SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

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." Same Value for Sweat Equity as Investment Dollars?

Early Stage 391

Early Stage Equity CTO Hire Sweat Equity 391

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

I was just asked about a particular startup situation (seed stage, CMO hire, non-founder) and particularly what compensation and equity is appropriate. Seed Stage Compensation What are typical compensation numbers? Quick & Dirty How-To: Employee Stock Option Allocations

CTO Hire 329

CTO Hire Equity Seed Stage Option Pool 329

SoCal CTO

APRIL 18, 2012

Todd Gitlin of Safire Partners - a go to resource here in LA for recruiting C-level positions at startups - was nice enough to compile some data again this year (see last year's Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data ). Or they are looking at Hiring a CTO and want to see what salary and equity ranges look like. It has not.

CTO Hire 294

CTO Hire Salary Equity Los Angeles 294

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. Sometimes this is fatal for early stage companies. What Should You Do?

CTO Hire 170

CTO Hire Developer Founder Startup 170

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

SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

Generally I say that developers should be doing significant developer level testing, but in early-stage startups, testing falls back on the founders. Developers (and Founders) are challenged to know how much is okay in terms of bugs. Great question.

Technical Cofounder 280

Technical Cofounder Developer Fractional CTO CTO Hire 280

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

equity debate. Rethinking “F@#$ You Money” - Tony Wright dot com , August 2, 2010 Now that I’ve stepped down from RescueTime, I’m pondering my next thing (whether it’s a product role at a very early stage startup or spinning up my own for the 3rd time). Have convertible notes really won? Why do startups? via Urban Dictionary ).

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191