Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

If you’re an early employee at a startup, one day you will wake up to find that what you worked on 24/7 for the last year is no longer the most important thing – you’re no longer the most important employee, and process, meetings, paperwork and managers and bosses have shown up. The company was going to hire a VP of Marketing.

Part-Time VPE 333

Part-Time VPE Employee Cofounder Hiring 333

Gust

APRIL 9, 2014

Equity dilution works when the same pie is divided among more people. Because the total percentage of equity will always equal exactly 100%, every time anyone gets another piece, by definition it “dilutes” all of the previous equity holders.

Dilution 150

Dilution Equity Vesting Stock Options 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. I always push companies to hire “an operationally focused CFO” during this phase because in order to systematize you need somebody who brings economic rigor to decision making. As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 28, 2021

We’re overjoyed and we’ve begun the task of learning how to manage all the logistics of her care—while somehow doing the bare minimum of that for ourselves. I mean, think about it—if you have to pay a recruiter to hire someone, you’re paying, on average, 25% of their first year salary anyway.

Hiring 179

Hiring Early Stage Marketing Term Sheet 179

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

Investors bet that by offering prospective hires a stake in the company’s future growth- with a visible time horizon of a payoff – employees would act more like owners and work harder– and that would align employee interests with the investor interests. That made sense.

Stock Options 333

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 333

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

I would e-mail Paul and Rony from Indeed regularly with feature ideas and get super frustrated that they implemented zero of them—especially in the face of stiff competition from Simply Hired. What’s Simply Hired, you ask? Paul and Rony focused on doing one thing and doing it better than anyone else—returning great job search results.

.Net 88

.Net Cap Table Startup Technical Review 88

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 19, 2012

When not approached carefully, growth can destroy value as it outstrips a company’s managerial capacity, processes, quality, and financial controls, or substantially dilutes customer value propositions. That is what I call the ‘gas pedal’ approach to managing growth. Instead of grow or die, be motivated by this motto: ‘Improve or die’.

Dilution 209

Dilution Virginia Management Washington 209

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

How much dilution should I take for it?&# My friend’s company was pre-revenue. Me: “Zero dilution. It meant that the management teams hadn’t figured out a product / market fit for their own businesses. bring in management who can take your company to the next level and you stay on the board with some control.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

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. I never built Google.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

VC Adventure

AUGUST 16, 2020

The data change over time and, frankly, I’m less interested in debating what % grant your Director of Product Management should receive given your stage of company and capital raised, and more interested in the structure of your program. I’m also not going to give option bands for various positions.

Programming 149

Programming Vesting Equity Software Review 149

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

The single most important factor to raising capital for any tech startup is the management team. Don’t hire people with skills and qualifications similar to yours. Hire based on functionality and avoid having too many C’s. Having too many co-founders will only lead to your eventual dilution.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

by Arsalan Sajid, startup community manager at Cloudways. If you are getting funded for the first time, which means that you have not diluted the shares of your company, you will be receiving Series A funding. Hiring more resources. So, hire more people or go for outsourcing to remote workers. Series A, B, C Funding.

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

Up and Running

JULY 1, 2020

Business owners and managers make optimistic assumptions about a project’s success when they are emotionally committed to an idea. For example, I was the Program Manager for a group of investment advisors at a financial institution that had banking branches in a rapidly growing region. Pausing to ensure profitability.

Business Plan 152

Business Plan Forecast Operations Dilution 152

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 13, 2011

Too much growth too quickly can create financial, quality, and reputational risks that if not properly managed can lead to the demise of the business. They end up trying to do too much for too many, which dilutes their focus and often the quality of their product or service. Hiring smart. Managing cash flow.

Indianapolis 219

Indianapolis Minneapolis Kentucky Virginia 219

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 1, 2009

I know that people find safety in numbers (and there always seems to be 3 amigos) but imagine this for a moment – you go and raise venture capital and you’re fighting over whether to dilute with a VC by 25% or 30% as a company. You might be great at networking and leading but bad at planning and managing. Plug your gaps.

Hiring 289

Hiring Cofounder Dilution Startup 289

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

Jonathan Bragdon , CEO, describes Capacity as “a team of founders-turned-funders making non-dilutive, founder-aligned investments of $50-$300k in post-startup, post-revenue businesses planning to 2X revenues in 12-24 months. Versatile is an aggressive user of technology internally to manage the firm and make better investments. .

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

The Next Web

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Hire everyone you need as an employee. Impossible to manage.”. Too dilutive.”. Dilution – bringing on a co-founder likely means you’re splitting your share in half. The required number of cofounders for success is: “Zero” – You don’t need a cofounder. You are the founder, the visionary, the uber-entrepreneur. Too many.”.

Cofounder 143

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Kenya Dilution 143

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 12, 2024

It will close your doors if you don’t manage it carefully. It’s not just about having enough money; it’s about smart money management. However, scaling up too quickly can lead to hurried hiring decisions. Major red flag alert: Keep an eye on monthly interest rates if you end up borrowing money.

Intellectual Property 116

Intellectual Property Dilution Security Government 116

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

Despite advances in cloud infrastructure, many businesses still have fleshy parts—soft underbellies where a human hand is required to keep quality control, stuff something into a box, order inventory, hire enough engineers to keep the site going or manage cash. Scale brings complexity.

Dilution 104

Dilution Equity Hiring Partner 104

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

While the management of a startup company deals with the day-to-day decision-making within the company (strategy, budgets, goals, tasks, compensation) ultimately the Board of Directors has the legal governing responsibilities for these things. hiring & firing the CEO. in case you’ve never heard that term.

Startup 204

Startup Dilution Government Stock Options 204

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 6, 2020

In one stage of my own career, as an executive with a large corporation, I found myself almost totally occupied with managing personnel and organizational issues, including hiring and firing, which kept me away from the products and customers that I loved. With major investors, your equity and return is diluted and delayed.

Small Business 311

Small Business Small Business Administration SBA Equity 311

Ben's Blog

APRIL 1, 2011

By far the most difficult skill for me to learn as CEO was the ability to manage my own psychology. Organizational design, process design, metrics, hiring and firing were all relatively straightforward skills to master compared to keeping my mind in check. If you manage an organization of 1,000 people it is quite impossible.

Management 78

Management Cap Table Balance Sheet Bankruptcy 78

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 26, 2019

Find and focus on one reliable distribution mechanism before diluting your time diversifying. Either you haven’t hired great talent, or you have but you’re disempowering them. “New role” can mean sophistication, management, or a different job. Your values are defined by what you tolerate. Fix that now.

Restful 202

Restful Founder Revenue Acquisition 202

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 9, 2017

But that will dilute your focus, time and energy and mean you have less time you to drive the business forward and expand. When you first start out, you’ll have almost no choice but to get to know a bit about every aspect of managing, marketing, staffing and growing a business. It’s also your money and you want it done properly.

Founder 68

Founder Dilution Web Development SEO 68

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. x $125k which is equal to $31.25k.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

Manager or Junior Engineer 0.2 - 0.33. Should founders have anti-dilution rights? I was originally hired as a contractor, developing a SaaS app from scratch, including DB design and coding. Like hire a company to determine what the fair market value is for each of those companies as if they were to sell it. CEO 5 - 10.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

How to give away too much too soon: Most early-stage companies make the mistake of making option grants to new hires at all levels that are too aggressive and distort the capital structure of the company to a degree that damages future professional investment. Let me try to advance a few rules of thumb to help guide you here.

Equity 62

Equity Stock Options Vesting Early Stage 62

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

Below, we talk to Glen Mello , Managing Director of Silicon Valley Bank’s accelerator team in Boston. We’d look at a company and the relationship we have with investors, management team, founders, etc. NVV: Is there any dilution? As a startup grows, venture debt becomes a viable option to continue that growth.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 16, 2016

But entrepreneurs face other concerns that compete with this growth focus, including hiring, maintaining current revenue sources and distinguishing themselves from the competition. Manage cash flow. But take it from what a good friend and advisor once said to me: “Ego is dilutive to net worth.”. Hell or high water.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Balance Sheet Small Business Administration Technical Review 100

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

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 30, 2022

The We Working system will eliminate the need for human managers to organize teams and monitor performance because it is powered by autonomy and trust among peers. . 15- Study supply chains and hiring trends. Thanks to Marilyn Gaskell, True People Search ! #13- 13- Show more authenticity. Photo Credit: Cody Candee.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Green Technical Review Social Media 120

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Since 2017 we’ve managed $3 million in revenue-based financing, which helps cash-strapped technology companies grow. Benefits: Non-dilutive, flexible credit offerings that fit SMB or enterprise SaaS. Alternative Capital. “ You qualify if you have $5k+ MRR. Rational burn profile, up to 50% of revenue at close, scaling down.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

A cap table will help you in the strategic management of business decisions. This can be helpful when you are hiring a COO for the company, and the candidate asks to get percentage ownership in the company. A properly outlined ESOP can make or break your plans for future hires and exponentially growing your business.

Cap Table 112

Cap Table Pre-Money Valuation Stock Options Option Pool 112

Agile VC

JULY 11, 2012

While ownership and control of the management company matters , these stakes are rarely monetizable at least in the VC business (unlike the buyout world where huge firms like Blackstone, KKR, and Apollo have IPO’d to the great financial benefit of the founders). To a lesser extent the desire for greater industry prestige is a factor.

Silicon Valley 240

Silicon Valley Carried Interest Cofounder Boston 240

Hunter Walker

JUNE 9, 2021

And frankly, much of the venture industry is moving too slowly, making incremental hires or diluting the impact of their diversity statements with self-serving content marketing efforts. A first time manager might be raising a $5-$50m fund but large institutional investors write $10m, $25m, $50m+ checks into venture funds.

Columbus 135

Columbus Institutional Investors Dilution Early Stage 135

The Startup Magazine

JULY 1, 2022

Finance is how you manage your finances, including budgeting, accounting, and bookkeeping. Equity financing can give you a lot of cash upfront, but it can also dilute your ownership stake in your company. How To Manage And Grow Your Company. This includes hiring employees, marketing your business, and expanding your operations.

Technology 137

Technology Venture Capital Finance Startup 137

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

My personal belief is that since everything comes down to the product, the best founders are product managers. The most important hiring criteria for your executives is cultural fit. As CEO, you are responsible for every hire. Until Fab reached 150 people, Bradford and I interviewed every single person we hired.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108