Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development. One of the biggest mistakes I see early-stage startups making is hiring “seasoned&# sales professionals or hiring people too senior, too early. MORE >>

If there are 85,000 shares issued to the founders, then a plan calling for 15,000 shares in a pool reserved for future hires is appropriate, making the fully diluted shares 100,000.  We call these “trigger” provisions, in which selected options negotiated for a select group of senior managers, fully vest to 100% upon any change of control.  MORE >>

know this is unconventional thinking but if you want to understand more I cover my rationale on this post about The Most Common Early Stage Startup Mistakes and again in this post covering how to implement startup prenuptials.  You might be great at networking and leading but bad at planning and managing.  You’ll be fine.  MORE >>

Managing and Properly Growing The Business – this includes several things, depending on the size of the enterprise: managing employees, administration, hiring, firing, leases, expenses, unhappy employees, fixing other problems, etc. Weekends are meaningless. Your mind is thinking 24 hours a day, even when you sleep. MORE >>

Over the years I have found CompStudy  to be the best source for equity and cash compensation for top management at technology startups across the nation. For the most part these are early stage technology startups that have received institutional financing. Management StartupsFounder Compensation. Title. Bonus. Equity. MORE >>