Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. Of course, we all realize that this approach will take longer, and could jeopardize both roles if not managed effectively.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors. Of course, their answer is that the second intends to get to market faster, but every engine has limits regardless the fuel applied. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

But not anal if one founder who shares equity graciously with early employees who are treated as “co-founders” My idea startup team is heaving on tech personnel but also has strong product management. Engineering is critical but it is not everything. Engineering is critical but it is not everything.

Cofounder 388

Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 388

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

He wrote a post this long weekend on how he manages the board of DataSift. In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. Rob Bailey is the CEO of DataSift. You should read it.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Here’s the punchline: if you run your company as if you have closed a VC equity financing round even though you actually closed a convertible debt round, you’ll be in much better shape when it comes time to raise your Series A financing. So why would you treat your debt investors (somewhat) like equity investors?

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

On the other side of the equation, there are a growing number of design, development, and digital media shops who are hungry to expand, or swap focus, to building a company that’s more than just a service shop. Can a shop work for just equity? A blend of cash and equity? So, can an entrepreneur pair up with a dev shop?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Developer 60

www.lanceglasser.com

MAY 13, 2012

A Model for Return on Engineering Expenses. Product development. Queuing theory and product development. A Model for Return on Engineering Expenses. The Essential Product Investigation Phase Gate. The Essential Product Investigation Phase Gate. So you want to ship the product early?

CTO 40

CTO CTO Hire Technical Review Architecture 40

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

After all, sweat equity can make up for a trim marketing budget, but it would be hard to make up for cuts in product development and customer service without sacrificing customer experience. Current and new customers care a lot more about product or service quality, and the value of your item.

Sweat Equity 60

Sweat Equity Equity Sales PR 60

Austin Startup

JULY 23, 2010

You see, in addition to being a fine example of a veteran software engineering leader, my neighbor Dave Thomas is also one of the top trainers in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (or BJJ) that you will find anywhere. And, there is a secure, members-only component that allows team or group members to manage their accounts.

Sweat Equity 60

Sweat Equity Technical Review Software Review Austin 60

blog.aparttimecto.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Flexibility - You won’t need to commit to something, either cash, equity or involving other people, upfront. Cons: Money - Unless you have cash to pay, the pool of developers willing to work for equity is small. Access - Good developers are tough to find. Cons: Cost - Most development shops work on a cash basis.

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Equity Vesting 40

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. Are the logistics manageable? Is there a development step that you must take to fulfill demand for a particular use case, and, if so, how does that cost get absorbed?

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

It’s true that the carrier then gets their huge slice for being the billing and payment engine but the idea is that you as a website more than make up for this in terms of customer conversion. The investment will be used for product development initiatives. It’s a hot but still relatively nascent market area.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

Up and Running

JANUARY 30, 2014

About three months ago, a friend and I started Credential Cabinet , a service to help professionals manage their credentials and continuing education credits. My partner is a full-time developer and math teacher, and I’m an engineer. Marketing the site and creating a business behind the product proved much more challenging.

Incubator 105

Incubator New York City Venture Capital Startup 105

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Not surprisingly, the list above also is ranked from least to most equity stake in an investment for the investor, relative to the cash they invest. How would one set up such a startup to eventually raise capital from outside VCs, who will be wary of ‘dead equity’ (i.e., equity that belongs to departed cofounders)? The cliffs?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

Unlike other incubator-led programs, this workshop is open to anyone who wants to learn, and it does not require companies take investment or give out equity. This workshop presents a new methodology that will allow you to bring new products -- and companies -- to life. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

And, oh by the way, we also really like the idea of the 1M/1M entrepreneurs building valuation and negotiating leverage through these business development efforts, instead of signing off large chunks of their company in form of equity early on. The game has started getting some traction already, and has a good virality index.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

blog.nahurst.com

JULY 19, 2010

This covers one of the most common situations I encounter: For a pre-funding web startup whose team includes only a non-technical cofounder, how much equity should an incoming technical cofounder get? This is an area that varies widely and can significantly impact how much equity a technical cofounder receives (if they take more salary).

Technical Cofounder 43

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Equity Salary 43

viniciusvacanti.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

You’re starting a new photo sharing site and you were the project manager for Facebook’s photo app; you’re starting a music label disruptor and you worked for a music label for the last five years. You know how to product manage and you’ve hired programmers before. Have Domain Expertise. Any advice?

Cofounder 43

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Founder Ruby 43

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

The single most important factor to raising capital for any tech startup is the management team. If you have a technical background and you are focused on product development, consider a co-founder with a sales and marketing background that can focus on selling your world class product. Series A to Series B.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

And when you look at the tools that we use, I mean we’ve made so many technological advances, but really to manage a meeting there’s not a practical tool available. We use email; we use Word; we use task manager; we use a file sharing tool. They are so happy that they finally have a tool to manage their business.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 5, 2010

It is the ultimate product development get-started guide to Lean Startup. It is the ultimate product development get-started guide to Lean Startup. Amazing lean startup resources Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science? Its called the " The Lean Startup Bundle " and it is available this week only.

Lean 153

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 153

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 7, 2022

Typically, my managers frowned upon these thoughts and suggestions. By establishing a company dedicated to inventive and speedy product development, I am able to use cutting-edge technologies and consistently innovate faster than competitors. I started a wealth management firm because I knew I was the only hope for some people.

Entrepreneur 118

Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review Non-Compete 118

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 30, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, October 30, 2008 John Doerrs 10 lean startup tips I just saw video of John Doerrs talk yesterday at VentureBeat’s “How to manage your start-up in the downturn&# roundtable event. Everyone from the receptionist to engineers is selling. Offer equity instead of cash.

Lean 121

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 121

The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

I have heard many founders — even in the first few months of product development — expect to raise seed rounds, pay themselves salaries, etc. You may end up a company in the difficult position of having to scale back or become defensive, due to market evolution, management blunders, or any combination.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Who better to answer than the company's engineering lead. As if managing were a waste of time. It may be that all the doomsayers are right.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

And it’s a combined product management and technical function, to boost an already positive growth curve into something even bigger.” (via Startups don’t have access to the same resources or brand equity. An Epic List of 100 Growth Hacks for Startups by Search Engine Journal. via AndrewChen.co). …Really?

Retention 48

Retention Metrics Acquisition Conversion 48

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about gender equity in the high-tech and entrepreneurship worlds lately. Engineers are offenders in this category too, but so is any gender-segregated activity, like an all-female PR or marketing team. For more on this subject, take a look at The product managers lament.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Sweden Continuous Deployment 167

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

what are the most crucial steps to be taken by a new tech startup when outsourcing major part of the tech to IT firms or outsourcing “product development” eg new social media website project? Near shoring development with your team (ex: your team is based in Canada / India) is cool, but not outsourcing. Then launch.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

He , Srikanth Narayan , Ben Werdmuller von Elgg , Jo Vi Ko , Justin Lee , Giovanni Tardini , David de Weerdt , Vineet Thanedar , Ryan Brideau , Jonathan Meiri , Rob Weedn , Krzysztof Kowalczyk , Greg Pilling , Kevin Leland , Parham Michael Ossareh , Dan Loewenherz , Mary Specht , Engin Erdo?an "I am a creative guy with a startup idea."

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

The best composition is probably one engineer whose passion lies in the pixels on the screen and another engineer whose passion is making bits fly really fast through servers. andrew chen great advice and really straight to the point – make a great product, focus on that and everything else will come. Sorry, folks.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Another great way to test your idea is to create a minimum viable product, or MVP. This is the simplest version of your product minus the frills and frosting. It’s a particularly popular strategy in the world of product development and is used to quickly and quantitatively test a product or a product feature.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

And the same time we were also going to do all the other strategic stuff about pricing, positioning, promotion and customer discovery and validation to help engineering understand customer needs. In an early stage startup, instead of sales being up front, the point departments are likely to be product development and customer development.

Silicon Valley 127

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 127

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

If you’re a business major – go check out the Engineering Society’s monthly meeting. One’s a PM and the other’s an engineer. If so, shoot me an intro email at ryoma8ito@gmail.com A little about me: - Degree in computer engineering w/ management science option - Built several web 2.0

Cofounder 66

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 66

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

signup, upgrade, trial pricing Zuora – online subscription management FeeFighters – find the cheapest credit card processors HealPay – Collections made easy Customer Support Tender – support, knowledgebase tool for your site GetSatisfaction - conversations between companies / customers.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

It is right that Google and Facebook pride themselves on being engineering organizations (note - so did Microsoft). It is interesting to see the emphasis that both Twitter and Quora have put on product design, not just engineering. are just emerging for business people (customer development, business model generation,).

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 51

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Task Management. Project Management Tools. Firebase : Are all your developers front-end engineers? Google Custom Search Engine. Subscription Payments / Management. Managing APIs. Customer Relationship Management. Contractor Management. Part 4- Closing. Rand Fishkin. Start Spanish.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53