Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2014

You need to find the skills or experience you don’t have in business, technology or money. The first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth? Just because it was your idea doesn’t mean you “deserve” 90 percent of the equity. Amount of venture funding provided.

Cofounder 261

Cofounder Stock Founder Technical Cofounder 261

SoCal CTO

MAY 27, 2010

And I always recommend it to people involved in early stage startups. I received a follow-up question from an early-stage startup about the Founder Developer Gap that I’ve described before and that was part of the interview with Frank. This is somewhat the heart of what a CTO does. Do not hire a CTO at this point.

CTO Hire 170

CTO Hire Developer Founder Startup 170

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

What is Sweat Equity Worth? Determining how to value sweat equity is key when negotiating with investors and employees. Entrepreneurs often ask me how to value the sweat equity invested in their startup. But over the years, I have come to realize that sweat equity isn't the same thing as market value for your startup.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Web Startup Lessons Advice from a CTO and Entrepreneur Home About Startup Advice: When to Use a Consulting CTO There are not many to be found. He or she might call himself a “consulting CTO,&# “freelance CTO,&# “on-demand CTO,&# “CTO on call,&# “CTO for hire,&# or just a “technology strategy advisor.&#

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Fractional VPE 40

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. I usually encourage people to think about titles like, “Founder & CTO&# or “Founder & VP Marketing.&#. Dilute your cash, equity or both. Create hassles for post-merger integration of technology or teams.

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CFO) and a product lead (CTO). Intellectual property is a large element of most early-stage company valuations, and this value determines what percent of the company an investor will expect to get for his money.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

www.startuplessonslearned.com

MAY 4, 2012

Founders Dilemmas: Equity Splits. The following is an exclusive excerpt which sets up a common pitfall regarding equity splits. In Noam’s dataset, 73% of founding teams split equity within a month of founding, a striking number given the big uncertainties early in the life of any startup. Lessons Learned.

Equity 72

Equity Founder Technical Cofounder Cofounder 72

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CFO) and a product lead (CTO). Intellectual property is a large element of most early-stage company valuations, and this value determines what percent of the company an investor will expect to get for his money.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CFO) and a product lead (CTO). Intellectual property is a large element of most early-stage company valuations, and this value determines what percent of the company an investor will expect to get for his money.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

But the thing I am most proud of about Rob is that he has taken a company with a uniquely talented founder & CTO – Nick Halstead – and managed to build a very tight working relationship with Nick where we drive world-class product development without having the usual founder / CEO conflicts. Ask for short conference calls.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

In some ways it is similar to early stage incubators such as Y Combinator, although FI is even earlier stage, focusing on developing the founders themselves as entrepreneurs as opposed to actual companies. And how can an early stage company think about social media relative to important startup metrics (see [link] )?

Management 150

Management Product Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CIO) and a product lead (CTO). Intellectual property is a large element of most early-stage company valuations, and this value determines what percent of the company an investor will expect to get for his money.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 222

SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

they need a developer more than they need a CTO. What happens when you have a really good developer is that a gap exists where you may not ask the right questions to specify the right system, consider appropriate 3rd party technologies, etc. Many are not interested in 3rd party technologies that can streamline development.

Technical Cofounder 280

Technical Cofounder Developer Fractional CTO CTO Hire 280

OnlyOnce

MARCH 22, 2016

Brad Feld joins our Board with great credentials as an early-stage investor, but more importantly he’s served for XX years as Board Chair of the National Center for Women and Technology. And we launched with a bang, too – the organization is featured in this really amazing story on Fortune.

CTO Hire 48

CTO Hire Cofounder Programming Equity 48

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 3, 2015

by Tom Britton, co-founder & CTO at SyndicateRoom.com. Early stage investing experience. Look for investors who have either been entrepreneurs themselves or have invested in early stage companies that have gone on to be successful. Tom Britton is co-founder and CTO at SyndicateRoom.com.

Angel Investor 100

Angel Investor Early Stage Due Diligence Cofounder 100

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

While private equity has a history in the U.S. that dates back over a century , the “boom or bust” period of the 1980s to early 1990s is considered the period that marks the rise in private equity and venture capital funding as we know it today.

Venture Capital 82

Venture Capital Lean Cofounder Technical Review 82

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

Investors: Matrix (Dana Stadler, who was the CTO of PayPal). Summit is a hugely respected firm in Silicon Valley and a long-term “institution&# but they’re better known as more of a “private equity&# investor meaning that they do later stage investments in much larger companies that are profitable.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

As a result that company is now as valuable as Invoca ( last round raised >$70 million ) so Jason ended up with two very valuable equity positions and has now raised an early-stage seed fund. And my friend and Invoca co-founder Colin Kelley has done both. Some start, some scale, some can do both.

IP 223

IP Intellectual Property IRR Cofounder 223

Scalable Startup

FEBRUARY 1, 2011

I had dinner recently with a former colleague and good friend, let’s call him Al, who has recently transitioned from CTO to CEO of an early stage company he founded; he’s struggling with every aspect of his new job. I’ve been the incoming CEO several times in early stage startups, taking over for the founder.

Early Stage 20

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Founder 20

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

I’ve worked with 30+ early-stage companies in all sorts of capacities (and spoken to many, many more), so I thought it might be worthwhile trying to classify the various ways that I’ve engaged in different technology roles in startups. However, I’m always doing this part-time.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Fractional CTO Technology CTO Hire 170

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

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. How would one set up such a startup to eventually raise capital from outside VCs, who will be wary of ‘dead equity’ (i.e., equity that belongs to departed cofounders)? The cliffs?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. equity debate. m the f%*kin’ boss.”. It’s an interesting data point on Y-Combinator companies, but is this truly a macro trend?

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

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? This ties into this Paul Graham article: [link] /equity. This answer. link] 8/12/15.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

This is true for early stage funding as well as venture capital funding. Be sure to leave plenty of equity for investors. You shouldn’t hire a senior executive from an established company for an early stage startup. Early Stage. Hiring the right people at the right time is key.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

The Next Web

OCTOBER 7, 2013

However, at the very early stage, they are taking as much risk with their future as the founders. Quite frankly, waiting provides more assurance around employment risk without the commensurate sacrifice in equity comp. Engineer #1? is frequently granted ownership significantly less than that of the founders.

Engineer 129

Engineer Dilution Option Pool Vesting 129

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder. Chris Devore & Andy Sack have created Founder’s Coop with the goal of funding, incubating & launching more early-stage ventures in Seattle. You mean to tell me that the VC wouldn’t fly in early for that? We know it can be done.

Seattle 317

Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

Mike Michalowicz

AUGUST 10, 2015

Joseph is an Achieved CEO/CTO investor and strategic advisor. A long-time entrepreneur, Joseph founded/co-founded many technological companies throughout the years. Our Guests Joseph Shemesh (left) Joseph is an Achieved CEO/CTO investor and strategic advisor. Joseph shares his expertise on heat mapping for your website.

Technical Cofounder 60

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Silicon Valley Private Equity 60

www.reincubate.com

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Java is a great language for enterprises and is commonly used by many big dotcoms, banks and airlines, but its relatively slow development pace and higher barrier to entry make it inappropriate for most early-stage businesses. PHP is a widely-used Open Source web scripting language.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review CTO Hire 40

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

Individual accredited investors in typical angel deals put personal capital at risk for an equity share of growth-oriented, start-up companies. For this round of investment, the angels collectively purchase 20-40% of the equity of the company and are seeking a return on investment of 20-30X in a period of five to eight years.

Valuation 146

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Technical Review 146

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. Here’s the problem: this opportunity doesn’t exist for early-stage startups, because, by definition, they have no users or customers. Startups die due to a variety of causes.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

He says, “Spending a few thousand on a domain could make a big difference long term, and give you the credibility and advantage over the competition, especially in the very beginning and early stages of the business.”. Bringing in investors too early, before proof of concept is hard and may be unnecessary.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

www.metamorphblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Here’s how the pitch sounds from the engineer’s perspective: ‘For ten whole percent of equity, you will slave away to build a prototype out of my shitty idea, not have any say in the decision-making process…and oh yeah, you could be fired at any point.’ Date for a bit, then split the equity. Learned a lot.

Founder 51

Founder Startup Cofounder Vesting 51

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. Another common “failure to start” situation I see is one where the “idea person” insists that the idea is 90% of the value (and 90% of the equity). Who will be the CEO, CFO, and CTO?

Equity 228

Equity Intellectual Property Cofounder CTO Hire 228

The Next Web

DECEMBER 3, 2013

If that’s the Chief Technology Officer, or the sales chief, or the marketing person, whoever is the best public speaker, you should always put your best foot forward.”. We saw a few quite recently where founders had given up 70 percent of equity to a really early stage seed investor,” Campbell said.

Startup 153

Startup Cofounder Valuation Dilution 153

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. Another common “failure to start” situation I see is one where the “idea person” insists that the idea is 90% of the value (and 90% of the equity). Who will be the CEO, CFO, and CTO?

Intellectual Property 252

Intellectual Property Equity Cofounder CTO Hire 252

Austin Startup

MARCH 7, 2018

janryan (@janryan) | Twitter Kerry Rupp Kerry is a Capital Factory Mentor and founding partner of True Wealth Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund that invests in women-led companies in the sustainable consumer and consumer health verticals. SXSW Panel: Return on Inclusion: Investing in Diverse Startups Arlan ????

Technical Cofounder 48

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Fractional CTO CTO 48

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Someone who is egotistical enough to call themselves a rockstar, yet humble enough not to want 99% of the equity? Developer, engineer, CTO, or technical co-founder? Just go to a meetup or post an ad promising equity. As a developer, I feel that design/creative is undervalued in the early stages of product development.

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42