Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

Many employees forget that there isn’t even a market for startup stock, until after the company has gone public, which hasn’t happened positively to many companies in the last few years. CEO brought in to replace the founder, 5 - 10% CTO, CFO, VP of Marketing or Sales, 1.5 - 3% Chief Engineer or Architect, 1 - 1.5%

Equity 237

Equity Stock Options Advisory Board Stock 237

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

Is the entire sector destined to a sudden and quick demise, similar to the dot-com bust of 2001, with widespread stock market collapses and mass layoffs? Most of the costs incurred by Microsoft in developing new versions of Windows involve paying engineers to write software codes. These costs are largely fixed.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review United States Software Review China 170

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 29, 2015

Many employees forget that there isn’t even a market for startup stock, until after the company has gone public, which hasn’t happened positively to many companies in the last few years. CEO brought in to replace the founder, 5 - 10% CTO, CFO, VP of Marketing or Sales, 1.5 - 3% Chief Engineer or Architect, 1 - 1.5%

Stock Options 120

Stock Options Stock Advisory Board Startup 120

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Employee Equity: How Much? 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. Once you have assembled a core team that is operating the business, you need to move from art to science in terms of granting employee equity.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

The very last email I got from him told me the following: Thank you for your time Tony, I understand everyone wants a huge salary, no risk and a cut of the profits. And let’s be honest, most employees, advisors, etc. Otherwise, you’ll end up spending time with people who are not going to be interested.

Technical Cofounder 241

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2010

Many employees forget that there isn’t even a market for stock, until after the company has gone public, which hasn’t happened to many companies in the last few years. Thus, stock doesn’t “pay the mortgage” today, so to speak. Advisory Board Member, 1% Senior Engineer,3 -.7% 7% Product Manager,2 -.3% Marty Zwilling.

Stock 144

Stock Stock Options Advisory Board Startup 144

www.joelonsoftware.com

MARCH 24, 2010

Fog Creek explicitly recognizes that many good software engineers have no desire whatsoever to do "management" or to take on a formal personnel management role. One of the purposes of the Fog Creek Professional Ladder is to create a career path with promotions for engineers who simply do not want to do management stuff at all.

Software Review 48

Software Review Stock Options Salary Technical Review 48

Hearpreneur

APRIL 12, 2019

Before becoming a business owner I used to be a manager at the Boeing company and managed a team of engineers working on the 787 Dreamliner. No matter how well my team did I knew that at the end of the year I would earn a predetermined salary with a small bonus that was based on the company stock performance.

Entrepreneur 128

Entrepreneur St. Louis Florida Colorado 128

Hunter Walker

MAY 13, 2023

per engineer.” Especially in the early days of mobile/iOS engineering, if you hired strong technical talent into your early stage company, you basically created an acquisition outcome floor. “Worst case scenario we’ll sell to a larger startup or public company for about ~$1.5m of the time my answer is no f **g way].

Early Stage 118

Early Stage Cap Table Acquisition Sales 118

www.instigatorblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Changing Equity Structures for Early Startup Employees Tweet Recently someone asked me for advice on how much equity they should give to their early employees. His company had just closed an early round of funding and he wanted to cement the employee relationships. Those first employees will take 0.5-1%

Equity 41

Equity Employee Startup Vesting 41

keen.io

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

Engineer, arranger, communicator, amateur photographer. For example: Don’t accept equity compensation (stock shares) without knowing the percentage of the company you’ll own. And if the CEO says, “Salaries will be adjusted to market value soon,” that’s probably a best-case scenario. Startup Equity for Early Employees.

Salary 50

Salary Equity Startup San Francisco 50

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

And it turns out that employee reviews matter. Stock option top-ups after a few years are vital retention mechanisms. People care about salary increases and benchmarking to market and even if you can’t pay market you sure as hell better know what “market” is. Yet being a buttoned up company requires all this.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 21, 2009

For example, I'm an engineer, so my first answer to "Why don't you have more customers?" If you honestly can't imagine that there's anything a full-time person could do that would generate enough revenue to cover their salary, that's not a bad thing. It could be a new partner willing to work for stock. Cartoon by Andertoons.

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Startup Revenue Cofounder Sales 315

Ben's Blog

OCTOBER 6, 2011

Interestingly, one of the first things that you learn when you run an engineering organization is that a good Quality Assurance organization cannot build a high quality product, but it can tell you when the development team builds a low quality product. The Employee Lifecycle. Did all of your employees receive their reviews on time?

Management 78

Management Development Team Review Stock Options Technical Review 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2011

Many employees forget that there isn’t even a market for stock, until after the company has gone public, which hasn’t happened to many companies in the last few years. Thus, stock doesn’t “pay the mortgage” today, so to speak. Advisory Board Member, 1% Senior Engineer,3 -.7% 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

Equity 234

Equity Advisory Board Stock Options Stock 234

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 6, 2021

For instance, Steve Jobs had no engineering skill, but he had clear design ideas and knew how to build a great brand. If your vision is powerful enough, you can make up for this by offering recruits stock options. Many startups recruit employees in this way. It’s not just about reducing your workload.

Limited Liability Company 163

Limited Liability Company Silicon Valley Business Model Stock Options 163

Ben's Blog

MAY 18, 2012

Aaron Patzer, founder of Mint, expressed the sentiment well when he said: “ When valuing a startup, add $500k for every engineer, and subtract $250k for every MBA.” It got so bad that at one point an MBA employee of mine asked for a promotion because most of his classmates at Stanford had been promoted and he felt left out.

Hiring 78

Hiring Silicon Valley Engineer Demand 78

www.payne.org

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Startup Equity For Employees. 2 Stock Classes: Common and Preferred. 5 Stock vs Options. 6 Founders / Restricted Stock. 7 Salary vs Equity. Important disclaimer: Ive got experience negotiating stock compensation packages from both sides of the table. Stock Classes: Common and Preferred. 3 Dilution.

Equity 56

Equity Employee Vesting Preferred Stock 56

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 21, 2017

They really care about their employees, and have enough money to buy a fair amount of happiness. It was definitely a huge leap to leave the corporate world (and the salary and security that comes with it) and start a company. Remember when someone told you money doesn’t buy happiness? 4 – Sr. Sales Account Manager.

Entrepreneur 48

Entrepreneur Investment Bankers PR Social Media 48

The Next Web

OCTOBER 7, 2013

“It kinda sucks to be engineer #1.”. That’s what a couple of my friends – engineers at Google and Bloomberg who have been following the rise of startup culture with intrigue – told me recently. They were referring to non-founder engineers, most commonly the first hire for technology businesses. Engineer #1?

Engineer 129

Engineer Dilution Option Pool Vesting 129

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

They’re looking to be paid properly in the context of the overall salary structure, including cash, benefits, and equity, and to be paid commensurate with performance. Startups often hand out shares, options, and warrants for employees and for contractors rendering needed services.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Everyone at our startup was working on startup starvation salaries, and Bob had taken a large pay cut to join us. The engineers were pulling off miracles on a daily basis, we were all taking fumes for salaries, but our payoff will be when our stock is worth something. No bonuses in a startup. Lessons Learned.

Japan 229

Japan Asia Silicon Valley Salary 229

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 18, 2018

If you do not report expenditure or inform employees of potential rebates you may end up paying out a small fortune. The reason for this is often that employers provide clothing to employees then have various obligations relating to tax and National Insurance. In What Cases Can Employees Claim Tax Relief?

Employee 61

Employee Salary Revenue Stock 61

Berkonomics

APRIL 4, 2024

The number of employees grows. And then company grows… Once the company hits high growth or larger size, it is logical to follow the standard practice in the creation of two standing committees composed of outside board members (not employees or executives) – the compensation committee and the audit committee.

Covenant 48

Covenant Software Review Stock Options Vesting 48

www.startupnorth.ca

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Home Events Contact Jobs StartupIndex Founders versus early employees by David Crow on September 10th, 2009 in Resources Not everyone can be a founder. But for every founder, there is an early employee that takes near equal risks in joining an early-stage company. David Beisel We need to celebrate the employees at startups.

Employee 41

Employee Founder Salary Equity 41

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

To turn your company’s stock into cash, you engaged a top-notch investment bank (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs) and/or their Silicon Valley compatriots (Hambrecht & Quist, Montgomery Securities, Robertson Stephens). The founders along with all the other employees would vest their stock over 4 years (earning 1/48 a month).

Founder 252

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 252

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

A key employee left the company, which caused the company to fail. A suitable replacement is too rare; it takes too long to find someone, convince them to join for almost no salary, and get them up-to-speed and productive. Which means they have to stock large amounts of gasoline. “One key employee” is brittle.

Software Review 294

Software Review Channel Revenue Non-Compete 294

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

We all know that we use renewal to be thoughtful about our futures so why not take the time this week to take stock in where you want to be a year from now and what steps you could take personally to make a difference. They hire their initial co-founders and early employees and everybody has a sense of “mission.”

Leadership 150

Leadership Southern California San Diego Hiring 150

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 25, 2018

It was then profitable, but of course we weren’t paying ourselves salaries (unlike my consulting gig). I built the eCommerce engine myself and self-funded the business. We service 350 retail clients today with 100 employees, 40 partners, and a solution that is rated #1 in our industry by Forrester Research and Jupiter Research.

Bootstrapping 48

Bootstrapping Austin Equity Cofounder 48

www.mint.com

MARCH 9, 2010

Go there now » Sign up or log in to mint.com Updates Drop Your Debt to Win 2 comments How To The Top 5 Customer Complaint Letters — And What You Can Learn From Them 5 comments Investing In Graphics: What Is a Stock? Has anyone in the engineering team actually shipped a product? 2 comments Mint Life Know your money.

Software Review 68

Software Review Startup Post-Money Valuation Technical Review 68

Transformify

DECEMBER 6, 2021

You need the right WFM software, from model management and operations to tracking your employees’ leave. Here are some of the best apps that you can use to help you with everything, from employee attendance to team engagement. Transformify can help build on your human resources, managing all your employees from start to finish.

Software Review 52

Software Review Software Employee Management 52

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

How to Divide Equity to Startup Founders, Advisors, and Employees. The part that I’d like to zero in on is when you’ve got a high growth company what are some of the best practices out there to distribute equity to the founders, advisors, and employees? Equity for Employees. Lead Engineer 0.5 - 1. CEO 5 - 10.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

the loan converts at 15-20% discout to the new money coming in) or your investor will get “warrant coverage&# which is similar to an employee stock option in that it gives the investor the right but not the obligation to invest in your company in the future at a defined priced.

Startup 290

Startup Burn Rate Warrant Bankruptcy 290

grasshopper.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Equity-based pay is often used by the founders of young start-ups who want to grow their businesses but cannot offer big salaries to qualified professionals. Typical arrangements seek to either partially or fully compensate service providers with stock in the company in exchange for hard work. These are: Senior engineer: 0.3%

Equity 41

Equity Vesting Sweat Equity Salary 41

The Next Web

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Hire everyone you need as an employee. Three of my cofounders are engineering masterminds (with various skillsets.) It’s obvious that a company building an online backup service and its own cloud storage platform requires strong engineering talent. To start Backblaze, all five of us committed to a year without salary.

Cofounder 143

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Kenya Dilution 143

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

Now that I’ve mapped out key first steps that need to be taken and important cultural nuances to be aware of when expanding your business into Asia , many CEOs ask me if they can actually locate their engineering and product teams here and expect the same level of quality they get in the Valley. My simple answer is: absolutely.

Silicon Valley 121

Silicon Valley Asia Engineer Stock Options 121

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

How many employees would a medium-sized business have in your definition? Jason: If I’m managing my whole business with this tool, I don’t have 100 employees. you can’t have one employee because meetings are just too easy and you don’t really have them formally. You can’t have 5,000 employees.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220