Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

90 days later, I found out our games are terrible, no one is buying them, our best engineers started leaving, and with 120 people and a huge burn rate, we’re running out of money and about to crash. We hired everyone according to our plan. This can’t be happening to me. Stage 2: Deny any of it was your fault.

Redemption 330

Redemption Cofounder Silicon Valley Burn Rate 330

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

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

90 days later, I found out our games are terrible, no one is buying them, our best engineers started leaving, and with 120 people and a huge burn rate, we’re running out of money and about to crash. We hired everyone according to our plan. This can’t be happening to me. Stage 2: Deny any of it was your fault.

Redemption 222

Redemption Cofounder Silicon Valley Burn Rate 222

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

How many people will you hire in the first 24 months and in which sequence. Don’t know the running rate for engineers? I won’t need to hire many engineers or customer support staff. Too aggressive about the rate of customer adoption? You might then slow down your burn rate or raise more money.

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

They close on the $750k, hire a buddy or two, buy some Macs, and get to work. Things start to get a little fuzzy in terms of priorities, but not to fret, the new office is coming along really well with all of the hiring! At month six, one of the early hires leaves, a developer who turns out wasn’t a good fit.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

You know, the weird thing, Derek, and I should probably let you speak some time, but I was deeply technical when I went into Andersen consulting, and I got paid much less than engineers who graduated, because I had a degree in economics. They paid engineers $4,000 more entry-point. Engineering vs. non-engineering. [00:10:32]

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder San Diego Startup 337

The Next Web

DECEMBER 2, 2013

Therefore, if you want to bring an MVP ( Minimum Viable Product ) to market, Werdelin approximates that you’ll need $50,000 to $250,000 , depending on the skill sets of the developers and designers you hire. Luck, timing and social engineering are bigger components than most entrepreneurs care to imagine,” adds Werdelin. 3) Facebook.

Cost 168

Cost San Francisco New York City Ruby 168

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

For a well-funded seed company I have controversially recommended hiring a great office manager that doubles as an administrative assistant. This happens because many CEOs are passionate, market-driven people who are constantly trying to launch new products, win contracts, get press, hire staff and woo VCs. Hire a great CFO.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

crowdSPRING Blog

OCTOBER 10, 2014

. “the people you fire are more important to your [company''s] culture than the people you hire.” Refocusing the Startup Burn Rate Debate | OpenView Blog – crowdspring.co/1n8paLq. 44 engineering management lessons – crowdspring.co/1x7TVkf. ” – crowdspring.co/1slKVZ2. 1r4ba0i.

Social Media 97

Social Media Small Business Design Media 97

crowdSPRING Blog

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

Are startup burn rates out of control? This Invaluable Lesson Will Keep You From Making Catastrophic Hiring Mistakes - crowdspring.co/XeV4JS. Hiring startup engineers? How Everything We Tell Ourselves About How Busy We Are Is A Lie | Fast Company – [link] crowdspring.co/1uH6HVo. 1wpHRKP.

Social Media 94

Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

Surprisingly we have never explicitly articulated or understood that what’s really happening when we hire a new VP or CEO in a startup is that the newly hired executive is implicitly pivoting (radically changing) some portion of the business model. We were changing the business model when we changed executives.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 247

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2016

Every team member, from engineer to CEO, lives or dies based on cash flow, so the more they can tune their activities to revenue and expenses, the more valuable they become. Finding creative ways to fund activities. Creating operational processes and procedures. Be a trustworthy advisor and mentor to others.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Burn Rate Leadership Salary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2011

People hire people they know, so nurture your relationship with friends already active in startups. Every area has networking events, like the NYC Tech Meetup , and organizations like the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Engineers. What's the monthly burn rate? Start networking. Join local organizations.

Silicon Valley 227

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Startup Stock Options 227

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

raised their voices in a annoyed investor tone) that the headcount and its attendant burn rate combined with the lack of revenue meant the company would run out of money much sooner than anyone planned. Companies in New Markets who hire and execute like they’re in an Existing Market burn through their cash and go out of business.

Revenue 230

Revenue Balance Sheet Hockey Stick Burn Rate 230

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

Eric Friedman

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

In the world of web startups, you can hire individuals and try to make the team hum, or you can buy an agile group that you know can perform. 2 engineers. Hiring Option. Hire 2 people per month ~ $100K/month/per person across 12 months is 24 people at a $2.4MM burn rate. lets call it $10MM. 2 designers.

Burn Rate 90

Burn Rate Agile Equity Hiring 90

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. 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

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

He knows how to advise entrepreneurs on hiring/firing, running teams, managing funding, when/how to control burn rate, and making other tough management decisions in the real environment of startups. Having this kind of advisor as your coach is like turbo-charging your entrepreneurial engine from the sidelines.

Burn Rate 87

Burn Rate Hiring Engineer Entrepreneur 87

Up and Running

OCTOBER 1, 2014

Nelson has some tips: Know your burn rate. Hire and surround yourself with people who are hungry for the opportunity and super driven,” she advises. Nelson says, “If you have an interest in fields that are traditionally less female saturated like engineering, don’t be afraid to pursue them.

Bootstrapping 107

Bootstrapping Cofounder Portland Burn Rate 107

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 15, 2020

It's never selfish to hire. I said, "Hire people. Hire them to do whatever you can find them to do." Human talent, marketing, engineering, R&D. So anything you can do to keep them hired, you just improved their sanity. It's never selfish to hire. They asked me, "What else can we do?"

Dallas 68

Dallas Employee Government Social Media 68

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 19, 2016

While you absolutely need to keep an eye on earnings and burn rate, human capital is ultimately the fuel that makes the machine run. Companies that commit to their teams succeed because they attract hard-to-recruit talent like Brianna Crab , a data engineer at Capital One. Your employees, after all, become part of what you sell.

Startup 100

Startup Burn Rate Cofounder Salary 100

Hearpreneur

JULY 7, 2019

I see companies transitioning to hiring more freelancers and remote workers. When they outsource they are hiring professionals for a certain number of hours per month and not 40 hours per week in addition to benefits, workers comp, etc. We want every hire to be for life, and the way we treat employees makes them want to stay.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Distribution Employee Arizona 93

BeyondVC

DECEMBER 6, 2006

Secondly, in trying to hit an unattainable plan, management teams typically make another huge mistake – overhiring too early or frontloading all of their hires to spend their way to success. What this does is speed up cash burn without delivering the desired results.

Burn Rate 79

Burn Rate Cloud Hiring Sales 79

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2009

By the late 1930′s when HP started, a small group (measured in hundreds) of engineers who made radio tubes were building the valleys’ ecosystem for electronics manufacturing, product engineering and technology management. And these microwave engineers were working at startups – not large companies.

Silicon Valley 270

Silicon Valley RSS San Francisco Technical Review 270

Steve Blank

MAY 15, 2009

Signs of Success One of the things you do right in a startup, is you move from one cheap and cramped building to another as you grow, with desks, cubicles and engineers piled cheek to jowl. Engineers were packed in cubicles or desks right on top of each other? Now every engineer can have their own office. A VERY nice office.

Silicon Valley 205

Silicon Valley RSS Lean Agile 205

K9 Ventures

NOVEMBER 2, 2015

For context, I am talking mostly to Computer Science and Engineering grads from the top schools who are looking at opportunities at tech companies. What happens if the economy tanks and the company decides that it cannot hire as many people? 1: Never sign an offer in the Fall! What a complete boondoggle in my opinion.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Venture Capital Michigan Burn Rate 48

thestartuplawyer.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Who must be a co founder and who can remain a hired principal? Before I bring in any principals I will have the company all set up, some engineering done and patents pending. When I find, and hire on options, the three perfect CEs/directors must I consider them co founders and treat them accordingly?

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Founder Preferred Stock Startup 40

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 27, 2009

The full formula works like this: runway = cash on hand / burn rate # iterations = runway / speed of each iteration Very few successful companies ended up in the same exact business that the founders thought theyd be in (see Founders at Work for dozens of examples). Were talking PayPal -sized variations.

San Francisco 117

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 117

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2014

Where are the Women Software Engineers? – crowdspring.co/12gwMCO. Don’t Get Burned by Your Burn Rate – crowdspring.co/159KKrk. Holiday Hiring By the Numbers (Infographic) – crowdspring.co/1CzjykC. Coca-Cola Plans to Help Startups Around the World – crowdspring.co/159Mot0.

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Design Media 100

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. 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. 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. By and large, startups work the same way.

Burn Rate 48

Burn Rate Leadership Search Curation 48

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

If you are an entrepreneur seeking funding, try our free Funding Recommendation Engine to identify a list of angels, venture capital and state grant programs that best match your business. Post-Mortem Title : My eHarmony for Hiring Failure. Hiring was a challenge we found difficult throughout the life of our Company.

Software Review 79

Software Review Startup Technical Review Vesting 79

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

For example, a seed firmshould be able to give advice about how to approach VCs, which VCsobviously dont need to do; whereas VCs should be able to giveadvice about how to hire an "executive team," which is not an issuein the seed stage. You dont have to spend time on bureaucraticstuff, because you havent hired any bureaucrats yet.

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. You can’t set a culture at 10 employees, and expect it to be unaffected by the next 100 employees you hire.

Engineer 28

Engineer Burn Rate Hiring Dilution 28

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

And even worse, wed cranked up the burn rate in order to be ready to handle all those millions of mainstream customers we anticipated. Worse, we tricked ourselves into thinking that what the press said about our success was actually true. When they failed to materialize, the company was in big trouble.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

Companies raised too much money in 2005-08 and had high burn rates. We have the inability to hire engineering in Silicon Valley or brand sales people in NYC but the country still has very high structural long-term unemployment. tl;dr summary. VCs were very active in this period. So no new deals got done. My prognosis?

Stock 305

Stock Technical Review Marketing Greece 305

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 30, 2009

Hire the absolute best and the brightest, true experts in their fields, who in turn can hire the smartest people possible to staff their departments. By hiring experts, conducting lots of focus groups, and executing to a detailed plan, the company became deluded that it knew what customers wanted.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Lean Agile Continuous Deployment 150