Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

From my perspective as an investor, I recommend that every founder needs to know the answers to these questions, be open and honest in answering them thoughtfully, and without making excuses: What is the current runway and burn rate? Is there a real customer willing to give a testimonial?

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Finally, I’ll write about how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. Three to six months after first customer ship, if Sales starts missing its numbers, the board gets concerned.

Customer Development 224

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 224

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Following is his advice to early stage entrepreneurs for creating structure in their company. So, I’ll explain my reasoning through the story of ASC, a fictitious company that has a combination of characteristics I’ve seen across a number of early stage companies. Three months in, the burn is now at $70k/month.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

What I love about my job is getting to see teams of super-early-stage companies develop ideas that while raw have potential to make an impact on the market. For a well-funded seed company I have controversially recommended hiring a great office manager that doubles as an administrative assistant. They can help you with pricing.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 20, 2022

Maybe you’ve spoken with the previous companies customers or investors or employees and learned from that — maybe you’re even now taking their customers, hiring their best team members, whatever. Take it head on at the 50,000 foot level and drop one or two insight gems regarding why your company is better positioned.

Marketing 119

Marketing Burn Rate Angel Investor Early Stage 119

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

You’ve got entrepreneurs and founders who are really – a lot of them are in the very early stage of their startup. And for every time I’ve felt hugely stressed that our burn rate was getting too high, and I didn’t know who else was going to fund the company, and I’m all in on this company, right?”

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder San Diego Startup 337

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2012

My advice to founders out there is to not volunteer too much, but be open and honest in the face of direct questions like the following: What is your burn rate and runway today? They should be asking to speak to you if you are a potential investor or a superstar hire. Who is a real customer that I can talk to?

Due Diligence 244

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate Intellectual Property 244

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2013

My advice to founders out there is to not volunteer too much, but be open and honest in the face of direct questions like the following: What is your burn rate and runway today? They should be asking to speak to you if you are a potential investor or a superstar hire. Who is a real customer that I can talk to?

Due Diligence 253

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Burn Rate 253

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

My advice to founders out there is to not volunteer too much, but be open and honest in the face of direct questions like the following: What is your burn rate and runway today? They should be asking to speak to you if you are a potential investor or a superstar hire. Who is a real customer that I can talk to?

Due Diligence 237

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Entrepreneur 237

Gust

DECEMBER 8, 2013

My advice to founders out there is to not volunteer too much, but be open and honest in the face of direct questions like the following: What is your burn rate and runway today? They should be asking to speak to you if you are a potential investor or a superstar hire. Who is a real customer that I can talk to?

Due Diligence 174

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Burn Rate 174

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2010

My advice to founders out there is to not volunteer too much, but be open and honest in the face of direct questions like the following: What is your burn rate and runway today? They should be asking to speak to you if you are a potential investor or a superstar hire. Who is a real customer that I can talk to?

Due Diligence 229

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Startup 229

The Equity Kicker

JULY 16, 2015

Team structure in early stage ecommerce and marketplace companies is a function of manpower and skills necessary to build the company and the founder(s)’ skillset(s). Companies with lots of cash sometimes add people more quickly, but that drives the burn rate up, often without a compensating increase in the chance of success.

eCommerce 60

eCommerce Burn Rate Early Stage Hiring 60

The Next Web

JUNE 15, 2015

This awareness and trust spills over into the workforce of a company, whether they are local or outsourced — a factor that can turn customers on or off in many markets. Airbnb’s experience shows how local engagement strategies such as these do not have to increase a startup’s burn rate considerably.

Global 60

Global Burn Rate Startup CPA 60

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

For those of you who have been following the discussion, a Lean Startup is Eric Ries ’s description of the intersection of Customer Development , Agile Development and if available, open platforms and open source. And most startup code and features end up on the floor as customers never really wanted them.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 30, 2020

Many fail because they fail to keep their burn rate in check and then run out of investors who are willing to fund their operations. They treat their startup’s burn rate like it’s etched in stone. Go-slow startups often exhibit the following characteristics: Putting Funding Before Customers.

Burn Rate 107

Burn Rate Management Startup Early Stage 107

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 13, 2009 Dont launch Heres a common question I get from startups, especially in the early stages: when should we launch? Marketing launch) Make a new product available to customers in the general public. Do your customers really read TechCrunch? If not, do not launch there.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

OnlyOnce

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

In the early stages, you have to hire generalists who are both willing and able to take on dozens of tasks at once. And no matter how good an executive search firm is, I’ve never met a CEO who has a better than 50% success rate in hiring new leaders from the outside. By and large, startups work the same way.

Burn Rate 71

Burn Rate Leadership Search Curation 71

OnlyOnce

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

In the early stages, you have to hire generalists who are both willing and able to take on dozens of tasks at once. And no matter how good an executive search firm is, I’ve never met a CEO who has a better than 50% success rate in hiring new leaders from the outside. By and large, startups work the same way.

Burn Rate 48

Burn Rate Leadership Search Curation 48

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

By which I meannot that it has to make something physical, but that it has to haveone thing it sells to many people, rather than doing custom workfor individual clients. Custom work doesnt scale. An advantage of consulting, as a way to develop a product, is thatyou know youre making something at least one customer wants.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Reid Hoffman

NOVEMBER 14, 2018

Careful planning, cautious investment, and courteous service may end up being tossed aside in favor of rapid guesstimates, inefficient capital expenditures, and ignoring angry customers. However, especially in the early stages of a startup, it’s a mistake to devote substantial resources to defining the culture.

Engineer 28

Engineer Burn Rate Hiring Dilution 28