Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

That’s why I recommend that they find a co-founder who loves business challenges, including marketing and finance. If you consider yourself a technologist, you probably believe and may be propagating one of the following myths: The first priority for funding should be to develop the technology.

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Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

and if you’re like most of today’s startups — you need to get an app in the hands of customers. Once customers love your app and you show some traction, you raise some money and grow it into that impactful dream of an idea that you’ve had figured out in your head for as long as you can remember. Can a shop work for just equity?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Developer 60

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

Here’s why that is important: when users are on your website you want to convert them to become paying customers. It’s true that the carrier then gets their huge slice for being the billing and payment engine but the idea is that you as a website more than make up for this in terms of customer conversion. 13mm in Series B.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

blog.nahurst.com

JULY 19, 2010

The graphic below balances the risks cofounders take with their relative contributions to help answer this question. This covers one of the most common situations I encounter: For a pre-funding web startup whose team includes only a non-technical cofounder, how much equity should an incoming technical cofounder get?

Technical Cofounder 43

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Equity Salary 43

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Should you co-found your company with a software development shop? Not surprisingly, the list above also is ranked from least to most equity stake in an investment for the investor, relative to the cash they invest. The question is: how should they be compensated when cofounding a company? mentor VCs, e.g., most VCs.

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Instead of hearing from your long lost third-cousin, you will be inundated with an avalanche of ‘congratulatory’ emails, calls and letters from people who want to relieve you of the burden of your hard-earned equity round. Such positions include: PR, Sales, Product Development, Lead Generation, Strategic Planning, Fund Raising, etc.

Equity 40

Equity Silicon Valley Cofounder PR 40

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 17, 2014

By Elton Rivas, co-founder of KYN. It started with an entrepreneur with an idea for a new product or service gathering funds from personal savings, obtaining money from a friends and family round and soliciting help from anyone and everyone to get the idea off the ground. The path was simple, yet fairly indirect and organic.

Cofounder 171

Cofounder Incubator Programming IPO 171

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 1, 2018

by Harold Hardaway and Shannon Hernandez, Co-Founders of Cardigan Communications Group. A good culture ensures a strong connection between your product, purpose, people and work environment to support your long-term strategy. In the early years of a start up, it’s the founder and first hires working together day in and day out.

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Cofounder Hiring Leadership Employee 113

Version One Ventures

NOVEMBER 29, 2016

A high number of quality suppliers attract more customers; then more customers attract more suppliers to join, until the growth of sellers and buyers quickly accelerates. Slava offered these pieces of advice to marketplace founders starting today: Start tight and gather a lot of information.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Vertical Equity Cofounder 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

Take a look: This full-day Master Class focuses on how to build a startup from the ground up to focus on customers, markets, and speed of iteration. Unlike other incubator-led programs, this workshop is open to anyone who wants to learn, and it does not require companies take investment or give out equity.

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Andrew is the co-founder and CTO of Parse.ly , a technology startup that provides big data insights to the web’s best publishers. He wrote: When startups die, the official cause of death is always either running out of money or a critical founder bailing. Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Andrew Montalenti.

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Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

Listen to this episode if you want to hear about a founder who has a product and users and paying customers … and is trying to figure out how to take his company to the next level and grow faster. Jason: So how many of those 20,000 people are paying customers? Edwin: Okay, I have different types of customers.

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Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. And I tried to evaluate the idea and figure out: What did the founder really need here? Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ?

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Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Its a strange thing, to be asked by a potential customer if they can give you copious amounts of money, and then to have to refuse. It is the ultimate product development get-started guide to Lean Startup. It is the ultimate product development get-started guide to Lean Startup. And theres so much more. Dont panic.

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Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 153

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 20, 2014

I’m reproducing in full here because it’s a great explanation of our solo-founder hypothesis and how we work more generally. Are you a solo founder with an idea? Snaptrip started as an idea, an excel spreadsheet and a passionate founder called Matt. —————————-.

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Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 95

Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 10, 2013

When raising pre-seed capital from friends, family, and founders (FFF) you’ll want to consider the milestones that Angel investors care about and be sure to raise enough capital to reach those milestones. Product Development. You can also bring these skillsets to the organization via a board of advisors. Startup Funding'

Angel Investor 55

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Seed Capital Advisory Board 55

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

The use of your initial friends, family, and founders (FFF) capital should be directed towards achieving the milestones that will attract seed or angel investors (likewise, the use of your seed funding should be directed towards achieving the milestones that will attract Series A investors). Startup Funding'

Intellectual Property 55

Intellectual Property Advisory Board Startup Seed Capital 55

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

A description of the problem you’re solving for your customers, and your solution to the problem, which is usually your product or service. If you can fix a problem for someone and do it better, quicker, and/or cheaper than your competitor, you’re off to a good start.” – Gabriel Kuperman, founder and CEO of CuePin.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

what are the most crucial steps to be taken by a new tech startup when outsourcing major part of the tech to IT firms or outsourcing “product development” eg new social media website project? Near shoring development with your team (ex: your team is based in Canada / India) is cool, but not outsourcing.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 6, 2011

The finished book will come out on September 13, featuring an amazing cover designed by my IMVU co-founder Marcus Gosling and refined and tested by so many of you. Customer data is rarely used to make decisions. But the people we need to reach next are classic mainstream customers. them back to my publisher.

Lean 167

Lean Startup Metrics Private Equity 167

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 7, 2022

It's difficult to be rejected for your efforts and time, especially when you merely wanted to do what was best for the customer. And, maybe most importantly, we get to do what is best for our customers. My co-founder and I have both been professional matchmakers for over 20 years each when we started our business.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review Non-Compete 117

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 30, 2008

Offer equity instead of cash. Over-communicate with employees, investors, customers. Theres no better way to learn what customers want (or hate!). The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Not just about expenses, about increasing revenue. Dont sugar coat.

Lean 121

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 121

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

I want to know how many customers exist out there who would be likely buyers of the O-Port products, at what price-point, and what does that add up to? Bokér/1 Next David Sarna with Hendon, Stamford Hill & Co. He is willing to give up 33% of equity for this $1 million investment. Is that a $20 million market?

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

I want to know how many customers exist out there who would be likely buyers of the O-Port products, at what price-point, and what does that add up to? Bokér/1 Next David Sarna with Hendon, Stamford Hill & Co. He is willing to give up 33% of equity for this $1 million investment. Is that a $20 million market?

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

The Startup Toolkit

JANUARY 10, 2017

The most common (and emotional) screwing you’ll get in a startup is via your cofounders. First, some examples: A buddy of mine had done the hard work of finding two excellent tech cofounders. It’s not just cofounders. But because they have equity, cofounder screwings are different. ” Etc etc.

Cofounder 20

Cofounder Technical Review Vesting Ratchet 20

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Non-Technical Co-Founders Co-Founders Technical Co-founders Finding Co-Founders Startups & "How Important Are Ideas?" " Web Development Startups Solo Founders I am a creative guy with a startup idea.

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

So for this first post, here’s the best advice I can give you: join an awesome founding team and get your product out the door ASAP. One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going. Then, forget everything else, VCs included, and just build.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about gender equity in the high-tech and entrepreneurship worlds lately. One last suggestion, which is a technique I learned from my IMVU co-founder Will Harvey. There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about gender equity in the high-tech and entrepreneurship worlds lately.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Sweden Continuous Deployment 167

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

When I was seeking a co-founder for my startup, each time I’d dive deep into a discussion about commitment with potential partners, they’d bring up venture capitalists and fundraising. An early question among potential co-founders during these discussions was always “have you raised money yet?” Product development.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Startup Forecast Channel 60

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Team Configuration 500 Startups Guerilla Marketing Organizations Entrepreneurship Startup Founders & Entrepreneurs Startups Startup Incubators and Seed Programs Seedcamp Y Combinator TechStars Lean Startups What is the perfect startup team? Lakshman Prasad • Nov 16, 2010.

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 51

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

signup, upgrade, trial pricing Zuora – online subscription management FeeFighters – find the cheapest credit card processors HealPay – Collections made easy Customer Support Tender – support, knowledgebase tool for your site GetSatisfaction - conversations between companies / customers.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

.” Hackernews list of “Tools of the Trade” for startups - includes over 150 SaaS tools used by startups, and over 150 comments with interesting insights from founders. Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development. Customer service. Google Custom Search Engine. Customer Relationship Management.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

YoungUpstarts

MAY 13, 2016

by Jeffery Kang, CEO and founder, IngDan. Imagine having unlimited access to a state-of-the-art lab with global R&D researchers who are developing new technologies in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, cognitive services and robotics. It’s an election year. Either way, your entrepreneurial dream has just come true.

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Artificial Inteligence China Incubator Startup 100