Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

Fred Wilson also wrote on a similar topic in his usual more succinct manner , with a great quote being: “One thing I know for sure is that those who advise and invest in startups cannot and should not meddle in the day to day decision making. It’s harmful and hurtful to the startup and those that lead it. Startup Lessons'

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Startup CTO Hire Sales Leadership 150

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SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

I think I’ve read Paul Graham’s post on “ Startup = Growth ” three or four times now. “The growth of a successful startup usually has three phases: There’s an initial period of slow or no growth while the startup tries to figure out what it’s doing. I talked about some of that here.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

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SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

I recently wrote a post about why I didn’t think early-stage startups should have COOs. What a luxury in a startup to have the number one person in the business get to focus on just strategy? Still, I’ll bet that functionally you divide areas of competence like sales & marketing, product, engineering, biz dev, etc.

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

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JUNE 27, 2011

I made every textbook mistake at my first startup, which is why I believe I was much more effective at my second one. The following are some lessons I learned about early-stage startup marketing. I worked with an entrepreneur who was to appear at a startup networking event where he was to talk about his company’s plans.

Early Stage 380

Early Stage Stealth Marketing Startup 380

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APRIL 26, 2016

There has been a lot of public debate over the past several weeks about whether it’s a good thing to be “gross margin positive” or not and commentary always reminds me that some people at startups don’t quite understand financial metrics or even how to think about which ones are healthy. And of course ultimately on profitability.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

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APRIL 8, 2010

Most technology startups seem to be founded by three types of people: product managers, engineers or biz dev types (MBAs and the like). I generally think that superstars are not the first people to hire in a startup.

Early Stage 350

Early Stage Startup Sales Campaign 350

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JULY 1, 2010

We all like to think of startups as “non hierarchic&# organizations and to some extent that should be true. I see two common mistakes in companies (not just in startups, in fact). Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. I’m not a big believer in too much hierarchy. Don’t skip.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

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OCTOBER 12, 2010

If you’re interested in recruiting sales people, I wrote on the topic of startup sales people: who to hire & when – understanding the roles of Journeymen, Mavericks & Superstars. Evangelical sales – Understanding startup sales people and process. Tags: Startup Advice. You learn by asking.

Hiring 346

Hiring Sales Startup Early Stage 346

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OCTOBER 8, 2014

Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US. billion in venture capital to LA’s technology startups and 2014 will shatter that figure. But to answer the actual question “Is there something going on in LA?”

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

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JUNE 21, 2014

Startups are hard. Which engineers dialed it in before a big release because it was during July 4th weekend? ” Who cut you in on their bonus because even though you’re “just an sales engineer” they know you really deserved more credit for this deal. We tell startup stories. You REALLY know.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Cofounder San Francisco Silicon Valley 320

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MARCH 21, 2013

I recently wrote a blog post in which I pointed out that many investors & advisors discourage enterprise startups from having a professional services (PS) business and I think this is a big mistake. I think it’s important for enterprise startups to layer in professional services into your revenue stream.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software IP Technical Review 321

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NOVEMBER 27, 2011

There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. Importantly we also discussed: should startups raise small amounts of money or large? how should you organize teams in a startup? 01:17 Background, before the Lean Startup.

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Lean Social Media PR 301

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NOVEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series of posts and I need to file this one under both Raising Venture Capital and Startup Advice. The last couple of years has also seen the huge initial success of Ycombinator, the Lean Startup and many other product driven approaches to going to market. Don’t know the running rate for engineers?

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

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OCTOBER 15, 2014

Much has been written about when it is time to hire a “professional CEO” to run a startup company and of course that has long been a norm in Silicon Valley when founders find that their inexperience may be a limiting factor in company growth ( know as the Peter Principle ). Startup Lessons' Onward & upward DataSift.

Founder 309

Founder CTO Hire Silicon Valley Leadership 309

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MAY 9, 2018

She was one of the lead engineers at Uber. Or maybe your strategy isn’t to go pitch them again but rather to invite them to an entrepreneur dinner that you’ve organized in the private room of a local restaurant and you’d like to invite them to meet 12 other startup founders. It’s hard to completely grok reading it. You’re in control.

Software Review 381

Software Review Churn Rate Due Diligence New York 381

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SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

So why is online video such an attractive market to build a startup? These markets represent about $600 billion of total spend between them, leaving tons of opportunities for startups to disrupt and grow large. And while Maker Studios has almost 50 engineers now, it isn’t the only MCN with tech chops. Startup Advice'

Video 339

Video Technical Review Distribution Aggregator 339

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AUGUST 10, 2013

As I’ve said before, all startups need to realize that every other company still has to see itself naked in the mirror in the morning. In my interview I talked about the biggest stress that really comes from startups – dealing with all the other people with whom you work. They are only one aspect of the startup experience.

Startup 412

Startup San Francisco LP Bankruptcy 412

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JUNE 27, 2013

Santa Monica is the place where the highest concentration of early-stage startups are created if you consider also the contiguous geography of Venice Beach. VC has operated as an “old boys club”, with access to capital often requiring entrance through an elite university engineering department in one of two cities.

Los Angeles 343

Los Angeles Las Vegas San Francisco Baltimore 343

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APRIL 10, 2014

I’d say 20% of startups I see level-up early after their A round. What they do with the money is add more engineers and maybe hiring a marketing person. The best ones bring in more executive leadership so you can appropriate allocate resources across sales, marketing, product, engineering and support. HR Startup Lessons'

Startup 381

Startup PR Finance Hiring 381

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JANUARY 6, 2014

Over time you start to figure out who you customers are and how to sell to them or how to get them to adopt your products if you’re a consumer-oriented startup. And I’ve also been convinced that it can be quite useful to have another startup company CEO on your board. As You Start to Mature.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

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MAY 19, 2016

Shireen had been studying for her masters in business at MIT and thinking about her own food allergies and Scott was a graduate of the mechanical engineering school at MIT with an emphasis in product design. We are predisposed to backing founders who solve problems in which they have personal knowledge that is authentic.

Cofounder 207

Cofounder Differentiation Hosting Design 207

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NOVEMBER 1, 2009

This is part of my ongoing posts on Startup Advice. I know that this all seems obvious now with the movements started by Steven Blank ( Four Steps of Epiphany ) with the whole Customer Development processes / Lean Startup movements also popularized by people like Eric Ries. Many startups today don’t do these kinds of sessions.

Customer 280

Customer Technical Review Software Review Mexico 280

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MAY 27, 2013

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. You may know how much to pay in cash or equity for your new VP Engineering. Startup Advice' In his spare time he raised nearly $30 million.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

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APRIL 5, 2010

He came to the United States in 2001 to study Software Engineering at Auburn University. That is the reason I am so supportive of the Startup Visa movement that has been so successfully championed by Brad Feld, Dave McClure, Eric Ries, Shervin Pishevar and many others. At the time he granted me permission to write about his story.

Technical Review 282

Technical Review Canada Green South Carolina 282

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MAY 7, 2013

Ryan was not only a senior engineer at Salesforce.com (he ran mobile and also ran content management) but was also my cofounder at Koral and lead architect at BuildOnline. Needless to say I think Ryan is one of the most talented engineering leads in LA but I’d stack him against anybody in the Valley, too.

Video 320

Video Los Angeles Technical Cofounder CTO Hire 320

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MARCH 23, 2014

I will soon announce a few fundings (not yet closed, sorry) and I’m beginning to help them think about how to ramp up their engineering teams. Let’s say your a junior developer, marketer, product manager, biz dev person at a startup or well-established technology company. Startup Lessons' You can pick up again.

Networking 366

Networking CTO Hire Technical Review Email 366

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JANUARY 26, 2013

Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. When many of us advisors / investors did our first startups there were very few purely tech media outlets. Should I Bundle it With More Juicy News?

Startup 355

Startup PR Dividend Merger 355

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MAY 19, 2013

My internal compass has always steered me strongly toward the belief that founders who can scale with their startup companies are better to back that founders who eventually need to hire a CEO. Jonathan Strauss took this issue head on in a blog post that I believe every startup founder should read on “ Replacing Oneself as CEO.”

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303

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JANUARY 4, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about “ the politics of startups ” in which I asserted that all companies have politics, which in its purest sense is just about understanding human psychology. He wanted more ability to push the product & engineering teams harder – he was, after all, the CEO. Startup Advice'

Founder 340

Founder Sacramento Cofounder Technical Review 340

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MARCH 31, 2012

Her post is short & well written so definitely worth a read if you’re a startup person and want to hear some sensible views on sales. Erin’s main points: “As a former tech sales executive, I agree with many of [Mark's] lessons — when applied to later-stage, post-traction point startups.

Startup 319

Startup Early Stage Sales Cofounder 319

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APRIL 17, 2012

A market leader in content, music, entertainment, textiles, engineering, aerospace and trade. Oblong, led by Kwin Kramer, which houses more MIT grads per startup than probably any other in LA. A quick survey of their portfolio tells you just how many high-profile startups have included them in their rounds. North of the 101].

Community 304

Community Los Angeles Startup Silicon Valley 304

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APRIL 13, 2011

“My startup business was acquired and I worked for the company that bought us; which was a public company called Ameridata that bought about 40 companies in about three years. Product Management – Brad and Mark discuss the role of Product Managers in Startups. On the Startup Visa Program. Brad’s start in Venture Capital.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

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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. We we backed Team Grove’s mission (Kevin sourced the deal and joined the board) and just encouraged the team not to ramp up costs like many contemporary startups because we’re going to play the long game.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Software Review Founder Boston 150

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JANUARY 28, 2012

Fred Wilson wrote two posts in 2010 that were very influential with the startup community. I know that they really impacted an entire cohort of startups because every company that was coming to pitch me businesses was (is) saying, “I’m a ‘mobile first’ company.” The titles were: Mobile First, Web Second.

Mobile 334

Mobile Web Software Review San Francisco 334

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MARCH 5, 2010

Then let’s hope both startups can build national practices. The two most ambitious projects were ThereNow and IQ Engines. They’ve done some clever things to improve the trust factor like doing background checks and other verification techniques to improve the trust people have in working with service providers.

San Francisco 254

San Francisco Technical Review Los Angeles Software Review 254

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JULY 12, 2011

2. Chris then discussed his time as founder and CEO of SiteAdvisor, his first venture-backed startup. He explained how users at the time were encountering “social engineering threats” rather than “technical threats” and that his company took an “East Coast” approach to the problem as they built an automated system that rated websites.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Cofounder API 281

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FEBRUARY 7, 2011

We then spoke about startups. Again, Seth: “One of the things I noticed when I looked around at startups is that often the founding teams hired people just like themselves. Startups shouldn’t be like this. And I’d recommend them to any talented startup founders out there.&#. And there you have it.

Connecticut 286

Connecticut Cofounder Silicon Valley Web 286