www.instigatorblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Changing Equity Structures for Early Startup Employees Tweet Recently someone asked me for advice on how much equity they should give to their early employees. 1% but they’re not going to be overwhelmed by it, or insanely incentivized by that equity alone. I do believe that early employees should trade salary for equity.

Equity 41

Equity Employee Startup Vesting 41

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

Even though they’re next to Zhongguancun, the hottest place for startups in China, there seems to be a lower appetite for risk, a lack of interest in equity (instead optimizing for a high salary) and very little loyalty to any one company. The motivations are the same – profit – driven by entrepreneurs and venture finance.

China 219

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 219

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

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

3) invest in and take equity stakes in exchange for capital. In this time, building a successful business meant building a company that had paying customers quarter after quarter. They taught you about customers, markets and profits. Each VC firm/partner has a different spin on what to weigh more.) Warning sign? At best. ~

Silicon Valley 235

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 235

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

By 1991, 70% of the Torch funded startups were getting bank financing for expansion and later stages of the new ventures, with local governments acting as guarantors. At the same time neither banks nor local governments had the cash to finance startups on the scale the country needed. Like the U.S. It went bankrupt in 1997.).

Venture Capital 276

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 276

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 13, 2011

Steve Blank is a retired serial entrepreneur, educator, thought leader and creator of the rigorous "Customer Development" methodology detailed in his book, "The Four Steps to the Epiphany." Blank teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford University and UC Berkeley and blogs at steveblank.com.

Finland 158

Finland Venture Capital Government Russia 158

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

These groups are adapting or adopting the practices of startups and accelerators – disruption and innovation rather than direct competition, customer development versus more product features, agility and speed versus lowest cost. existing enterprises are establishing corporate innovation groups. This is a big idea.

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

The Next Web

JANUARY 27, 2013

You’ve probably heard them far too often bragging about how close they are to signing customer X, who happens to be a publicly listed NASDAQ company. So far, they’ve passed the legal department of our customers without any problems. Winners go home and f**k the prom queen.”. Sean Connery, The Rock. Screw exaggerating optimists.

Netherlands 159

Netherlands Technical Review Software Review Cofounder 159

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development. Customer service. Google Custom Search Engine. Customer Relationship Management. great web customer acquisition tutorials. customer retention, churn reduction, lifetime value. free/cheap web customer relationship mgmt software. Codeacademy. Steve Blank.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

By 1991, 70% of the Torch funded startups were getting bank financing for expansion and later stages of the new ventures, with local governments acting as guarantors. At the same time neither banks nor local governments had the cash to finance startups on the scale the country needed. Like the U.S. It went bankrupt in 1997.).

Venture Capital 168

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 168

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 30, 2014

understand who their core and tertiary customers are, and the sales and marketing process required for initial clinical sales and downstream commercialization. identify financing vehicles before you need them. identify financing vehicles before you need them. Incubators are designed for teams with an idea.

San Diego 265

San Diego North Carolina Chicago Lean 265

www.aaronkharris.com

SEPTEMBER 12, 2011

I recently left one of the worlds largest hedge funds, and finance in general, to launch Tutorspree. Skipping ahead a bit Suffice it to say that we spent much of the last few months on customer development, a topic which merits its own post, and at which I think we’ve done a decent job. How am I going to do that?

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire New York City .Net Cofounder 40

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. Also, make a bullet list of the marketing activities that will drive customers to your door. Also, make a bullet list of the marketing activities that will drive customers to your door.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 23, 2012

After all, before the house of cards inevitably tumbles, private equity investors get a tidy return. It’s not about the financing path, it’s about what you’ve decided to build. And the same thing happened after we sold IT WatchDogs in 2005. Nguyen knows how to keep the magic going long enough for the payday.

IPO 240

IPO Flash Bootstrapping Private Equity 240

www.instigatorblog.com

MARCH 2, 2010

The Importance of Advisory Boards for Startup CEOs Tweet When a startup receives financing it will need to setup a Board of Directors. What many first-time CEOs might not realize is that they may need to setup an Advisory Board as a condition of receiving financing. This is typically done with a small piece of equity.

Advisory Board 40

Advisory Board Startup Cofounder Equity 40

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.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Spencer Fry

APRIL 17, 2017

When I first started building Coach, I invested $30k of my own money to get a prototype working and acquire our first half dozen customers, but I (and the contract developer who I was working with) were spread too thin. What I worry about is the demand on every one of your potential customer’s attention and time. Hello, debt.

Bootstrapping 63

Bootstrapping Cap Table Liquidation Preference Cofounder 63

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

And the same time we were also going to do all the other strategic stuff about pricing, positioning, promotion and customer discovery and validation to help engineering understand customer needs. Later on in this same company’s life, sales will become the pointy end and product development moves to a supporting role.

Silicon Valley 132

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 132

rob.by

MARCH 8, 2012

It means they have to deal with finances and customers and investors and other things that aren’t what they love to do, which is building software. ” I believe that by this he means they want cash rather than equity. Finance (1). But software engineers also pay a price for working by themselves. Thoughts on.

Technical Cofounder 42

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Engineering Fractional CTO 42

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 6, 2014

It detailed exactly what everyone was to do at every stage for every product, with instructions for every department ranging from hardware to software, and on to operations, finance, marketing, even the support teams that troubleshoot and repair the product after it goes to market.”

Product 84

Product Venture Capital Lean Finance 84

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Near shoring development with your team (ex: your team is based in Canada / India) is cool, but not outsourcing. Outsourcing is something a big company, with a known customer / problem (that has revenue & traction) does to save cost. Talk to your customers. If you believe in it – then finance whatever you can yourself.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

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. No Business Plan Survives First Contact With A Customer – The 5.2 It may be that all the doomsayers are right. But I don’t think so. same as the old boss.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

equity debate. Converts versus equity deals - Chris Dixon , August 31, 2010 There has been a debate going on the past few days over whether seed deals should be funded using equity or convertible notes (converts). Paul Graham kicked it off by noting that all the financings in the recent YC batch were converts.

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

The Entrepreneurial Mind

MARCH 10, 2011

Each of the selected concepts for our first year of operating this microfund received $15,000 in equity capital and special arrangements with participating partners for marketing, accounting, legal and technology services. This is true in the typical areas of accounting, finance, marketing, fundraising (like other micro funds).

Nashville 65

Nashville Tennessee PHP Ruby 65

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

are just emerging for business people (customer development, business model generation,). 4 votes by Cai Chen , George Aspland , Raphael Cockx and David Yousling There is no such thing as perfect and it depends on the nature of the business: The customers, the products and the market. 90% of entrepreneurs can not raise capital.

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 51

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

500 Hats , January 10, 2010 Developing new startup ideas - Chris Dixon , March 14, 2010 Batch Processing Millions and Millions of Images - Code as Craft , July 9, 2010 jQuery Plugin: Give Your Characters a NobleCount - The Product Guy , March 23, 2010 How do the sample Series Seed financing documents differ from typical Series A financing documents?

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378