Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2014

Whether you’re considering hiring a new employee or as an investor whether you’re looking to do a background check on the founders of a company. Most people delay reference calls until that point both due to expediency of time (why make phone calls unless you think you might hire the person?) Reference calls.

Technical Review 302

Technical Review Hiring Later Stage Employee 302

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

My original post was directed at hiring managers. It said that I didn’t believe it was a good idea to hire job hoppers. There is a high probability that the person you’re hiring will leave you within 18 months. I learned how to better run a product management process. It’s a subjective topic.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 8, 2010

Most technology startups seem to be founded by three types of people: product managers, engineers or biz dev types (MBAs and the like). These people take directions well from a sales manager on how to approach sales campaigns. I think I made a pretty good CEO but I know I would be lousy sales manager. More on that later.

Early Stage 350

Early Stage Startup Sales Campaign 350

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

” So I did want any rational person who wants to improve does – I hired a coach. We focused together on improving our sales methodology, our training and our comp plans through a larger than life ex country manager from PTC named Kai Krickel. He taught me much – most of it unconventional. Please call our references.

Sales 382

Sales Startup Technical Review Matching 382

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. Ethan had pointed out to me that merchants were being barraged by “deal site” wanting to drive customers in the door but they didn’t have great tools to manage their customers. And we wanted a head of global marketing.

Southern California 359

Southern California San Francisco CTO Hire SEM 359

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 28, 2011

1 CEO who doubles as head of product management. Who do you hire after you have a product built & shipped and being used in the market? Who do you hire when you raise that first $2-3 million? Your first hire after that first round of capital is an office manager / company-wide assistant. 5 engineers.

Hiring 325

Hiring Early Stage Valuation Engineer 325

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

The CEO weighs in with his perspectives, the head of product management disputes his conclusions and the marketing VP has a different take. He gossips with the office manager who tells 3 software developers. This is a topic that comes up often in Los Angeles because many CEOs are tempted to hire their tech teams in the Bay Area.

Distribution 335

Distribution Offshore CTO Hire Bulgaria 335

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

So rather than hiring a VP Marketing [to establish a strategic marketing plan, build and manage the marketing team, manage outside vendors, etc.] I recommend hiring or appointing a growth hacker.” The more the supply of dollars spent in your channel the higher the cost-to-acquire new customers.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

And many of these people are money managers rather than people like Gus who inspire entrepreneurs. At just 24 years old I was given the responsibility of managing teams. I think the best VCs act as a sounding board for management. They think that they know better than management. But much good also came.

Pakistan 297

Pakistan India Technical Review Software Review 297

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

.&# I took it to mean, “making decisions with small amounts of money (pennies) that end up making bad sense for affecting larger amounts of money (pounds, as in Great British Pounds).&# I thought of it as people who cut corners on small costs but paid dearly in terms of lost productivity on expensive staff.

Warrant 333

Warrant Germany France Cost 333

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

You Manage What you Measure. One of the things I discuss the most with the portfolio companies I’m involved with is that “you manage what you measure.”. Or they go in the opposite direction and spend too much time capturing & measuring data that isn’t used to make management decisions. On measurement.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Lately I’ve been having to say things I thought I’d never have to remind people, like, “getting to positive gross margin in several territories is a very low bar to claim success” or “profitable excluding marketing costs” is not actually a real thing. But not doing basic research makes no sense.

Startup 150

Startup Seed Money DC Software Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 22, 2011

I have other areas of interest & competence such as cloud computing and document management given my background. Ones that offer amazing value (low relative margins) at high volumes that makes it nearly impossible for high-cost incumbents to compete. think Amazon’s Storage costs). We knew there was value in what we provided.

Non-Compete 386

Non-Compete Startup Internet Cost 386

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically. My first company was used to manage workflow & share CAD drawings and plans on the $16 billion refurbishment of the London Underground. Growth, again.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

It’s such a tricky balance between being cost-focused & scrappy versus being impractical with how you spend your time. For a well-funded seed company I have controversially recommended hiring a great office manager that doubles as an administrative assistant. But alas I must scale with businesses and make money.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

So I did want any rational person who wants to improve does – I hired a coach. Back then it was a larger than life ex country manager from PTC named Kai Krickel. That doesn’t make them bad – it just means that they know that they are “hired guns&# and they act accordingly. Cash, cash, cash. And finally.

Sales 316

Sales Technical Review Matching Hiring 316

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

It’s the one thing I miss having switched from player to manager – I love the joy of winning and of competing. I realized that it is not enough to know one partner per firm and it is not enough for only the management team to like you. They hired a consultant to help them with the review.

China 333

China Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

It’s the one thing I miss having switched from player to manager – I love the joy of winning and of competing. I realized that it is not enough to know one partner per firm and it is not enough for only the management team to like you. They hired a consultant to help them with the review.

China 328

China Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review 328

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2011

Or maybe they need to hire somebody with more gravitas / experience. Each customer segment of your business needs to be analyzed to determine whether they are profitable enough given ongoing costs to serve them relative to the revenue you would receive and the retention money you’d have to money to keep them with your service.

Customer 287

Customer Technical Review Caching PR 287

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

They had wasted a lot of money because they had raised a lot of money and therefore hired a large staff. We missed our sales targets that year by 66% and the next year by 45% and never really cut costs very much. They realized that they were selling a bunch of cool products but none that had enough economic value. Or I was asked.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Burn Rate Cofounder Sales 306

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

They chose the name First Round Capital because they thought capital would be deployed most efficiently at smaller seed stage rounds considering the cost to build an internet business had come down drastically. They did not take salaries during the first two years and invested more money in the firm than they received from management fees.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

If you hire 6 senior sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business 6 months. If you don’t have a strong balance sheet and can’t hire more people that’s fine — but understand this may lead to slower growth.

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

It meant that the management teams hadn’t figured out a product / market fit for their own businesses. But to be clear the overwhelming majority of deals involve one company driving the cultural integration, establishment of uniform processes, hiring / firing decisions, etc. how to cut redundant costs. -

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2010

App is one step forward, two steps back – In 1999 I launched my first company, BuildOnline, a SaaS-based (back then we were ASP’s) content management platform for large-scale engineering and construction projects. They therefore have large cost bases and have to pass on those costs to you. - You have a data problem.

Flash 326

Flash Mobile Application Development Cloud 326

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

It’s why I wrote this post that the controversial first hire after an A round out to be an office manager / assistant / HR person who handles everything from stocking supplies to booking travel to scheduling group meetings. What they do with the money is add more engineers and maybe hiring a marketing person.

Startup 381

Startup PR Finance Hiring 381

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. Because I’m going to say no to you, and the guys you want to hire from Facebook are going to say no to you. Should I hire or not hire this person? And I’m now managing partner six years later.

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder San Diego Startup 337

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

It’s the one thing I miss having switched from player to manager – I love the joy of winning and of competing. They were looking for a collaboration tool to manage all of their large water development projects. I immediately put a full team on contract management and another on drawing up an implementation plan.

Software Review 151

Software Review Technical Review Silicon Valley France 151

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

Costs of product on YouTube content is literally 99% cheaper than traditional TV and; Distribution of content can now go viral and can predictably distributed via social networks. Hits driven businesses come when production costs or distribution costs are so high that you need a home run to cover the huge costs of development.

Silicon Valley 374

Silicon Valley Los Angeles Distribution Java 374

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Great lifestyle, great cost of living, motivated people and only the crap weather on the negative side. Your highest priority right now is hiring the 1 or 2 people that are going to join your company and make a difference. The ingredients are all here. Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country.

Seattle 317

Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2010

This is a related post that will not only help you get the results you want more effectively but will also help earn the respect of your senior people (whether management or your board). I hired you because you’re smart. As your senior manager I’m happy to help you any time you need. Everybody says that.

Equity 342

Equity Hiring Developer Management 342

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

Each VC has their own take on which services to provide and mostly they’re free but some smaller VCs charge portfolio companies for use of these services but usually at a cheap cost. Side Note : Upfront has hired Kerry Bennett as a member of our executive management team to run marketing – please follow her on Twitter here ].

Portfolio 150

Portfolio PR Partner Early Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

Creativity in our business lives – The average tech startup these days spends time talking with colleagues & investors about a multitude of things: customer acquisition, viral adoption, raising capital, hiring / firing employees, product features, technology trends, marketing / branding, and on and on. If so, why? If so, why?

Technical Review 356

Technical Review Framework Audience Media 356

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

The parallels to the music industry are too obvious even though the industry players, the medium and the cost structures are different. I need leaders who manage in good times and bad.To build a large company you need to manage through economic cycles. I have always believed that TV was ripe for disruption. My prognosis?

Stock 305

Stock Technical Review Marketing Greece 305

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2015

But can sensible management team even do anything about it? But when economic conditions turn nobody is paid to innovate: They are paid to cut costs, cancel projects, reduce staff, do more with less, stop attending conferences and improve the bottom line. limit your fixed costs. limit your fixed costs.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet eCommerce Venture Capital Acquisition 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

I know he’s smart but you wouldn’t hire a Javascript developer to do your database design – would you? How to manage costs - One of the biggest frustrations that people have with lawyers are unexpected costs. Your cousin specializes in entertainment law – that’s different.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

If you don’t want to read that post, the summary is: Open source computing drove computing costs down 90%, which spurred innovation in technology. Open cloud led by Amazon with their AWS services drove total operating costs down by 90%. And the more “small checks&# they write, the more VC managers they have to manage.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Software LP Early Stage 296

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

You can read it in VCs discussions about hedge fund managers, activist investors or the need to have dual-share voting structures. I encouraged them to stay in shorter-term space, higher per-unit costs but no capital outlays. I put up this slide as part of my discussion. Does this suck? It affects lives.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate San Francisco Private Equity LP 150