.
3 min · 2 source records
THE DOCUMENT TRAIL / 200 EXISTING RECORDS
Read the record.
Question the story.
Company filings, policy documents and historical decisions. These preserved retrospective records sit alongside the new practical guides—not in their completion count.
Prepared September 2026. Original checks and dates remain attached; this expansion does not freshly verify every archived claim. Check current terms before acting.
200 records
History
HP wrote its culture down before it became legend
HP's own archives date a 1957 objectives statement; a proven template for other cultures it is not.
2 min · 2 source records
History
Adobe's founders left PARC over speed, not stolen ideas
Museum records tie Adobe's 1982 founding to one slow project inside Xerox, not a full account of missed PARC bets.
2 min · 2 source records
History
Pets.com's filings show ten months from IPO to shutdown
SEC filings date the February 2000 IPO and the November 2000 wind-down decision, not its cause.
3 min · 3 source records
History
Webvan's own filings show the capital gap before collapse
SEC filings date a $1 billion build-out plan against a $402.6 million IPO, and the 2001 Chapter 11 filing.
3 min · 2 source records
History
eToys' liabilities outgrew its IPO proceeds within two years
SEC filings date the 1999 IPO, the widening losses, and the March 2001 Chapter 11 petition.
3 min · 3 source records
History
A lender waiver preceded Global Crossing's filing by a month
SEC filings date a December 2001 covenant waiver and the January 2002 Chapter 11 petition, not a single cause.
3 min · 2 source records
History
37signals' own book is a method, not a proof
The self-published Getting Real states 37signals' process; its outcome claims are self-reported, not audited.
3 min · 2 source records
History
Osborne's 1983 bankruptcy is documented, its cause is not
A museum finding aid dates the filing to September 1983; it does not confirm the Osborne-effect story.
3 min · 2 source records
History
A magazine cover documents the Altair, not an industry
The January 1975 Popular Electronics issue and a Smithsonian record date the Altair 8800's launch.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Snowflake's S-1 named a retention rate it expected to shrink
Snowflake's 2020 S-1 discloses a 158 percent net revenue retention rate and says in the same filing that the number should fall over time.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Palantir's direct listing gave founders a fixed voting ceiling
Palantir's 2020 S-1 caps founder voting power at 49.999999 percent and discloses customer concentration separately from that governance structure.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Zoom's 2019 filing reported a profit before anyone asked why
Zoom's pre-pandemic S-1 discloses GAAP net income of 7.6 million dollars for fiscal 2019, a figure the filing cannot be read past.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
DoorDash's S-1 named a classification claim, not its outcome
DoorDash's 2020 S-1 discloses marketplace gross order value alongside a named, pending worker-classification claim it does not resolve.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Coinbase's listing filing tied nearly all revenue to trading
Coinbase's 2021 S-1 discloses that transaction revenue was over 96 percent of net revenue in 2020, a figure tied to volatile trading volume.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Robinhood's S-1 put a number on an unwritten arrangement
Robinhood's 2021 S-1 discloses that four market makers supplied 59 percent of revenue in a quarter, under relationships it says are not binding contracts.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Affirm's S-1 named one merchant behind a third of revenue
Affirm's S-1 discloses Peloton at up to 30 percent of quarterly revenue and a credit-loss allowance the filing calls a modeled estimate.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Warby Parker's filing let a pandemic pick its channel mix
Warby Parker's 2021 S-1 attributes a 2020 swing to 60 percent e-commerce to store closures, then shows a partial reversal by mid-2021.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Duolingo's S-1 counted its own users without an audit
Duolingo's 2021 S-1 reports 5 percent of monthly active users as paid subscribers and calls its own user metrics internally produced and unaudited.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Instacart's filing kept transaction value apart from revenue
Instacart's 2023 S-1 shows gross transaction value of 28.8 billion dollars against 2.6 billion dollars of revenue, with advertising as the faster-growing line.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
A dual-class proxy handed Peloton's founder outsized control
Peloton's 2021 proxy statement discloses a Class B structure giving its founder 20 votes per share and 39.6% of total voting power.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Lyft's S-1 paired rising margins with an open labor question
Lyft's 2019 S-1 discloses improving Contribution Margin alongside unresolved driver-classification litigation and settlements.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Blue Apron's S-1 peak customer count did not hold
Blue Apron's 2017 S-1 disclosed a customer count and marketing spend that a 2018 10-K shows falling 28% within the year.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Casper's S-1 traded marketing efficiency for store growth
Casper's 2020 S-1 discloses a marketing-to-revenue ratio that improved, then rose again as its retail rollout accelerated.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Beyond Meat disclosed a supplier risk it then moved to fix
Beyond Meat's 2018 S-1 disclosed one supplier tied to 79% of revenue; a 2019 amendment shows a second supplier added before pricing.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Compass paid agents a rising share of each dollar
Compass's 2021 S-1 discloses agent-commission expense rising from 78.6% to 82.2% of revenue between 2018 and 2020.
2 min · 2 source records
Company records
Toast's hardware lost money so its payments could win
Toast's 2021 S-1 discloses hardware sold below cost while payment-processing fees supplied 78% of 2020 revenue.
2 min · 2 source records
Company records
Squarespace's direct listing kept its founder in control
Squarespace's 2021 registration statement discloses a three-class structure giving its founder 68.2% of total voting power.
2 min · 2 source records
Company records
Datadog's S-1 defined its own growth yardstick
Datadog's 2019 S-1 discloses usage-based pricing and a self-defined net retention rate that reached 151% by year-end 2018.
2 min · 2 source records
Company records
Bill.com's paying customers were a fraction of its network
Bill.com's 2019 S-1 discloses 1.8 million network members against just over 81,000 paying customers on its payments platform.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
Y Combinator's side letter is a right to invest, not a stake
Y Combinator's own Pro Rata Side Letter text is an opt-in option to buy into a startup's next priced round, not a guaranteed allocation.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
Y Combinator's standard deal is two SAFEs, not one number
Y Combinator's own Deal page splits its $500,000 into a 7% capped SAFE and an uncapped MFN SAFE, as stated on 16 September 2026.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
Techstars discloses $220,000 across two instruments, not one
Techstars' own investment-terms page splits its $220,000 into a $20,000 equity slice and a $200,000 uncapped SAFE, plus a side letter.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
500 Global's accelerator fee comes out of its own check
500 Global's Flagship Accelerator page states a $150,000 investment for 6%, minus a $37,500 program fee deducted from that same check.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
NVCA's model charter skips blank check preferred on purpose
NVCA's model Certificate of Incorporation authorizes a stated series of preferred stock and deliberately omits board-created blank check preferred.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
NVCA's model agreement makes the company indemnify first
NVCA's model Indemnification Agreement names the company, not an investor's fund, as the indemnitor of first resort for a director's expenses.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
NVCA's co-sale agreement lets a company buy first, investors follow
NVCA's model Right of First Refusal and Co-Sale Agreement gives the company first refusal, then lets investors sell alongside a founder pro rata.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
An AngelList roll-up is opened by the company, not a lead
AngelList's Rollups documentation states a founder opens the vehicle that consolidates investors into one cap-table line, for an $8,000 setup fee.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
Clerky's document set covers paperwork, not legal advice
Clerky's own pages list the incorporation and post-incorporation documents it generates while stating plainly that Clerky is not a law firm.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
Stripe Atlas bundles a $500 fee with a $5,000 refund path
Stripe's own Atlas page lists what its $500 incorporation package includes and how a Treasury deposit can return the fee, as retrieved 16 September 2026.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
Bessemer's own cloud metric weighs growth over margin by design
Bessemer's Rule of X formula, published on its Atlas research site, weights revenue growth two to three times more than free cash flow margin.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
OpenView's survey put a number on the retention slide of 2023
OpenView's own SaaS benchmarks surveys, two years apart, show top-quartile net revenue retention falling from 119% to 107%.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
ChartMogul's benchmark is a mirror of its own customer base
ChartMogul's SaaS benchmark reports aggregate billing data from over 2,100 companies on its own analytics platform, not the wider market.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
A16z's metrics essay defines terms, it does not benchmark them
Andreessen Horowitz's '16 Startup Metrics' essay defines bookings, MRR, CAC and churn without supplying comparative company data.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
ProfitWell's index now lives on Paddle's site, not its own
The ProfitWell B2B SaaS Index still tracks 34,000-plus companies on ProfitWell Metrics, but Paddle now publishes and hosts the reports.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
First Round's founder survey read 2020 fundraising as harder
First Round Capital's 2019 State of Startups survey found 65% of founders expecting a harder 2020 fundraise, up from 44% the year before.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
SaaS Capital's own survey ties growth to retention, not ACV
SaaS Capital's 15th annual survey of over 1,000 private B2B SaaS firms found flat contract value has no clear correlation with growth.
2 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
KeyBanc's SaaS survey is 16 years old and 71 companies deep
KeyBanc and Sapphire Ventures' 2025 private SaaS survey shows median net dollar retention easing from 106% in 2022 to 101% in 2024.
2 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
Amplitude's benchmarks come from products already on Amplitude
Amplitude's product benchmark report draws on anonymized data from 2,600-plus companies and 10,600-plus products using its own platform.
2 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
Meritech's public SaaS comps moved behind its own login
Meritech Capital's public-SaaS multiples tool, once open, now redirects to a login-gated Meritech Analytics app for daily comps.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Secret's founder framed the shutdown as a mission failure
David Byttow's own posts say Secret closed over strayed vision, not a rival, and promised to return investor capital.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Sidecar's own post named a pivot, not a single rival
Sunil Paul's post ended Sidecar's rides as a pivot; reporting added the funding gap and a later patent-licensing deal with GM.
2 min · 3 source records
Failures & post-mortems
An SEC filing set the price of Rdio's asset sale
Pandora's own 8-K states it agreed to pay $75 million for Rdio's technology through a bankruptcy-court sale, not for Rdio's business.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Quirky's 2015 bankruptcy record rests on a company statement
Reporting quotes Quirky's own account of running out of cash and selling Wink to Flextronics for at least $15 million, not a court filing.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Twitter's own filing dates Vine's end to January 2017
Vine's blog announced discontinuation in October 2016; Twitter's 10-K later fixed the actual shutdown to January 2017.
2 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Powa's administration record says nothing about valuation
Companies House filings record Powa Technologies' administrators appointed in February 2016, apart from the company's earlier funding claims.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
A four-year inquiry framed Solyndra's fall as misrepresentation
DOE's Inspector General found Solyndra misled the Department during its $535 million loan review; the report says DOJ declined to prosecute.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Fitbit's own release names no price for Pebble's assets
Pebble's Kickstarter update and Fitbit's release confirm Fitbit acquired Pebble's software team and IP on 6 December 2016, no price disclosed.
2 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Juicero's own notice names cost, not the hand-squeeze story
Juicero's archived shutdown notice cites manufacturing cost, apart from Bloomberg's report that its packs could be squeezed by hand.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Two SEC filings, months apart, bracket MoviePass's end
Helios and Matheson's own 8-Ks disclose the September 2019 MoviePass suspension and the January 2020 Chapter 7 filing.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
A merger closed a year after the FTC moved to block it
Microsoft's own filings and the FTC's own complaint show a $69 billion deal closing while an administrative challenge remained open.
3 min · 3 source records
Exits & ownership
Nvidia's own 8-K prices what its Arm deal actually cost
Nvidia's termination filing and the FTC's complaint show a $1.25 billion prepayment forfeited and a $1.36 billion charge booked.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
A monopoly complaint ended a deal without a ruling
The DOJ's complaint and Visa's own SEC filing show a $5.3 billion Plaid deal abandoned before any court ruled on the claim.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
A specific-performance clause closed the Twitter deal
Twitter's own merger proxy and closing filing show a $54.20 deal that survived a termination notice and an expedited Chancery suit.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
A collar, not the headline price, set Zynga's payout
Take-Two's announcement and Zynga's merger proxy show a floating exchange ratio behind the quoted $12.7 billion enterprise value.
2 min · 3 source records
Exits & ownership
IBM's HashiCorp price matched from release to proxy
IBM and HashiCorp's joint filing and the later merger proxy state the same $35-per-share, $6.4 billion deal terms.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
Stripe's tender valuation is self-reported, not audited
Stripe's own newsroom posts show its disclosed valuation rising from $50 billion to $159 billion across two liquidity events.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
SpaceX's Form D and its tender price are not one record
SpaceX's SEC filing shows capital raised under an exemption; its reported tender valuation comes only from press sourcing.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
A license, not a sale, moved Character.AI's founders
Character.AI's own post and a quoted Google statement describe a non-exclusive license and a hiring, not an acquisition.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
Only one Databricks round named employee liquidity
Databricks' own releases show its valuation rising from $43 billion to $62 billion, with liquidity language in just the later one.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
The 83(b) clock starts at transfer, not at vesting
IRS guidance sets a 30-day, unextendable deadline for a Section 83(b) election and specifies exactly what the filing must say.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
Section 1202's exclusion turns on the issuer, not the investor
The statute conditions the QSBS exclusion on the issuing company's size and business at issuance, not on how the stock is later described.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
A second shareholder vote could not undo a fiduciary breach
Delaware's Court of Chancery voided Tesla's pay package for Elon Musk, then held a later ratification vote could not reverse that judgment.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
The FTC's noncompete ban was vacated before it took effect
A Texas federal court set aside the FTC's 2024 noncompete rule for exceeding the agency's rulemaking authority, and the FTC later dropped its appeal.
3 min · 4 source records
Legal & operations
The MFW framework rewards controllers who bind themselves first
Delaware's Supreme Court applies deferential review to a controller buyout only if six safeguards are imposed before economic talks begin.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
DoNotPay's robot-lawyer claims outran what it built
An FTC complaint and order describe specific claims about DoNotPay's AI lawyer service that the company could not substantiate.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
A federal rule now bans buying, faking, or hiding reviews
The FTC's 2024 trade regulation rule prohibits fake reviews, review buying, undisclosed insider reviews, and suppression, effective October 2024.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
Moelis lost on the merits, then won on appeal over timing
Delaware voided founder veto rights in a 2024 stockholder pact; its Supreme Court reversed in 2026 on timing, and a new statute covers future deals.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
California voided non-competes wherever they were signed
SB 699 and AB 1076 let California workers void out-of-state non-competes and required employers to send written notice by February 2024.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
No single factor decides contractor status under the 2024 rule
The Labor Department's 2024 rule replaced a two-factor test with a six-factor, totality-of-the-circumstances analysis for FLSA classification.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
An open-source pedigree came with a shrinking retention rate
Confluent's 2021 S-1 disclosed Kafka's commercial economics and a net retention rate that fell for three straight periods.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
UiPath's S-1 paired 81% revenue growth with cooling retention
UiPath's 2021 S-1 disclosed ARR, revenue and retention metrics that grew unevenly ahead of its Nasdaq listing.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Procore's S-1 measured expansion by products, not retention
Procore's 2021 S-1/A disclosed customer and revenue growth but no formal net-retention metric, unlike many SaaS peers.
2 min · 2 source records
Company records
Olo's S-1 showed a pandemic year turning into net income
Olo's 2021 S-1 disclosed a subscription-to-transaction revenue shift and a profitable 2020 tied to pandemic ordering.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
ZoomInfo's S-1 posted an EBITDA profit and a GAAP loss
ZoomInfo's 2020 S-1 disclosed leveraged private-equity ownership, adjusted EBITDA profit and a GAAP net loss driven by debt.
2 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
A once-published open-source ranking is no longer online
Battery Ventures' 2017 BOSS Index ranked 40 open-source projects by its own methodology; no later edition is visible now.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
ICONIQ's growth benchmark sample is not the software market
ICONIQ Growth's 2026 report benchmarks 137 mostly private software companies; the sample is the firm's own network, not a census.
2 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
Carta's platform data shows equity is not a retirement plan
Carta's 2026 report on employee equity and 401(k) plans draws on Carta's own client base, not a market-wide survey.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
Kruze's benchmark is real payroll data, not a founder survey
Kruze Consulting publishes CEO and C-suite salary benchmarks from roughly 800 startup clients' actual payroll records.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
A federal jury convicted Ozy Media's founder on three counts
An EDNY indictment, jury verdict and judgment show what was charged, proven and sentenced in the Ozy Media case.
3 min · 4 source records
Failures & post-mortems
FTX's bankruptcy and its founder's trial were separate records
A bankruptcy filing, an SEC complaint and a criminal judgment document three distinct stages of FTX's collapse.
3 min · 3 source records
Failures & post-mortems
A pizza robot startup's two pivots still ended in liquidation
TechCrunch's contemporaneous and retrospective coverage record when and why Zume closed in 2023.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
A decade of hyperloop demonstrations ended in an asset sale
TechCrunch's reporting traces Virgin Hyperloop's 2022 pivot away from passengers to its December 2023 closure.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Fisker Inc. and Fisker Automotive are two different bankruptcies
An 8-K and a Delaware docket record Fisker Inc.'s 2024 filing, a distinct company from the 2013 Fisker Automotive case.
3 min · 3 source records
Exits & ownership
VMware shareholders got a choice, not a single sale price
VMware's own merger proxy and its closing 8-K record the cash-or-stock terms behind Broadcom's acquisition.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
A second request did not stop Amazon's One Medical deal
1Life Healthcare's own 8-Ks document the FTC's review and the deal's February 2023 close at $18 a share.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
A billion-dollar reverse fee priced Cisco's antitrust risk
Splunk's merger proxy and closing 8-K record the $157-a-share deal and its regulatory break fees.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
Illumina closed on GRAIL before regulators had ruled
Illumina's own SEC filings document a 2021 close, a 2022 EU prohibition, a 2023 FTC divestiture order and a 2024 spin-off.
3 min · 3 source records
Exits & ownership
Amazon's own release, not rumor, set Twitch's $970 million price
Amazon's and Twitch's own August 2014 statements record the deal terms, with no mention of the Google talks reported that summer.
2 min · 2 source records
Company records
Sprinklr's S-1 claimed a single codebase, not a bundle of deals
Sprinklr's 2021 S-1 disclosed a unified customer-experience platform built organically, without a formal net-retention rate.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
A confirmation statement confirms structure, not performance
Companies House's own guidance shows the confirmation statement checks who runs and owns a company, not how it performed financially.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Filleting and abridging are two different accounts exemptions
Companies Act 2006 and Companies House guidance show filleting and abridging are two distinct, separately conditioned accounts exemptions.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
The PSC register records a threshold, not a verified owner
Companies House's PSC guidance and the underlying statute show the register records a stated control threshold, not an independently verified owner.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
Monzo's 2020 accounts flagged doubt, not insolvency
Monzo's filed FY2020 accounts pair a directors' going-concern statement with a separate EY material-uncertainty opinion, not a solvency finding.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Britishvolt's administrators sold assets for a fraction of losses
Britishvolt's filed statement of proposals shows an accelerated sale raised £8.6m against accumulated losses exceeding £154m and £167.5m of equity raised.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
HSBC bought SVB UK through resolution, not a bailout
HM Treasury's announcement and a Companies House PSC filing show HSBC UK Bank Plc acquired SVB UK through a resolution procedure, not a public bailout.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
Identity verification is now a Companies House filing gate
The 2023 Act and Companies House's own rollout guidance show identity verification is now a live filing requirement, phased in years after Royal Assent.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Dormant accounts are a filing status, not a tax election
Companies House's own guidance shows dormant-company status is a filing category distinct from HMRC's separate dormant-for-tax notification.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Made.com's brand sale left little for unsecured creditors
PwC's administrators' proposals show Made.com Design's assets sold to Next covered secured debt while unsecured creditors face up to 1.6% recovery.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Model articles are a default, not a mandatory template
Companies House's own incorporation guidance shows model articles are one available default, not the only lawful set of governing rules.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
ASX Chapter 1 offers a profit path and an assets path
ASX's own Chapter 1 sets a profit test, an assets test and a 300-holder spread rule for admission, not a rating of investment quality.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
A dual listing added a market, not new capital
Xero's 2012 ASX admission was a secondary listing of existing NZX shares, not a capital-raising IPO, its own market releases show.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
TSXV sets separate dollar tests for Tier 1 and Tier 2
TMX's own Policy 2.1 sets separate net-asset, working-capital and float thresholds for TSX Venture's two tiers, apart from the senior Toronto exchange.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Shopify's 2015 filing named two regulators, not one
Shopify's SEC prospectus is a US registration statement; its TSX listing answered to separate Canadian securities regulators, the filing itself states.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
One EU rule now governs regulated-market prospectuses
Regulation (EU) 2017/1129, in force since 21 July 2019, sets the prospectus rule for offers and listings on EU-regulated markets, not the UK's.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Delivery Hero's 2017 prospectus named its own regulator
Delivery Hero's Frankfurt IPO prospectus states BaFin approved only its coherence and comprehensibility, not the company's investment merits.
2 min · 2 source records
Company records
Japan splits statutory and exchange disclosure in two
Japan's Financial Instruments and Exchange Act requires periodic filings through EDINET, separate from TSE's own timely-disclosure network, TDnet.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Mercari's Mothers listing targeted growth, not blue-chip status
Mercari's June 2018 listing used TSE's Mothers market, built for growth companies aiming at the senior board, not equal to today's Prime Market.
3 min · 3 source records
Company records
Zomato's draft prospectus named no identifiable promoter
Zomato's April 2021 DRHP, filed with SEBI under the ICDR Regulations, states SEBI does not endorse the offer or guarantee the document's accuracy.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
Withdrawing a registration statement is a choice, not a verdict
SEC Rule 477 and Form RW let an issuer pull a registration statement before it takes effect, without stating why.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
A pulled IPO can return years later on different terms
Endeavor's 2019 S-1 proposed shares above $26; its 2021 IPO, after withdrawal and refiling, priced at $24.
3 min · 3 source records
Failures & post-mortems
A SPAC deal's outside date can end it without a stated reason
Magnum Opus and Forbes disclosed that a closing deadline passed and who invoked it, not why the deal did not close.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
A de-SPAC closing filing states proceeds, not a valuation
Grab's 2021 closing filings disclose gross proceeds and PIPE terms; neither states a single equity value.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
A PIPE price is a filed term, not a marketing figure
Churchill Capital IV's Item 3.02 filing fixes the Lucid PIPE at $2.5 billion and $15 a share, subject to closing.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
A going-concern note is not a bankruptcy filing
Lordstown Motors' 2021 10-Q flagged doubt about survival two years before its unrelated 2023 Chapter 11 filing.
3 min · 2 source records
Failures & post-mortems
A delisting notice can follow a bankruptcy filing, not precede it
Virgin Orbit's Nasdaq notice cited its own Chapter 11 filing and a late 10-K, not a bid-price cure period.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
A reverse split changes share count, not company value
Root's shareholders approved a reverse split in June 2022; the board fixed its 1-for-18 ratio that August.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
Not every going-private deal files a Schedule 13E-3
Zendesk's 2022 buyout closed on a merger proxy alone, consistent with no affiliate in the buyer group.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
The SEC's 2024 SPAC rules regulate disclosure, not the structure
The SEC's January 2024 release adds SPAC disclosure and liability rules; it does not ban the SPAC structure.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
A 2004 law turned option pricing into a compliance duty
The American Jobs Creation Act's Section 409A taxes deferred pay immediately unless a plan's timing meets its rules.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
Section 422 makes ISO tax treatment conditional, not automatic
IRC Section 422 sets the plan-approval, pricing and holding-period conditions that separate an ISO's tax treatment from an NSO's.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
Google's 2009 option exchange excluded its own top three executives
Google's filed Schedule TO-I shows a one-for-one exchange that carved out Schmidt, Page, Brin and outside directors.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
A cheap-stock review is an accounting question, not a tax one
SEC guidance compares pre-IPO compensation valuations to the offering price; a 409A safe harbor answers a different question.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
A 409A safe harbor is a rebuttable presumption, not a shield
Treasury's 409A regulations presume three valuation methods reasonable, but the IRS can still rebut a grossly unreasonable one.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
RSU vesting can trigger payroll tax years before income tax
Section 3121(v)'s FICA timing rule and Section 409A's distribution rule can tax the same RSU at different moments.
3 min · 3 source records
Exits & ownership
An ESOP sale trades a buyer search for a fiduciary process
IRC Section 4975(e)(7) and ERISA define an ESOP; a sale to one turns on fiduciary duties, not automatic tax relief.
3 min · 3 source records
Company records
Amazon's 2001 option exchange offered a one-third vesting premium
The filed Schedule TO-I shows Amazon's 2001 exchange excluded certain grants and repriced eligible options with a vesting bonus.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
A holding period is only half of what Rule 144 requires
Rule 144's text ties resale conditions to affiliate status and an issuer's reporting history, not one universal clock.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
Facebook's 2012 lock-up and its RSU wave were not one event
The IPO prospectus and a later credit-facility filing document two distinct post-IPO share mechanics, not a single flood.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
A Form D named after Plaid is not Plaid's own liquidity plan
SEC filings show outside vehicles buying Plaid's common stock in 2021 and 2025, distinct from a company-run tender offer.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
A 2018 law doubled Rule 701's disclosure trigger to $10 million
EGRRCPA directed the SEC to raise Rule 701(e)'s threshold, and its 2018 release left everything else about the rule alone.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
General solicitation arrived in 2013 with a verification duty
Rule 506(c) let issuers advertise if every buyer is verified accredited, a documented step 506(b) still does not require.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
A crowdfunding raise keeps a filing duty after it closes
Form C-AR requires annual reports scaled to revenue, and the duty ends only on conditions the rule itself states.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
Elio Motors tested Tier 2 Regulation A at $25 million
Elio's 2015 offering circular shows a Tier 2 raise well under the era's $50 million ceiling, with its own reporting load.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
A registered venue does not register the shares traded on it
Nasdaq Private Market's subsidiaries are registered broker-dealers running registered trading systems, not the stock itself.
3 min · 2 source records
Company records
An S-8 filing registers a plan, not a capital raise
Form S-8 lets an eligible reporting company register employee-plan shares, effective the moment the form is filed.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
A 2022 act reauthorized SBIR and STTR and added new checks
The SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022 extended the set-aside programs to fiscal 2025 and added foreign-risk disclosure rules.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
STTR requires a research partner in a way SBIR does not
SBA's own policy directive sets STTR's 40/30 percent work-share floor between a small business and its research-institution partner.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
A DARPA BAA is not a request for a fixed hardware buy
DARPA's own Guide to BAAs describes a broad research solicitation that runs on a separate track from its SBIR/STTR topics.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
NIH runs the same SBIR set-aside through its own SEED process
NIH's SEED office applies the statutory SBIR/STTR set-aside through registration and review steps distinct from other agencies'.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
The EIC Accelerator keeps its grant and equity paths separate
The Commission's 2026 EIC Work Programme treats grant-only, blended-finance and equity-only awards as separate tracks, not one bundle.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
Innovate UK closed Smart Grants but kept its loan running
UKRI's own guidance shows Smart Grants closed to new applicants while Innovation Loans remain an open, interest-bearing facility.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
An SBA 7(a) guarantee still runs through a private lender
SBA's own guidance shows the agency backing a portion of a loan a private lender originates, owns and services.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
A GSA Schedule award creates eligibility, not a sale
GSA's own guidance and FAR Subpart 8.4 show a Schedule contract lets agencies order at their own discretion, not on a guarantee.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
FedRAMP became a statute, not just a policy memo, in 2022
The FedRAMP Authorization Act, enacted inside the FY2023 NDAA, gave the cloud authorization program statutory footing for the first time.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
SBIR.gov's registry lists winners, not every applicant
SBIR.gov's own award database and company directory are scoped to SBIR/STTR awards, not to every federal non-dilutive program.
3 min · 3 source records
Metrics & economics
Revenue recognition now follows five steps, not cash timing
FASB's ASU 2014-09 replaced industry-specific revenue rules with a five-step model tied to performance obligations, not cash receipt.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
Operating leases now live on the balance sheet, not footnotes
FASB's ASU 2016-02 puts lease assets and liabilities on lessee balance sheets, ending decades of off-balance-sheet operating leases.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
An inspection report hides its toughest finding for a year
PCAOB inspection reports withhold quality-control criticisms for twelve months, giving firms one chance to fix them before disclosure.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
The JOBS Act buys a young issuer five years without 404(b)
The JOBS Act excuses an emerging growth company's auditor from attesting to internal controls, for up to five years after IPO.
2 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
A confidential draft buys time, not permanent secrecy
The JOBS Act let emerging growth companies file IPO papers confidentially, a window the SEC later extended to every issuer by policy.
2 min · 3 source records
Metrics & economics
An auditor owes the audit committee more than an opinion
PCAOB Auditing Standard 1301 makes an auditor report critical policies and unusual transactions to the audit committee, not the public.
2 min · 3 source records
Metrics & economics
A non-GAAP number needs its GAAP twin right beside it
SEC Regulation G requires any public non-GAAP figure, such as adjusted EBITDA, to be reconciled to its GAAP measure.
2 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
GAAP got one address in 2009, not a new rulebook
FASB's 2009 Codification gave U.S. GAAP one numbered structure, reorganizing prior standards without changing accounting treatment.
2 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
An integrated audit tests controls and numbers together
PCAOB Auditing Standard 2201 governs the internal-control audit that Section 404(b) attestation requires, for the filers it covers.
3 min · 2 source records
Metrics & economics
Katapult's control gap outlived its SPAC merger
Katapult's 2022 10-K disclosed unremediated material weaknesses first found in the 2018 audit, distinct from any going-concern issue.
2 min · 2 source records
Company records
Kickstarter's 2015 charter made a mission a governing document
Kickstarter's own 2015 announcement and charter show what a Delaware public benefit corporation conversion actually changed.
3 min · 3 source records
Company records
Allbirds' IPO filing disclosed a 2016 benefit-corp status
Allbirds' 2021 registration statement shows the company became a Delaware PBC five years before going public.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
A Delaware flip trades local law for investor comfort
Cooley GO's own guidance describes how a non-Delaware company restructures under a new Delaware parent before U.S. financing.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
California law limits how far invention assignment reaches
Labor Code Section 2870 excludes an employee's own-time inventions from assignment clauses when stated conditions are all met.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
Nasdaq's voting rule carries no dual-class sunset requirement
Nasdaq's own rule restricts post-listing voting changes but leaves dual-class sunset timing to each company's charter.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
A D&O policy is commonly built from three separate sides
Insurers and brokers describe director and officer coverage as Side A, Side B and Side C components, each protecting a different party.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
Delaware indemnification law splits mandatory from optional
DGCL Section 145 requires indemnifying a director who wins outright but leaves broader indemnification to the corporation's choice.
3 min · 2 source records
Exits & ownership
Cooley GO's founder stock template starts vesting at year one
Cooley GO's published restricted stock template uses a one-year cliff and lets founders negotiate acceleration on a sale.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
A TTAB opposition is an administrative fight, not a lawsuit
The USPTO's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board hears opposition proceedings through its own filing systems and manual of procedure.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
Inter partes review cancels a patent claim only at the end
The AIA's inter partes review process, effective 16 September 2012, lets the PTAB cancel patent claims only after a final written decision.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
Entrepreneur First prices the company only after it exists
EF's own pages show money paid before a cofounder is found and equity priced only after incorporation.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
Antler's pre-seed cheque is not one global term sheet
Antler's own FAQ says terms are set market by market, and its US and UK pages show different structures.
3 min · 4 source records
Funding & terms
Seedcamp's first cheque is a stated range, not a fixed sum
Seedcamp's own FAQ and published pre-seed agreement show a variable cheque size and a deal-by-deal instrument.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
Techstars' standard cheque jumped in 2025, not 2023
Archived snapshots of Techstars' own terms page date the rise from $120,000 to $220,000 to early 2025.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
Indie.vc's revenue-share template outlived its own website
Indie.vc's GitHub-hosted terms still describe a redemption structure the current indie.vc site does not.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
A Calm Company Fund SEAL is a share of earnings, not equity
Calm Company Fund's own FAQ describes a Shared Earnings Agreement repaid from founder earnings, not a priced round.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
Lighter Capital publishes a repayment cap, not a fixed rate
Lighter Capital's own FAQ discloses a 1.3-1.5X repayment cap while withholding a single royalty percentage.
3 min · 2 source records
Funding & terms
Founders Pledge does not call its own pledge legally binding
Founders Pledge's own pages describe a signed personal commitment, distinct from its aggregate pledged and donated totals.
3 min · 3 source records
Legal & operations
Zebras Unite filed as a cooperative, not a venture fund
Zebras Unite's own bylaws and articles describe a member-owned cooperative, with capital advice as one service.
3 min · 4 source records
Funding & terms
Alchemist defines 'enterprise' by who pays, not what is sold
Alchemist's own FAQ ties its typical 5% equity ask to a revenue-source definition of an enterprise startup.
3 min · 2 source records
History
A 1980 statute let universities keep title to federal inventions
The Bayh-Dole Act's own text shows what changed for federally funded inventions, not what any single spinout later claimed.
3 min · 3 source records
History
A 1958 statute licensed private funds to invest with SBA leverage
The Small Business Investment Act's 1958 text set the original SBIC leverage limits that later program rules substantially changed.
3 min · 2 source records
History
A 1996 law preempted state review for four security categories
NSMIA's text names which offerings lost state registration review in 1996, not a blanket end to state securities law.
3 min · 2 source records
History
The original 2000 insider-trading rule had no cooling-off period
The SEC's 2000 adopting release shows what Rule 10b5-1 required before the 2022 amendment added cooling-off periods.
3 min · 2 source records
History
The JOBS Act's crowdfunding title needed four more years of rules
The 2012 statute required SEC rulemaking before crowdfunding sales were legal, and the final rules took until 2016.
3 min · 2 source records
History
Archival accounts of Intel's founding skip the financing terms
Museum archives document who founded Intel in 1968 and from where, but not the financing arrangement often retold about it.
3 min · 2 source records
History
A shareholder complaint carries Genentech's often-cited 1980 numbers
The widely repeated Genentech IPO figures trace to a 2008 shareholder complaint, not to the offering document itself.
3 min · 2 source records
History
Fairchild alumni founded Amelco with Teledyne's 1961 financing
Museum archives name who left Fairchild for Amelco in February 1961 and who arranged Teledyne's financing, with one name unconfirmed.
3 min · 2 source records
History
An oral history recalls stock options luring Fairchild staff
Jerry Sanders' recorded recollection, not a filed plan document, is the source for a stock-option recruiting story at National Semiconductor.
3 min · 2 source records
History
The SEC's 1982 rule set Reg D limits later amendments changed
Codified text dates Regulation D to March 1982 and marks which provisions, like Rule 506(c), came from later amendments.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
A CPC lists first and finds a business afterward
TMX's own Policy 2.4 lets a cash shell list on TSX Venture, then gives it 24 months to complete a qualifying transaction, a Canadian-specific route.
3 min · 2 source records
Legal & operations
An SEC comment letter is a disclosure question, not a finding
The SEC's own filing-review process, illustrated by a real letter, shows comment letters test disclosure, not wrongdoing.
3 min · 3 source records
Company records
The 2008 to 2009 option exchange wave was not one single structure
EDGAR's own full-text search finds hundreds of 2008-2009 option exchange filings split between cash buyouts and one-for-one swaps.
3 min · 3 source records
Funding & terms
Two Regulation A tiers trade audits for state review
The SEC's 2015 rule ties Tier 2's higher ceiling to audited financials and state-law preemption that Tier 1 lacks.
3 min · 2 source records
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