Both Sides of the Table

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What Happens When Startups Turn from Their Innovation Stage to Operational Excellence?

Both Sides of the Table

what your product & engineering thought they cared about and you adapt your offering. Whereas New York City has very high real estate costs and very high salaries, launching in Chicago and D.C. During the Systematize phase you learn how to take true customer input into account, you learn what customers actually care about (vs.

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Startup Grind Turns the Tables on Mark Suster

Both Sides of the Table

You know, the weird thing, Derek, and I should probably let you speak some time, but I was deeply technical when I went into Andersen consulting, and I got paid much less than engineers who graduated, because I had a degree in economics. They paid engineers $4,000 more entry-point. Engineering vs. non-engineering. [00:10:32]

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Choose Your VC Investor Carefully

Both Sides of the Table

For example, a recent phone call I had with a young entrepreneur straight out of one of the most prestigious engineering schools in America he asked, “I have an offer for $400,000 in seed money but the VC wants me to agree now to bring in a new CEO.&# This company is doing its SEED round and they already want to bring someone new in.

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The @TWTFelipe Story – A Tale of US Visa Policy Gone Awry (#startupvisa)

Both Sides of the Table

He came to the United States in 2001 to study Software Engineering at Auburn University. I wanted several of the software engineers to join me at our next startup but their employment was tied to BuildOnline. At the time he granted me permission to write about his story. I hope that didn’t have a stature of limitation!

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The Perils of Founder Fighting

Both Sides of the Table

He wanted more ability to push the product & engineering teams harder – he was, after all, the CEO. One founder wanted to keep their salaries very low to show solidarity with investors knowing that the business wasn’t working – the other fight financially strapped and didn’t want to make the sacrifice.

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Should You Consider Replacing Yourself as CEO?

Both Sides of the Table

For the entire first year after I funded the company he refused to take a salary and I had to admonish him to make sure he paid his expenses. We knew we had a valuable product that an acquiring company would gain greatly from and a world-class engineering and product team that would be valued by a buyer.

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How Great, Operationally-Focused CFO’s Can Transform Your Business

Both Sides of the Table

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. We are growing faster than at any time in the company’s history (which is a testament to sales, market, product, engineering and of course the founder & ceo!)