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Equity for Early Employees in Early Stage Startups

SoCal CTO

I was asked by a reader how much equity he should give out to early employees and to service providers in a very early stage startup. Founders vs. Early Employees To help with this discussion, let me start with a definition of "early employee." Lead Engineer 0.5 – 1 5+ years experience Engineer 0.33 – 0.66

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Early-stage Regional Venture Funds–part 2 of 3 of Bigger in Bend

Steve Blank

Dino Vendetti a VC at Bay Partners, moved up to Bend, Oregon on a mission to engineer Bend into a regional technology cluster. Part 2: Early-stage Regional Venture Funds. Part 3: Engineering a Regional Tech Cluster. What’s Missing Is Early Stage Capital. Part 1: Bend, Oregon Ecosystem and Entrepreneurs.

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Startup CTO or Developer

TechEmpower

Hiring a hands-on lead developer might seem like the right move for an early stage startup. But hiring a lead developer, or even a VP of Engineering, can create a gap between the founders and the developers. But be careful, and mind the gap – the Founder-Developer Gap, that is! It might be.

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10 Marketing Lessons for Early-Stage Tech Startups

Both Sides of the Table

The following are some lessons I learned about early-stage startup marketing. For early-stage consumer companies I would be careful not to market futures at all. While all your competitors are trying to copy your model, you’re already on to the next thing on your engineering team.

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4 Ways Early Stage CTOs Can Learn to Roll With the Punches

ReadWriteStart

There’s always a tinge of “TBD” that accompanies the role of an early stage startup CTO. Early stage companies can’t immediately hire someone with the tech and executive know-how needed to handle the job. The post 4 Ways Early Stage CTOs Can Learn to Roll With the Punches appeared first on ReadWrite.

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10 Keys To Surviving Startup Cash Flow Requirements

Startup Professionals Musings

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Solicit funds from friends and family.

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Technical Advisors: Every Startup Needs One

TechEmpower

As noted in Symptoms of a Weak Development Team , this is a symptom of the old software engineering adage: The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time. Conclusion Bottom line – if you are an early-stage startup with online or mobile technology as part of your solution, you ABSOLUTELY NEED a technical advisor.