Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

Great product managers who are not great business people still often fail. Don’t know the running rate for engineers? I won’t need to hire many engineers or customer support staff. They are the most important document you can prepare to align your management team on where you THINK your business will go.

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

This post originally appeared in TechCrunch back in 2015, written by our co-founder and managing partner Erik Rannala. Until you have product-market fit, hire builders: engineers, designers, and growth and product people. More and more investors have begun to shun high burn rates. Honestly, we don’t know.”?

Startup 78

Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

The Next Web

DECEMBER 2, 2013

Henrik Werdelin , the Managing Partner of Prehype , a venture development firm based in New York City that has helped build companies like Tradable , Barkbox , FancyHands , Basno and Path , says recreating Twitter isn’t necessarily difficult, but the layered features will take time to get right. 1) Twitter. 3) Facebook. 4) WhatsApp.

Cost 168

Cost San Francisco New York City Ruby 168

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

This second kind of seed financing can be a double-edged sword for the entrepreneur and company if not very carefully managed. A review of the cash position, burn rate, and execution plan would have revealed there was not enough cash on hand to nail the pivot while leaving 3-6 months of time in market before raising again.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

For decades startups were managed by pretending the company would follow a predictable path (revenue plan, scale, etc.) As we described in previous posts , startups fail on the day they’re founded if they are organized and managed like they are a small version of a large company. Albert Einstein. That’s the definition of insanity.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 247

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

I was WAY off between my book research about what the engineering & construction market would want (my first company) and what they actually wanted. If you can’t figure all of this out then adding a non-founder sales person isn’t going to solve your problems – it’s just going to add to your burn rate.

Hiring 346

Hiring Sales Startup Early Stage 346

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. They paid engineers $4,000 more entry-point. By the way, the salary, which was a good salary, was $27,000 entry salary, and engineers were paid $31,000 to $35,000. [00:10:30] Engineering vs. non-engineering. [00:10:32]

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder San Diego Startup 337

crowdSPRING Blog

OCTOBER 10, 2014

Refocusing the Startup Burn Rate Debate | OpenView Blog – crowdspring.co/1n8paLq. 44 engineering management lessons – crowdspring.co/1x7TVkf. Stock option questions startup employees should ask | Business Insider – crowdspring.co/1n8lUje. React – crowdspring.co/1yHa1WB. 1vyIl0B.

Social Media 97

Social Media Small Business Design Media 97

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. They can show the projections on what this does to burn rate. This is all about “leverage” which is the key to success. They can help you with pricing. Timing of cash payments.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2016

Every startup role requires managing to financial realities. 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. In a corporate environment, you can leave financials to someone else, but not in a startup.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Burn Rate Leadership Salary 120

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. The VC’s were very concerned that the revenue the financial plan called for wasn’t being delivered by the sales team.

Revenue 230

Revenue Balance Sheet Hockey Stick Burn Rate 230

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

They trust the judgment of the VCs to source, finance, help manage and then create some sort of exit for the investments that they make. They might not replace an engineer or two that quits. You’ve kept a really low burn rate and paid yourself a very small salary.

Startup 290

Startup Burn Rate Warrant Bankruptcy 290

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

The only numbers in those documents that are important in the first year of a startup’s life are burn rate and cash balance. There are no standards for what each side (board versus management) does. Most board meetings never get past big company metrics to focus on the crucial startup numbers. The Wrong Structure.

Silicon Valley 290

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 290

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

The only numbers in those documents that are important in the first year of a startup’s life are burn rate and cash balance. There are no standards for what each side (board versus management) does. Most board meetings never get past big company metrics to focus on the crucial startup numbers. The Wrong Structure.

Silicon Valley 258

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 258

Up and Running

OCTOBER 1, 2014

Nelson has some tips: Know your burn rate. Buffer helps you with managing and scheduling your social media posts. Mailchimp and Mandrill are leaders in newsletter management. Unfuddle allows development teams to easily collaborate on product management. How do you balance it all? And as such it can be changed.”

Bootstrapping 107

Bootstrapping Cofounder Portland Burn Rate 107

Professor VC

MARCH 10, 2009

His goal in building the company was to spend 3 years building value and find a good home for the engineers and product. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught? ► October. (1). ► May.

Bootstrapping 28

Bootstrapping San Jose Silicon Valley Software Review 28

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.) Marketing demand creation programs (Search Engine Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising, Lead Generation, Trade Shows, etc.)

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

Jeff has managed to keep his burn rate very low thus far, and a slow and steady crafting of the business is working nicely. She has a master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Photo by nosheep. Discuss.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

Professor VC

DECEMBER 18, 2008

The NIF brings together students from all parts of the university (business, computer science, mechanical engineering, design, life science, etc.) This was a collaboration between students in industrial design, electrical engineering and business. to share their passions and projects. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught? ► October. (1).

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Technical Review Angel Investor 28

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

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 13, 2011

The only numbers in those documents that are important in the first year of a startup's life are burn rate and cash balance. There are no standards for what each side (board versus management) does. Most board meetings never get past big company metrics to focus on the crucial startup numbers.

Silicon Valley 117

Silicon Valley Balance Sheet Metrics Early Stage 117

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Business, Engineering, Computer Science, and Design were all represented. We need a program that not only has a speaker series and mentor program, but also fosters collaboration among the Engineering and Business departments. Collaboration with engineering, computer science, life sciences, etc. May 14, 2010 10:56 PM.

San Jose 43

San Jose Silicon Valley Las Vegas Venture Capital 43

Transformify

AUGUST 27, 2017

Their investors may push them into that direction too, as the high burn rate is often seen as a prerequisite for high growth. You will have more time to focus on the strategy and sales while looking for the right project/ product manager, etc. The downside? Outsource the development of your MVP. The downside?

Hiring 64

Hiring Software Review Burn Rate Startup 64

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 19, 2016

by Shawn Overcast , managing director at gothamCulture. While you absolutely need to keep an eye on earnings and burn rate, human capital is ultimately the fuel that makes the machine run. Shawn Overcast is managing director at gothamCulture. You have a million things to consider when investing your startup’s money.

Startup 100

Startup Burn Rate Cofounder Salary 100

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

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2008

He was the first American in 30 years to graduate from the 5-year brewing program at the Technical University of Munich , the highest technical degree in brewing engineering. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases. ► May.

Technical Review 28

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 15, 2020

Human talent, marketing, engineering, R&D. There's a product manager at 3M that knows the N95 mask business inside and out, domestically and globally. If they would have just had their head of supply chain, their product manager for the N95s, just go out there and talk to everybody, to share data with other manufacturers.

Dallas 68

Dallas Employee Government Social Media 68

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

Customer Development is Low Burn by Design The Customer Development process keeps a startup at a low cash burn rate until the company has validated its business model by finding paying customers. Having raised lots of money tempts you to give products away, steeply discount to buy early business, etc.,

Customer Development 242

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 242

Hearpreneur

JULY 7, 2019

This often leads to disjointed communication between employees and management, and can hinder the “brainstorming” quality of having your company under one roof where ideas and workflows naturally play off of each other. 10- Solopreneurs will join other progressive businesses. Photo Credit: Mario Peshev. 18- More virtual entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 90

Entrepreneur Distribution Employee Arizona 90

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

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). What counts as an iteration? Were talking PayPal -sized variations.

San Francisco 117

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 117

Professor VC

JULY 2, 2010

He believes that this transfer of manufacturing and engineering expertise out of the country will ultimately lead to less innovation. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught? ► October. (1).

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Venture Capital Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

MAY 6, 2008

This reminds of a comment from the VP Engineering at one of my start-ups, who is a Brit with a dry sense of humor - "I used to teach at university, but then I realized I didnt like the students". I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley Burn Rate 28

OnlyOnce

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

That’s a really different team than when you need functional managers on top of engineering, sales, etc. — not to mention needing strategic leadership of those functions as the company grows from 50 to 100 to 250 to 500 employees. That’s the journey that startup and scaleup CEOs are on.

Burn Rate 71

Burn Rate Leadership Search Curation 71

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

The US Fed has in essence held interest rates at zero for years and has undertaken quantitative easing to stimulate the economy. The billions of dollars managed by mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance companies, university endowments, pensions, foundations, sovereign wealth funds and the like need to find returns for their money.

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

OnlyOnce

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

That’s a really different team than when you need functional managers on top of engineering, sales, etc. — not to mention needing strategic leadership of those functions as the company grows from 50 to 100 to 250 to 500 employees. That’s the journey that startup and scaleup CEOs are on.

Burn Rate 48

Burn Rate Leadership Search Curation 48