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How to find that first big customer

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

But this was 2002 when AdWords was affordable and I had no competitors, so you can’t repeat that — it doesn’t matter how I did it. The contract says you retain the IP and are allowed to sell a product like this to other companies. It’s rarely true that your first customer will be big. I didn’t.

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Yahoo! vs Facebook: Lame Lawsuit, Good Timing ? AGILEVC

Agile VC

CEO Scott Thompson alluded to their plan a couple weeks ago but the IP lawsuit itself was only official late afternoon yesterday (and now public). ’s claims of IP infringement or offer a litigator’s perspective of Yahoo! Thompson reportedly dealt with this IP lawsuit personally along with Yahoo!’s

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Some Career Advice for Aspiring Tech CEOs

Both Sides of the Table

Maybe they were in their 20s in 2002 when being a startup CEO wasn’t really available to most? There are many companies with phenomenal IP that is truly differentiated but where the original executive team squandered their opportunity due to inability to sell, market or service customers. I saved my main point for last.

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How to Divide Founder Equity: 4 Criteria to Discuss

View from Seed

For example, when we started LinkedIn at the end of 2002, each member of the founding team essentially had a couple chunks of founders’ common stock. Ideation/IP. Sometimes a portion of founders’ equity splits are attributed to “who came up with the idea” or to actual IP that’s brought into the business at inception.

Equity 315
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Punch & Pie: How Should Co-Founders Divide Equity?

Agile VC

For example, when we started LinkedIn at the end of 2002, each member of the founding team essentially had a couple chunks of founders’ common stock. 4) Ideation / IP – Sometimes a portion of founders’ equity splits are attributed to “who came up with the idea” or to actual IP that’s brought into the business at inception.

Cofounder 255
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Punch & Pie: How Should Co-Founders Divide Equity?

Agile VC

For example, when we started LinkedIn at the end of 2002, each member of the founding team essentially had a couple chunks of founders’ common stock. 4) Ideation / IP – Sometimes a portion of founders’ equity splits are attributed to “who came up with the idea” or to actual IP that’s brought into the business at inception.

Cofounder 173
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An Open Letter to Startup Founders Everywhere in a Time of Crisis

David Cohen

By 2002 the NASDAQ had fallen by nearly 80%. Other startups will fail, and you can acquire their talent, their IP, their customer bases for cheap. We raised a lifetime grand total of $100,000 for that business in the form of advance payment from early customers. In 1999, we sold that business and I started angel investing.

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