Gust

DECEMBER 15, 2013

Too many founders are convinced they “need” equity financing, for the wrong reasons, as outlined in the book and supplemented with a bit of my own experience: Need employees and professional services. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need expensive resources up front.

Bootstrapping 183

Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Technical Review 183

Gust

OCTOBER 5, 2014

When you’re considering a job at a small company, look for colleagues and founders who don’t tolerate CYA. For startups, the time to do the people filtering and fit analysis is before the hire. In startups, you have to drive multiple initiatives concurrently or the company will stand still.

Startup 165

Startup Early Stage Technical Review .Net 165

Gust

AUGUST 22, 2012

From my vantage point as a business lawyer for entrepreneurs, one of the greatest frustrations for a well-intentioned company or founder comes in attempting to comply with all applicable laws and regulations without necessarily even knowing what they are.

Technical Review 172

Technical Review Egypt Morocco Russia 172

Gust

APRIL 9, 2014

The Founder of a company starts by owning all the shares representing ownership of the company. Therefore, to avoid dilution to its existing equity holders, all a company has to do is not hire any more employees who get options, or take any more money from investors. Uncategorized company equity dilution founder investors startup'

Dilution 150

Dilution Equity Vesting Stock Options 150

Gust

DECEMBER 29, 2013

Early co-founders often drop out of the picture due to disagreements, and you forget about them, but they don’t forget about the verbal promises you made. This problem can be avoided by incorporating immediately after early discussions, and issuing shares to all founders. Be quick to hire and slow to fire.

Startup 183

Startup Intellectual Property LLC Burn Rate 183

Gust

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

If you are a first-time entrepreneur, I recommend that you team with a co-founder with experiences, connections, and a skill set that complements, but doesn’t duplicate yours. If you live in the middle of nowhere, your chances of finding the right co-founder for your new high-tech startup are poor. Hire a lawyer.

Cofounder 170

Cofounder Silicon Valley Non-Compete Startup 170

Gust

DECEMBER 8, 2013

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder “vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health.

Due Diligence 174

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Burn Rate 174

Gust

FEBRUARY 3, 2013

Many founders think they need to be in control even when the company has evolved beyond them. You are who you hire. “If If the person who hired you is smart and nice, the people that person hires will be smart and nice. “If At some point, you need to let go of control. A business needs momentum.

Jordan 185

Jordan Entrepreneur Green Hiring 185

Gust

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Most startup founders already do this, rather than take a salary, to improve their offering. Every outside hire increases your cost and risk. Hire experts, not help. Don’t justify over-spending initially with “long-run” thinking. If you do, there probably won’t ever be a long run! Reinvest gross profit.

Bootstrapping 176

Bootstrapping Startup Merger Salary 176

Gust

JANUARY 5, 2014

This rather crude expression weighs heavily on the mind of all good startup founders, no matter how confident they appear. This whole process is particularly worrisome to many startup founders, since their expertise and background more likely technology than sales. Image via Pets.Answers.com. Will the dogs eat the dog food?”

Business Model 171

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 171

Gust

JANUARY 12, 2014

Founders or employees in constant motion, but with no momentum, will never get off the ground. What you then want is for the momentum to compound, with each new employee or outsourcer you hire to help, to give you get more time to create value and ultimately, increase profits. Momentum is moving things forward (mass x velocity).

Entrepreneur 171

Entrepreneur Hiring Employee Operations 171

Gust

JULY 25, 2012

Whether we’re founders or investors, we focus on terms and percentages as determining control. I’m not suggesting either investors or founders get glib about it and pretend the terms aren’t extremely important. This is one of those ideas that seem completely obvious but only after I’ve heard them. Exactly. .

Term Sheet 105

Term Sheet Founder Hiring Entrepreneur 105

Gust

JULY 22, 2012

I hear lots of excuses from startup founders, like “I’m too busy,” concern over IP security, can’t afford an agency, and it’s too early. I’m definitely not lobbying here for promising things you can’t deliver, or hiring a publicist before your first programmer.

Elevator Pitch 158

Elevator Pitch Startup IP Public Relations 158

Gust

OCTOBER 2, 2014

You’d imagine that every founder was getting rich. Actually, positive outcomes for founders are quite rare. As a startup founder you rarely have much money in your bank accounts. You have secret doubts about your co-founder. So you ask why on Earth being a founder is stressful? You hire them, you own them now.

Monaco 122

Monaco Cofounder Chicago Mexico 122

Gust

DECEMBER 1, 2013

In a big company, you get used to having an IT team around configure your computer, a personnel specialist for hiring and firing, and a marketing team for strategy. The average startup founder takes no salary for the first couple of years, with a high risk of never getting any return. Highly specialized focus.

Entrepreneur 182

Entrepreneur Burn Rate Salary Lean 182

Gust

DECEMBER 16, 2011

Hardly a founder now alive. And, a bit misty-eyed, this old war veteran can actually remember the glory days: Venture capitalists would commit tens of millions for a startup to buy expensive infrastructure; hire sales and marketing teams as products were still being built; and lease out big slugs of office space for the coming hiring spree.

IPO 87

IPO .Net Social Network Mobile 87

Gust

JANUARY 12, 2014

Founders or employees in constant motion, but with no momentum, will never get off the ground. What you then want is for the momentum to compound, with each new employee or outsourcer you hire to help, to give you get more time to create value and ultimately, increase profits. Momentum is moving things forward (mass x velocity).

Entrepreneur 70

Entrepreneur Hiring Employee Operations 70

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

For more page-turning corporate drama, including the feud between Intermix co-founders and UCLA college buddies Brett Brewer and Brad Greenspan, Nasdaq delisting, proxy contest and lawsuits by Greenspan after he was fired as CEO, see Stealing MySpace by WSJ reporter Julia Angwin. MySpace became its own company, MySpace, Inc., of MySpace, Inc.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Gust

NOVEMBER 23, 2011

Startups and founders need to come to terms with the stark reality that the rules of the game may be changed mid-play. Technology companies in particular, which often grant stock or options to every employee, can easily pass the 500 mark if rapid growth results in rapid hiring.

IPO 110

IPO Prospectus SEC Intellectual Property 110

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

A founder with a startup focused on selling groceries online should begin their pitch by describing the total money projected to be spent on groceries online over the coming years. Financeable businesses require investors to believe that: 1) you will win at what you’re doing; and 2) the market in which you’re operating is worth winning.

Venture Capital 163

Venture Capital Finance Early Stage .Net 163

Gust

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Lowering the risk by hiring the cheapest, or counting on family members, is a bad risk. Every investor has heard from the “conservative” founder who reduces his forecast to lower the risk. Build your team from the best and brightest. Count on less funding rather than more. It’s a bad risk to solve problems with money.

Forecast 188

Forecast Viral Social Network Business Model 188