Whether you are the sole founder or co-founder of a start-up, equity can play a major role in the growth and direction of your company. Andrew Sherman, Partner at the Seyfarth Shaw law firm, began his career with a successful start-up in aerobic tennis. Today, he advises entrepreneurs on the brass tacks of drafting stock options, exit strategies and aligning managerial responsibilities with equity. Accustom to asking hardball questions like, how to value sweat equity, what are the income needs of the various stakeholders and how to link expertise to equity, Andrew encourages entrepreneurs to do an (often free) preliminary attorney meeting in the early stages of a start-up.

In this episode of Bootstrapped, Ed Barrientos, CEO of Brazen, a cloud-based HR tech start-up, talks about the market for talent. In its initial onset, Brazen aimed to create the LinkedIn for Millennials. Focused on improving product market fit, Ed's team shifted gears and created a communication platform for texting-centric Millennial job candidates to get past the 'apply online' brick wall recruiters often have trouble pulling top talent through. Today, Brazen is used by Deloitte, Nasa, Amtrak, and over 120 universities. Ed is also the Managing Partner of Zeitgeist Holdings, an angel investment firm.