Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 25, 2016
Most of this advice boils down to an argument in favor of basic planning before starting a company or raising money. In many ways the fact that it has become so cheap to start a company and relatively cheap to raise angel/seed money that we as an industry have gotten lazy on basic planning. Incumbent Strengths & Weaknesses.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 27, 2011
If you hire 6 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 for 4-6 months. So your Q1 results will be $180,000 less profitable than if you hadn’t hired them. Hiring more people isn’t always the right answer.
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YoungUpstarts
OCTOBER 28, 2015
Startups need to understand how to manage the seed money they receive from investors and VCs. Entrepreneurs need to hit a happy medium with backers, not giving away too much but not making overly aggressive demands. They also need to decide whether to structure terms as an equity deal or a convertible security deal.
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.
Both Sides of the Table
APRIL 3, 2010
Chris Dixon provided some commentary on Twitter that he believes I missed “the most important point about fund size.&# He’s specifically referring to his point of view that entrepreneurs shouldn’t take seed money from “big VC’s&# (he defines them as > $100 million).
The Equity Kicker
AUGUST 20, 2014
With no team and no technical expertise Matt was planning to find a team and build out some product before starting to raise some seed money. Snaptrip is a weekend and evening business so the demands on your personal life can be quite high. Our unique model allowed him to get started straight away. USER RESEARCH.
www.paulgraham.com
APRIL 28, 2010
A lawyer I asked about it said: When the company goes public, the SEC will carefully study all prior issuances of stock by the company and demand that it take immediate action to cure any past violations of securities laws. It wasnt because they werent accredited investors that I didntask my parents for seed money, though.
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