The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

By Daniel Sokolovksy, Co-Founder and CEO, WARP and Troy Lester, Co-Founder and CRO, WARP The dissolution of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was more than just a bank collapse, it was a reality check for both startups and the VCs that fund them. As an early-stage company that just closed our seed round at $8.1

Early Stage 146

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 146

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 28, 2010

Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup is the new book by David Cohen , founder and CEO of TechStars, and Brad Feld , managing director of Foundry Group. Below is his chapter, Avoid Co-Founder Conflict. A perennial favorite is to decide that each founder should own an equal share. For what reasons?

Cofounder 128

Cofounder Founder Equity Dilution 128

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 28, 2012

But when it comes to core technical skills, more and more entrepreneurs are opting to partner with technical co-founders rather than hiring someone for an in-house position. You Need To Know Tech Basics I really believe that what’s most important for a founder is the ability to have a vision for the company, make sales and hire well.

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Cofounder Founder Software Review 79

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 19, 2024

Despite not going to university, Ash became a serial tech founder and the first marketing director of a unicorn startup – Just Eat). Biggest Takeaway: While significant progress has been made in AI, we are still in the early stages of its development. He’s the Founder of theCLIKK, an email newsletter about digital marketing.

Fractional CTO 76

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review Marketing 76

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. Founder’s perspective. how to build an initial sales organization.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

techcrunch.com

AUGUST 12, 2012

Zachary Bogue And Matt Ocko Launch Data Collective, An Early Stage Fund For Big Data Startups. Alexia Tsotsis is the co-editor of TechCrunch. Founder Stories) Aereos Chet Kanojia Urges Entrepreneurs To "Go For The Difficult Problems" [TCTV]. Disrupt SF. Alexia Tsotsis. Thursday, August 9th, 2012. View Staff Page.

Early Stage 70

Early Stage San Francisco Los Angeles Southern California 70

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

Most early stage startups tend to do well in this area because entrepreneurs generally launch their startups believing they have a great product idea. What does this mean for their early stage investors? Weak revenue architecture poses the greatest near-term risk of failure for most early stage startups.

Framework 127

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 127

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2019

Most early stage startups tend to do well in this area because entrepreneurs generally launch their startups believing they have a great product idea. What does this mean for their early stage investors? Weak revenue architecture poses the greatest near-term risk of failure for most early stage startups.

Framework 113

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 113

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

You have two founders and it was agreed that one would get the CEO role so the other needs to call themselves president or COO. They will often run all of the daily reports into them covering off for finance, sales, marketing, biz dev & HR. In an early stage start I believe it’s the CEO’s job to manage these functions.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Due Diligence 325

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage Angel investors. Supportive co-founder and executive positions. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor 266

The Startup Magazine

APRIL 14, 2022

While certain aspects of setting up a startup can be exhilarating, especially in the early stages of the business, there are also plenty of bumps along the road, big and small. Startups that are named after their founders sometimes do not succeed. The life of an entrepreneur can be exciting and filled with ups and downs.

Startup 173

Startup Early Stage Naming Public Relations 173

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As an early-stage VC I love this phase. Sam also had a vision as early as 2012 about how MakeSpace would be a large employer of middle-income jobs: The company would hire employees rather than just have contractors and he would lead the effort to ensure they had opportunities for growth and benefits for their families.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

I recently wrote a post about why I didn’t think early-stage startups should have COOs. “We’re all equal co-founders and we don’t care about titles.&# Still, I’ll bet that functionally you divide areas of competence like sales & marketing, product, engineering, biz dev, etc.

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

Berkonomics

JANUARY 28, 2021

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked away from deals where the entrepreneur insists on a start-up pre-money valuation that is so high, no angel could expect to make a return upon the investment, even with a reasonable sales price for the company down the road. Why fight about valuation, or disappoint the founder at the outset?

Early Stage 62

Early Stage Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder 62

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

By now you probably know that David Sacks , co-founder of PayPal and founder of both Geni & Yammer made some observations on Facebook that Silicon Valley “as we know it” was coming to an end. “In order to create a successful new company, you have to find an idea that. (1) Where I Might Expand the Argument.

Silicon Valley 299

Silicon Valley Technical Review Early Stage Cofounder 299

Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

This post originally appeared in TechCrunch back in 2015, written by our co-founder and managing partner Erik Rannala. Before you indulge in marketing, sales and blinged-out offices, find product-market fit. Test your sales and marketing a few feet from the ground, first – not from an airplane. Hire the wrong people.

Startup 78

Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

Version One Ventures

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Union Square Ventures – one of our favorite co-investors – added to Top Hat’s existing investors and USV’s Albert Wenger joined their Board of Directors. And selling to institutions requires a long sales cycle. As such, Top Hat can provide key lessons for early-stage companies: 1. They hustle.

Vertical 132

Vertical Technical Review Cofounder Sales Cycle 132

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 25, 2018

It’s taken the Toronto executive from the world of Big 3 Accounting (as a CPA with PricewaterhouseCoopers in his early career) to Investment Banking(National Bank Financial) and capital markets (co-founding Eight Capital after leading the management buyout of Dundee Capital Markets). Dealing with the unknown can also be daunting.

Partner 113

Partner Technical Review Management Due Diligence 113

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 13, 2018

As part of The Startup Magazine Female Founder Series, we interviewed Ms. Get a company ready for sale: per due diligence work and support during the sale process. As you have a history of building early stage companies, what is the most important thing you tell startup founders? Gabriela Rodil.

Technical Review 99

Technical Review Founder Due Diligence Early Stage 99

ConversionXL

APRIL 28, 2021

My co-founder and I consider his sister to be a trusted confidant. To give you some context, my co-founder and I operate a website called Solitaired , which ties classic card games to brain training. In many cases, customers are more willing to give out their info when rewards are at stake, like discounts or sales.

Email 151

Email Product Marketing Cofounder 151

YoungUpstarts

MAY 19, 2016

Ideally, tech startup founders stay on till the very end. Without a contingency plan, companies that unexpectedly lose a co-founder find themselves in muddy water. Obtain a Confidential Information and Invention Assignment Agreement as early as possible to make sure the IP is clearly (and legally) assigned.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Burn Rate IP Intellectual Property 124

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 1, 2019

In two of these three phases – the first and third – volumes of helpful information and numerous organizations are readily available to help guide and support founders of startups. These are the consultants and books that offer founders the tools and insights needed to “cross the chasm” ( as Geoffrey Moore put it ) and begin to scale.

Cleveland 150

Cleveland Framework Marketing Early Stage 150

ConversionXL

MARCH 17, 2021

From long sales cycles to trying to stand out from the sea of sameness, B2B companies face an uphill battle from the start. I recently surveyed and interviewed over 200+ B2B executives, marketing & sales leaders to find out exactly what challenges they currently face and what they are doing to overcome them. So what does it take?

B2B 150

B2B Sales Cycle Belgium IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We then help surround founders with other talent who want to join important causes but don’t have the startup idea themselves. We help founders through difficult moments, we help coach, we act as sparring partners, we help them resolve conflicts when they’re fighting with co-founders and we help them deal with adversity as well as successes.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Fractional CTO Cofounder Early Stage 150

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

The point of sale (POS) industry for online and offline businesses is vast and pretty mature… not to mention, an area we’re familiar with from our prior investments, like Upserve. We were excited to get to know Dispense’s co-founder & CEO Kyla Moore earlier this year.

Cofounder 234

Cofounder B2B Early Stage Software 234

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

The email continued, &# The problem I’m working on is that many founders are either making uninformed decisions or inefficiently learning the new skills they need. The solution I’m exploring is a just in time learning methodology that accelerates founders’ learning curve by aggregating relevant content, peers and mentors.&#.

Technical Cofounder 333

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 333

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 13, 2018

As part of The Startup Magazine Female Founder Series, we interviewed Ms. Get a company ready for sale: per due diligence work and support during the sale process. As you have a history of building early stage companies, what is the most important thing you tell startup founders? Gabriela Rodil.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Founder Due Diligence Early Stage 84

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

My internal compass has always steered me strongly toward the belief that founders who can scale with their startup companies are better to back that founders who eventually need to hire a CEO. Very few founder CEOs go into the job ever expecting to give up their seat. We set out to find Jonathan’s “co-founder.”

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

The point of sale (POS) industry for online and offline businesses is vast and pretty mature… not to mention, an area we’re familiar with from our prior investments, like Upserve. We were excited to get to know Dispense’s co-founder & CEO Kyla Moore earlier this year.

Cofounder 202

Cofounder B2B Early Stage Software 202

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Greycroft is an early-stage VC. The “private sale” market phenomenon was started in France by Vente-Privee (literally means “private sale”) and was replicated in Germany by BrandsforFriends. If I were a number 3-5 players I’d be looking to exit early while there’s still a lot of enthusiasm for this hot market.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2016

Ask a founder of a growing startup what they need most, and you’ll often get an answer along the lines of, “We need great people, and we need them fast.”. Founders need to make sure the quality of the startup’s offerings remains high and provide adequate sales and service support for prospective customers and new users.

Metrics 120

Metrics Founder CTO Hire Technical Review 120

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

The point of sale (POS) industry for online and offline businesses is vast and pretty mature… not to mention, an area we’re familiar with from our prior investments, like Upserve. We were excited to get to know Dispense’s co-founder & CEO Kyla Moore earlier this year.

Cofounder 156

Cofounder B2B Early Stage Software 156

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. Jeremy Johnson , founder of Andela , which embeds talented software engineers on the African continent into top engineering organizations worldwide. Jeremy Johnson.

Cofounder 143

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 143

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2018

Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn and Greylock Partners will be talking about “blitzscaling” with his co-author Chris Yeh, and Stanford Professor Bob Sutton. Kabam, the mobile gaming company, hit a major stumbling block in its early days when its financing was lost due to the 2008 financial collapse.

Lean 103

Lean Las Vegas Cofounder Startup 103

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

years ago and told me, “I just got offered the chance to buy this company because the founder doesn’t want to continue. Sometimes this involves co-CEO’s. They often involve big hugs on stage. If they’re early stage like you, they’re likely just dogs. I promise they’re not.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

ConversionXL

MARCH 31, 2021

Agencies looking to grow have traditionally relied on fostering strategic relationships to land deals and increase sales. The same goes for your sales conversations; why did new leads seek you out, and what objections do you hear during the sales process? This sets the intention for your early-stage priorities.

Audience 127

Audience Non-Compete Distribution Channel 127