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? How complex is the capitalization table? When did this effort really start, including pivots?

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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? How complex is the capitalization table? When did this effort really start, including pivots?

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. This second kind of seed financing can be a double-edged sword for the entrepreneur and company if not very carefully managed. They close on the $750k, hire a buddy or two, buy some Macs, and get to work.

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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.

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Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

I started as a programmer, and then a database designer, and then a project manager, and I led conversion teams. You’ve got entrepreneurs and founders who are really – a lot of them are in the very early stage of their startup. Should I hire or not hire this person? It was all technical.

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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?

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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. What’s the total history of this company?

Due Diligence 253

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Burn Rate 253

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. Well, our VP Operations at Fliqz, Daniel Marcus , dabbles in creating writing and music when not managing our data center. 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

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?

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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. What’s the total history of this company?

Due Diligence 174

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Burn Rate 174

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.

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Hiring Software Review Burn Rate Startup 64

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 Next Web

JUNE 15, 2015

Having a geographically strategic point of operations can flow on to other key factors that influence a startup’s expansion — the overall management of the new location, how it is viewed by consumers, and the level of generated exposure. At the end of the day, hiring the right talent can, in essence, make your company in the long run.

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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. To help, here’s a look at what the two extremes of startup cash management look like.

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Burn Rate Management Startup Early Stage 107

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

In times when venture capital is hard to get, investors extract high costs for failure (down-rounds, cram downs , new management teams, shut down the company.) Lean Startups aren’t Cheap Startups « Steve Blank (tags: startup product-management strategy) [.] The Customer Development process (and the Lean Startup) is one way to do that.

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Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

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. We didnt manage todo that yet.

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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. Business Management.

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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. That’s a really different team than when you need functional managers on top of engineering, sales, etc. As organisms grow more complex, individual cells need to specialize.

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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. and an investor in Right Side Capital Management (RSCM). Are you refering to the various early stage platforms that are popping up?

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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. Late 2015 also brought the arrival of “mutual fund markdowns.”

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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. That’s a really different team than when you need functional managers on top of engineering, sales, etc. As organisms grow more complex, individual cells need to specialize.

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Burn Rate Leadership Search Curation 48

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

And if trouble withinvestors is one of the biggest threats to a startup, managing themis one of the most important skills founders need to learn. Angels and even VC firms occasionally do this, but they alsoinvest at later stages. The problems are different in the early stages. Apparently our situation was not unusual.

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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. You may need to reorganize the company three times in a single year, or repeatedly churn through members of your management team.

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Engineer Burn Rate Hiring Dilution 28

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

[Now it just so happens we also have a very good close rate, but that’s because the startups in our portfolio are typically interesting, rewarding places to be and they are thoughtful in the candidates pursued]. It’s also a reminder why keeping your personal burn rate low is such a career expanding move.

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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.

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