Steve Blank

APRIL 3, 2018

It does mean that success in building a company that scales depends on finding product/market fit, enough customers, enough financing, enough great employees, distribution channels, etc. These are entrepreneurial skills you need to rapidly acquire or find a co-founder who already has them. Lessons Learned.

Technical Review 334

Technical Review Entrepreneur Artificial Inteligence Cofounder 334

View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

As seed rounds have atomized, it’s not uncommon for founders to raise 3 or even 4 rounds prior to a series A. The reality is that if a founder raised every one of these rounds, and lead investors always got their “target” ownership, the level of dilution would be ridiculous. Founders with limited experience. should be avoided.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2018

Sloan kept the corporate staff small and focused on policymaking, corporate finance, and planning. If you’re following Tesla, you might be interested to know that Sloan wasn’t the founder of GM. Where are the charitable foundations, business schools, and hospitals named after the founder of GM? What happened to him?

Michigan 268

Michigan Cofounder Stock Forecast 268

Up and Running

AUGUST 30, 2021

Entrepreneurs have to get really comfortable with rejection, especially as a first-time founder. This is what most founders do. More often than not, whatever it is you are building will require a complementary skill set, whether that’s business/finance, sales/marketing, or design/engineering. Solve the rest later.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Lean Colorado Engineer 132

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

I left the meeting and had to attend a 3-hour board meeting where two founders have been fighting and each want the other one fired. But your co-founder had been senior at one of the big enterprise software companies and if I remember correctly American Express had run a big pilot with you. She was one of the lead engineers at Uber.

Software Review 381

Software Review Churn Rate Due Diligence New York 381

Hunter Walker

JUNE 7, 2014

Founders are building small, focused teams based on people they worked with previously and referrals from their networks. And search engines like sourcing.io help you build a specific list based on skills you’re seeking. Hiring Has Changed: Before the press was a way of generating interest for hiring.

Technical Review 117

Technical Review CTO Hire Finance Stealth 117

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

One of the first bets we made in Agtech was Grove started by two young, passionate engineers out of MIT – Gabe and Jamie. Tack on the challenges with land, bee population decline, heavy use of ecologically destructive fertilizers and pesticides and extreme food waste and this adds up to a real global challenge. .

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Software Review Founder Boston 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Quick summary: Be careful not to have too many co-founders. I don’t think VCs care as much about co-founders & economics as people think. Engineering is critical but it is not everything. Equally – a great VP Finance can be leveraged well to take on finance, legal, HR and much of the operational tasks.

Cofounder 388

Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 388

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As the idea went from innovating on software & systems to launching a company to rolling it out in the field brought on Rahul Gandhi as his co-founder to physically launch the company. what your product & engineering thought they cared about and you adapt your offering.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Remember that it might take two engineers a week to implement something, but a few debates and some research might itself involve an entire engineering and product for a week as well. At WP Engine we’re extremely collaborative across teams. Huge effort. Some things take less time to implement than to estimate or to debate.

Engineer 264

Engineer Framework Social Media Acquisition 264

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 20, 2008 The engineering managers lament I was inspired to write The product managers lament while meeting with a startup struggling to figure out what had gone wrong with their product development process. This engineering manager is a smart guy, and very experienced.

Software Review 164

Software Review Engineer Management Technical Review 164

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 17, 2018

by Felix Winstone, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Talkative. As a startup co-founder with a growing team, here are the recruiting tips I’ve learnt over the last couple of years. Robert Metcalfe, co-founder and CEO of 3Com, says you need to think about it as “recruiting, not hiring”. Hiring = Sales. Be Specific.

Cofounder 140

Cofounder Elevator Pitch Hiring Dividend 140

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

Founders vs. Early Employees To help with this discussion, let me start with a definition of "early employee." The first few people into a startup are on a spectrum of founder vs. early employee. Founders are likely not paid for a long time and have a sizeable equity percentage for early risk and having the concept.

Early Stage 391

Early Stage Equity CTO Hire Sweat Equity 391

Steve Blank

JANUARY 21, 2015

Just before the holidays I had coffee with Anne, an ex MBA student running a fairly large product group at a search engine company, now out trying to raise money for her own startup. Michael Bloomberg has yet to get his due for engineering the New York entrepreneurial ecosystem. Women seem to be more represented as founders.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley New York City New York Venture Capital 120

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

The first post drilled down into the often-overlooked notion of “market-engineering” and why it’s so critical. All of this is part of the “market-engineering” that must be performed alongside product-engineering. We advise founders and teams to build systems and processes with the right foundation early.

Framework 118

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 118

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

Doing Reference Checks on VCs “Try to speak to at least one founder that the investor has worked with in a failed investment. The Seed VC Decision Tree “If the market is attractive and there just isn’t great founder/market fit, we will be open minded as well. This is not always easy to do. ” (Rob Go).

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

Version One Ventures

AUGUST 26, 2016

Founders should focus their time and efforts on the areas that create the most value. When debating whether to hire in one area versus another, you should prioritize based on founders’ interest/knowledge in certain areas. 2 nd hire: VP of Finance. 2 nd hire: VP of Finance. 5 th hire: VP Product. 5 th hire: VP Product.

Part-Time VPE 60

Part-Time VPE Management Finance Vertical 60

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 21, 2013

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the unsung hero of many start-ups: the other founder. A lot has been written about the founder/CEO and her growth and evolution as a company grows. Larry Page is the other founder. The other founder usually begins with a particular range of responsibilities that comliment the founder.

Cofounder 45

Cofounder Founder Part-Time VPE Portfolio 45

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

Thus the top priority of every entrepreneur who wants funding should be to build and highlight their “dream team” of co-founders, executives and advisers, to attract the biggest and best investors. Even if your product is a technological marvel, I look for balanced strength on the team in finance, marketing and operations.

Sweat Equity 152

Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Software Review 152

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 4, 2017

Varsha not only invests but also provides operating and strategic advice based on her experiences as a former founder and operating executive. Sam Decker is the founder of Mass Relevance, Clearhead and Mashbox so he is in the perfect position to help entrepreneurs. Mark Andreessen. Sam Decker.

Angel Investor 185

Angel Investor Entrepreneur Software Engineering Operations 185

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 13, 2015

Founders typically revert to whatever they’re already expert in, and decide they need more of that. So, a technical founder decides she needs another developer, or a sales-oriented founder decides she needs another sales person. Examples: You hire the VP of Engineering for Facebook.

Part-Time VPE 120

Part-Time VPE Hiring Retention Revenue 120

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2019

The first post drilled down into the often-overlooked notion of “market-engineering” and why it’s so critical. All of this is part of the “market-engineering” that must be performed alongside product-engineering. We advise founders and teams to build systems and processes with the right foundation early.

Framework 104

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 104

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 22, 2013

Crowdfunding, the new in-thing in micro-financing that’s taken the world by storm thanks to the likes of Kickstarter , takes a twist with new crowdfunding site CrowdIt. We think the business networking possibilities alone can transform crowdfunding into a true economic engine that is ready to jumpstart new enterprises of all kinds.”.

Networking 212

Networking Missouri Early Stage Cofounder 212

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

by Rhys Arkins, founder of Key Location. Succeeding in finance is probably one of the most “slam dunk” ways to wealth in any country, and Singapore even more so. Electrical Engineering. Although less known than finance and real estate, one of Singapore’s largest industries has been its electronics industry.

Singapore 100

Singapore South Korea Technical Review Finance 100

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. Every Flexible VC structure allows founders to access immediate risk capital while preserving exit, growth trajectory, and ownership optionality. . Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

YoungUpstarts

MAY 14, 2018

Marks, founder and managing partner of High Rock Partners and author of “ Middle Market M & A: Handbook for Investment Banking and Business Consulting “ Conventional wisdom says that a company grows by reaching new customers, increasing its workforce, expanding marketing or launching new products or services. by Kenneth H.

Acquisition 109

Acquisition Finance Raleigh Mezzanine 109

blog.captainrecruiter.com

MARCH 8, 2012

Technical Co-Founders Are A Myth. Two years ago I got the bug to do an online recruiting startup and I began the hunt to find a technical co-founder - a software engineer who works for no cash - to help me build my dream website. I learned something: technical co-founders are a myth. Captain Recruiter. Real Advice.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Founder Software Engineering 40

Steve Blank

JULY 25, 2011

Scientists and engineers as founders and startup CEOs is one of the least celebrated contributions of Silicon Valley. ESL, the first company I worked for in Silicon Valley , was founded by a PhD in Math and six other scientists and engineers. It might be its most important. ———-. Cold War Spin Outs.

Engineer 305

Engineer Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital 305

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 7, 2018

by Humberto Farias, CEO and co-founder at Concepta. This means finance, operations, sales, and marketing departments as well as leadership can all access the same data. The digital revolution is disrupting the traditional business model for small and medium businesses (SMBs). This also creates a place for hosting all of your data.

Artificial Inteligence 143

Artificial Inteligence Analytics SCRUM Cofounder 143

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Series Seed Financing Documents Blog. Series Seed Financing Documents. Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Series Seed Financing Documents : 1 Reblog. This is all built into a typical founder stock purchase agreement. This is great.simplified funding/founders docs out of the box. SeriesSeed.com.

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 9, 2010

By definition, if you're a startup founder you're explicitly not your customer. founder Blogger & Twitter. "If If the VP of Engineering thinks the target customer is just like him/her, you're doomed. Tags: Essays customers feedback finance investment pricing sales. It's the spark of inspiration, not the strategy.

Software Review 312

Software Review Part-Time VPE Houston Cofounder 312

Genuine VC

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

When Chad Pytel introduced me to Bryan Helmkamp , CEO/Co-founder of Code Climate , I knew that I had to pay attention. I shared a link to Code Climate with a number of CTOs/VPs of Engineering in my network, both inside and outside the NextView portfolio, just asking for their quick opinion. It’s indispensable.”

Software Review 191

Software Review Chad Ruby PHP 191

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 28, 2022

My wife and I both worked as mechanical engineers, so we wanted a name that paid tribute to our profession. Momentum is a term that is highly related to engineering, as it relates to motion and dynamics. Initially, we brainstormed ideas and keywords linked to our main business topic of personal finance and parenting.

Naming 144

Naming Entrepreneur Jordan Merger 144

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 28, 2022

I learned from her that even if finances are an issue, it's worth taking risks if you know your idea would change the market. A very successful entrepreneur and one that is inspiring to me for many reasons are Micheal Dubin, the founder of Dollar Shave Club. 6- Muhammad Yunus. Photo Credit: Monika Nowaczyk. 10- Micheal Dubin.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Green Cofounder Trinidad 113

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

None of that can compare with being the CEO of a startup facing a rapidly diminishing bank account, your best engineer quitting, working until 10pm and rushing to the airport and catching a redeye for a “ Hail Mary ” close of a customer, with your board demanding you do it faster. Fund raising skills. The feedback varied from: “.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Early Stage Technical Review Startup 332

Steve Blank

JULY 24, 2012

A year later my co-founders and I had formed Epiphany. As other startups were quickly automating all the department of large corporations (SAP-manufacturing, Oracle-finance, Siebel and Onyx-Sales) our first thought was that our company was going to automate enterprise-marketing departments. I Know A Great Customer.

Seattle 259

Seattle Cofounder Engineer Sales 259

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

Clearly the founders and senior executives of a company are the most valuable resources and their time should be maximized on the most valuable tasks. I watched Ophir Tanz achieve much in his early days at the Founder & CEO at GumGum, which has now become quite a large business. I have written about the next phases many times.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150