Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

Hire the wrong people. Bad hiring decisions are often a symptom of premature scaling. Why hire a sales team when you have nothing to sell yet? That sounds absurd, but founders convince themselves that they’ve hired the right people at the right moment. Be trigger shy about hiring. Honestly, we don’t know.”?

Startup 78

Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

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? Any outside advisors or board members available for discussion?

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

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? Any outside advisors or board members available for discussion?

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

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. Soundbites from potential customers are encouraging.

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. Bring your burn rate down, crowdfund from your community of users, do whatever you can to make it to the other side of the disillusionment trough.

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. What’s the total history of this company?

Due Diligence 244

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate Intellectual Property 244

Professor VC

JULY 22, 2009

The burn rates of my portfolio companies is certainly top of mind right now, but thats not what this post is about. Since Im not a fan of any of those genres, I have been looking forward to the release of his latest work, Burn Rate. ProfessorVC. The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Wednesday, July 22, 2009. Steve Bennet.

Burn Rate 28

Burn Rate San Jose Silicon Valley Angel Investor 28

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. What’s the total history of this company?

Due Diligence 253

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Burn Rate 253

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

The rest of the organization (product development, marketing, support) has been burning cash, all according to plan, expecting Sales to make its numbers. Blame it On Marketing In the next 3-6 months, a new VP of Sales is hired. Without the revenue to match its expenses, the company is in now danger of running out of money.

Customer Development 224

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 224

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2011

Hire your co-founder. Involve them in fund raising, hiring, strategy, etc. Involve them in fund raising, hiring, strategy, etc. like how much burn rate), whether to sell the company, etc. Most senior employees who join are given 2% if they join early. Give them a large sum of equity. Vested over 4 years.

Cofounder 393

Cofounder Founder Vesting Founder Vesting 393

Transformify

AUGUST 27, 2017

All of the above is true, but it is also true that many startups have failed because they hired too early, too fast, or fired too late. Many of the points below can be found among the best hiring practices for startups and there is nothing wrong with them in general. Then the hiring begins. Hire full-time employees.

Hiring 64

Hiring Software Review Burn Rate Startup 64

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. What’s the total history of this company?

Due Diligence 237

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Entrepreneur 237

Haystack

MAY 4, 2019

Everyone they’d want to hire here either could make a fortune at Facebook, or need a bigger salary as their rents skyrocketed. This is all happening, of course, to a region that doesn’t have a modern public transportation system.

United States 87

United States Portfolio San Francisco New York City 87

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. What’s the total history of this company?

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. What's the total history of this company?

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

Airbnb’s experience shows how local engagement strategies such as these do not have to increase a startup’s burn rate considerably. One of the most important parts of taking on an expansion process is hiring the right local talent, a time consuming and challenging factor.

Global 60

Global Burn Rate Startup CPA 60

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

The key contributors to an out-of-control burn rate is 1) hiring a sales force too early, 2) turning on the demand creation activities too early, 3) developing something other than the minimum feature set for first customer ship. The Customer Development process (and the Lean Startup) is one way to do that.

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. In the early stages, this can rob a founder of the flexibility they need to execute their vision.

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? This is the usual reason given for a marketing launch, but for most early stage startups, its a failure. My answer is almost always the same: dont.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

philipsmith.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

While there have been times in the last dozen or so years, usually during times of venture capital excess, that cash to founders, early-stage executives and other key employees has matched regular market compensation (still with the upside of the equity), this is not true in the vast majority in the start-up game. New Business Models.

Silicon Valley 40

Silicon Valley Equity Technical Review Recapitalization 40

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

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Since small businesses are responsible for the vast majority of new jobs, legislators believe that these new rules will make it easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital and ramp up hiring. Are you refering to the various early stage platforms that are popping up? In theory, this sounds like a great idea. April 12, 2012 3:16 PM.

SEC 54

SEC San Jose Angel Investor Accredited Investor 54

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

The pressures of lofty paper valuations, massive burn rates (and the subsequent need for more cash), and unprecedented low levels of IPOs and M&A, have created a complex and unique circumstance which many Unicorn CEOs and investors are ill-prepared to navigate. Layoffs have also become more prevalent.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

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

4 ] Seed Funding Firms Seed firms are like angels in that they invest relatively smallamounts at early stages, but like VCs in that theyre companiesthat do it as a business, rather than individuals making occasionalinvestments on the side. Angels and even VC firms occasionally do this, but they alsoinvest at later stages.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Reid Hoffman

NOVEMBER 14, 2018

For example, one blitzscaling tactic that Uber has employed to speed up engineering hiring is to ask each new hire for the contact information of his or her three smartest engineering friends. 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

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

The reality is that most hires to early stage startups will be taking a near-term hit to cash compensation or at the very least, earning less than they could if they *only* prioritized salary (and not role, company, or equity upside). It’s also a reminder why keeping your personal burn rate low is such a career expanding move.

Salary 56

Salary Burn Rate Dilution Equity 56

Professor VC

JANUARY 19, 2012

If the rest of the country were experiencing the new company growth, hiring challenges, decreasing office vacancies and rising rents that we are in the Bay Area, the economy wouldnt be the top issue in the presidential campaign. Clearly, we live in a bubble in Silicon Valley and our economy is rarely in sync with the nation as a whole.

Silicon Valley 28

Silicon Valley San Jose America Venture Capital 28