Both Sides of the Table

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What is the Right Burn Rate at a Startup Company?

Both Sides of the Table

by Michael Woolf that is worth any startup founder reading to get a sense of perspective on the reality warp that is startup world during a frothy market such as 1997-1999, 2005-2007 or 2012-2014. So money spent should add equity value or create IP that eventually will. (it is also the title of a fabulous book from Internet 1.0

Burn Rate 383
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Revisiting Paul Graham’s “High Resolution” Financing

Both Sides of the Table

These days there are many lawyers that will do equity deals cheaply as long is it is a standardized, simplified term sheet, early stage, no serious investor / management debates, limited IP / customers / due diligence and as long as they perceive you as a “hot&# company that’s likely to need legal services for many years ahead. (if

Finance 286
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In a Strong Wind Even Turkeys Can Fly

Both Sides of the Table

By 1999 we had grown into the largest independent consulting firm in the world. By 1999 it seemed like everybody was growing, though. I left Andersen Consulting in 1999 at the height of the market. Double-down on great people, process & IP. In other words, in a strong market even turkeys can fly. Ameet was right.

Turkey 302
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Time is the Enemy of All Deals

Both Sides of the Table

When I was raising money for my first company we had closed a seed round in 1999 and were working on our A round. We had many term sheets (it was 1999 and we had a pulse) and we were deciding which one to take. It was December 1999. It was December 1999. Let me start with a story. They accepted my argument.

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The Long-Term Value of Loyalty

Both Sides of the Table

I was paid less in salary in 2004 than I was paid at the job I quit in 1999 (a job I had held 8+ years). They seed funded my second company and even let me buy some IP in exchange for debt to get started. My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming.

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The Web is Against the Ropes, But it’s Not Dead

Both Sides of the Table

The start of the argument is that you need to separate using the Internet into “infrastructure & cloud services&# (basically the protocols of the Internet such as HTTP, TCP/IP, SMTP, etc. + My first company was a SaaS software company started in 1999.

Web 300