SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. I have been working full time with two founders for about 10 months on full time basis. Please let this be a lesson to everyone – founders and CTOs.

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire Equity Vesting 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. The value in a startup is all about tangible results, so I see no equity value in the idea alone.

Equity 238

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 238

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. In the real world, the "idea" is a very small part of the overall equation. Sacrifice and time commitment. Domain expertise and connections.

Intellectual Property 252

Intellectual Property Equity Cofounder CTO Hire 252

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. The value in a startup is all about tangible results, so I see no equity value in the idea alone.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. In the real world, the "idea" is a very small part of the overall equation. Sacrifice and time commitment. Domain expertise and connections.

Equity 228

Equity Intellectual Property Cofounder CTO Hire 228

The Next Web

OCTOBER 7, 2013

That’s what a couple of my friends – engineers at Google and Bloomberg who have been following the rise of startup culture with intrigue – told me recently. They were referring to non-founder engineers, most commonly the first hire for technology businesses. “It kinda sucks to be engineer #1.”. Engineer #1?

Engineer 129

Engineer Dilution Option Pool Vesting 129

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

How to Divide Equity to Startup Founders, Advisors, and Employees. The part that I’d like to zero in on is when you’ve got a high growth company what are some of the best practices out there to distribute equity to the founders, advisors, and employees? Equity for Founders. Marketing Intern. Five years?

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 1, 2007 Entreprenuer Network Great post by Ben Kuo - The Importance of the “Network&# to Entrepreneurs - the informal connections between people in the technology industry here who have a vested interest in helping entrepreneurs take their companies to the next level.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Networking Southern California Los Angeles 150

www.metamorphblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Home About Contact Home About Contact The Metamorphosis Becoming an Entrepreneur, by Matt Mireles Startup Lessons for the Proto-Founder I started SpeakerText in October 2008 during the financial apocalypse. You need a Co-Founder, not an Engineering Bitch. You’ll be the only startup there. No one funded us.

Founder 51

Founder Startup Cofounder Vesting 51

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m looking to turn dots into lines over time. I’m inspired by the enthusiasm of the young, emerging startup ecosystem that is here. And I think about the “Seattle issue&# as a metaphor for startups and business in general. There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder.

Seattle 317

Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

I’ve been looking for suggestions for an initial deal structure that is appropriate for the theoretical case of a trusted dev shop putting in $100k in market-value of services over a 6 month period in time. What are the terms of their relationship with the founder? What are the timelines? The discounts? The cliffs? The fine print?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

Analyzing 32 Startup Failure Post-Mortems to Find the 20 Top Reasons that Startups Fail. We’d previously highlighted the top startup failure post-mortems of all-time here (32 in total) written by a group of startup entrepreneurs gracious enough to share their lessons learned from their startup’s failure.

Cofounder 89

Cofounder Startup Technical Cofounder CTO Hire 89

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

The most common comment in this long and complicated MBA Mondays series on Employee Equity is the question of how much equity should you grant when you make a hire. For your first key hires, three, five, maybe as much as ten, you will probably not be able to use any kind of formula. First, a caveat.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

www.quora.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Type to Add and Search Questions; Search Topics and People Startups Startup Compensation Entrepreneurship Compensation Stock Options Major Internet Companies Silicon Valley Why is there such a large founder to early employee equity drop-off? Many startups these days are first-time entrepreneurs. is lowered.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40

SoCal CTO

MAY 4, 2010

Some great posts from April 2010 that talk to me in terms of being a CTO at a Startup. Redeye VC , April 13, 2010 Startup Development - SoCal CTO , April 23, 2010 Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering? Ben Casnocha: The Blog , April 15, 2010 Everyone I spoke with loved the idea.

CTO Hire 150

CTO Hire Vesting Venture Capital Startup 150

blog.expensify.com

APRIL 24, 2012

Update: The end is near, Expensify is hiring a.NET programmer! As you might know, we’re hiring the best programmers in the world. You become so steeped in tools and techniques that have absolutely no relevance outside of.NET that you are actually less valuable to a startup than had you just taken a long nap.

Java 107

Java PHP Software Review Coder 107