Becki DeGraw on spinouts, IP licensing & clean exits | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics
This Week in StartupsShow Notes
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Today's show: Spinouts are everywhere right now, and most founders get the cap table wrong. Jason sits down with Becki DeGraw, partner at Wilson Sonsini, to break down how to do it right, starting with his 80/20 rule for splitting the new cap table and why letting the old company keep too much of it kills your ability to raise. Becki also covers the legal side: who owns the IP, non-competes between the two companies, and the trap founders fall into when they're still on the old board. PLUS, the one question every Series A investor will ask. Guests: Becki DeGraw on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-degraw-639bbb62/ Wilson Sonsini: https://www.wsgr.com/en/ Relevant Links: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) — **https://www.wsgr.com/** Becki DeGraw — https://www.wsgr.com/en/people/becki-degraw.html Waymo — Jason's headline example of a big-company spinout — https://waymo.com/ Expedia's 1999 Microsoft spinout — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Expedia-com-American-company Nvidia's ~$20B deal for Groq's asset— https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/24/nvidia-buying-ai-chip-startup-groq-for-about-20-billion-biggest-deal.html Timestamps: 0:00 What a spinout actually is 0:50 Becki: the real "why" behind spinouts 2:24 IP licenses and the "acquihire" workaround 3:09 University spinouts 4:41 Google/Waymo and Microsoft/Expedia: spinouts at scale 5:03 Jason's 80/20 rule and the unicorn test 6:06 The broken cap table problem 6:36 Licensing deals as an M&A workaround 8:44 Exclusive licenses, full assignments, and license-backs 11:07 "What if Google spun out YouTube" 12:31 Groq–Nvidia, capital gains vs. income 13:23 Confidentiality, customer lists, and fiduciary duty traps 15:16 Get the paper done BEFORE you start the new thing 15:56 "It's a divorce," — and the employees are the kids
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This Week In Startups is made possible by:
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