Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2023

Giving a cofounder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Cofounders only able to work part-time, with responsibility and major income sources elsewhere, don’t carry the same risk as others with more operational responsibility. The CTO of many technical startups was the original founder.

Technical Cofounder 247

Technical Cofounder Equity Distribution Cofounder 247

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 24, 2020

Remember that investors will not appreciate a business plan that features exorbitant salaries of the founders. Rustam Gilfanov is an IT company co-founder, IT businessman and international investor. Working on a business plan will help you understand how the business will grow. A brief curriculum vitae.

Business Plan 263

Business Plan Ukraine Cofounder Startup 263

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

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Each co-founder should get equity for value, based on these key variables: Lived a key role in a previous startup.

Equity 238

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 238

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Social media is not rocket science.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

Up and Running

JULY 28, 2022

Not only do these requirements ensure that businesses operate within the law but it also protects small business owners and their consumers. . A small business is an independently owned and operated entity that engages in commercial activity and fulfills the set industry-specific size standards. What legally defines a small business?

Small Business 167

Small Business Intellectual Property Cofounder Software Review 167

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2020

Most startup founders voluntarily exit or are pushed out, and the fun is gone. On the other hand, “competitive” salaries will likely go up, and health and retirement benefits will jump to a new level. Analysts want escalating profits. Public companies bring new expectations of benefits.

Cost 319

Cost IPO Exit Strategy Initial Public Offering 319

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 31, 2020

by Roland Polzin , MBA and Co-founder of Wing AI. With the unforeseeable end of COVID-19, we have to find sustainable solutions to challenges like working remotely, operating under a crunched budget, and dealing with more work and remote teams. Computers are not yet actually smart. Humans & Technology Side-by-Side.

Artificial Inteligence 214

Artificial Inteligence Mali Management Technical Review 214

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Social media is not rocket science.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

When I was interviewed for my first startup CEO job, I was expecting a $150,000 salary, but instead was offered an opportunity to contribute $50,000 to the business, and work for equity only. For example, a web-based startup should be able to operate for a year if they raise $500,000 from the founders or angels. Great strategy.

Burn Rate 232

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 232

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. We’ll get to my heartbreak in a minute. But first… There is a relationship between time and money that is more complex than most managers think. Growth before the VC arrived was not a problem.

Silicon Valley 118

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 118

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2011

When I was interviewed for my first startup CEO job, I was expecting a $150,000 salary, but instead was offered an opportunity to contribute $50,000 to the business, and work for equity only. For example, a web-based startup should be able to operate for a year if they raise $500,000 from the founders or angels. Great strategy.

Burn Rate 231

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 231

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2012

Creative or operational. Operational products, like process automation or reservation systems, may be large but mundane, and more easily outsourced. The typical software startup these days is a one or two person operation, founder and co-founder, who do the work themselves on the first product with no salary.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete Vietnam 222

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. . Payments are commonly delayed for a grace period of 12-36 months.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Social media is not rocket science.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 16, 2020

Focus on operating efficiencies. Stop founder salaries. During the good times, founders may shop around for the best terms on a financing round. Underutilized equipment, real estate, vehicles, etc. Cut slim-margin or low volume products and services. Challenge your teams to do more with less. Delay vendor payments.

Recapitalization 200

Recapitalization Forecast Software Review Finance 200

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 28, 2010

Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup is the new book by David Cohen , founder and CEO of TechStars, and Brad Feld , managing director of Foundry Group. Below is his chapter, Avoid Co-Founder Conflict. A perennial favorite is to decide that each founder should own an equal share. For what reasons?

Cofounder 128

Cofounder Founder Equity Dilution 128

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Each co-founder should get equity for value, based on these key variables: Lived a key role in a previous startup.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2011

Creative or operational. Operational products, like process automation or reservation systems, may be large but mundane, and more easily outsourced. The typical software startup these days is a one or two person operation, founder and co-founder, who do the work themselves on the first product with no salary.

Intellectual Property 225

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete Vietnam 225

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

No salaries followed by low salaries. ” Almost all startup founders experience a deep and prolonged sadness after selling their company , even when the sale is an outrageous success. The answer is important and fundamental for all startup founders, whether or not they ever intend to sell their company.

Software Review 295

Software Review Startup Cofounder Search 295

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2016

Amongst the most often asked questions I get from founders is, “How much money should I raise?” Reflexively founders want to raise as much money as they can because they figure it will give them more resources, better chances of competing and a longer runways before they have to do the often painful job of asking, yet again, for money.

Pre-Money Valuation 292

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Early Stage Startup 292

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 11, 2021

Every waking day, we are having tremendous changes in regulations and technology which greatly affects the way businesses operate. Some entrepreneurs will say the future is definitely bright but to others, some of these changes are meant to work against their expansion and business operations. Photo Credit: Jennifer Carrasco.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Technical Review Social Media Bootstrapping 126

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2023

Jeff Bezos now manages Amazon, which encompasses over 40 subsidiaries and operates worldwide. Rather than a focus on salary and perks, your focus is on customers, revenue, and operations. Others, including Jeff Bezos, spent time in a big company or two before breaking away to form their own.

Metrics 279

Metrics Startup Agile Salary 279

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 28, 2016

By Omer Tadjer, CEO and co-founder of Comeet. Hiring mistakes and turnover can be costly for any organization; according to the Society for Human Resource Management , it can cost as much as half of an employee’s annual salary to replace them.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Hiring Matching Salary 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2010

When I was interviewed for my first startup CEO job, I was expecting a $150,000 salary, but instead was offered an opportunity to contribute $50,000 to the business, and work for equity only. For example, a web-based startup should be able to operate for a year if they raise $500,000 from the founders or angels. Great strategy.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 120

YoungUpstarts

MAY 22, 2016

It is important for all startups to ensure that they fulfill all necessary legal requirements before beginning operations. If you are developing your startup with a partner or co-founder, failing to create a detailed business partnership can cause serious legal ramifications later. Salary entitlements. by Laura Costello.

Intellectual Property 124

Intellectual Property Startup Cofounder Technical Review 124

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2017

So is John Rice, the head of Global Operations along with CFO Jeffrey Bornstein. Increase operating margins to 18% (by cutting expenses). Often the short-term cuts directly affect employee salaries, jobs, and long-term investment in R&D. Since then Flannery has replaced Immelt’s vice chairs responsible for innovation.

Institutional Investors 233

Institutional Investors Dividend Stock Technical Review 233

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Decathlon Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

ReadWriteStart

MAY 22, 2023

Europe’s Metaverse Market: Niche Operators and Start-ups While the US and Asia dominate the Metaverse market , Europe has yet to establish a major presence in the industry. Even though Finland offers free and high-quality education, it cannot compete with Silicon Valley regarding salaries.

Finland 187

Finland Europe Estonia Silicon Valley 187

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2010

Creative or operational. Operational products, like process automation or reservation systems, may be large but mundane, and more easily outsourced. The typical software startup these days is a one or two person operation, founder and co-founder, who do the work themselves on the first product with no salary.

Software 129

Software Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2022

Like Paul Graham , founder of Y-Combinator, said a long time ago, I see startups succeed or fail every day based primarily on the qualities of the founders. The economy has some effect, but as a predictor of success it’s a rounding error compared to the founders. As a founder, you're buying stock with work.

Startup 258

Startup Cofounder Salary Advertising 258

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

In sharp contrast, start-ups operate in “search/ explore ” mode, seeking a repeatable and profitable business model. So we built our own tools to enable founders to rapidly translate their vision into hypotheses and then into validated facts. In the end, exploitation pays your salary while exploration pays your pension.

Incubator 402

Incubator Lean Agile Business Model 402

The Next Web

DECEMBER 2, 2013

Founder Kevin Systrom launched Instagram with 25,000 beta users on October 6, 2010; two years later, the app continues to see massive growth, recently reporting 150 million active users. Ben Schippers is the co-founder of HappyFunCorp , a Web development company that has built sites for TeePublic , Of A Kind , Postography and Yeah TV! “If

Cost 168

Cost San Francisco New York City Ruby 168

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2020

by Pablo Listingart, Founder and Executive Director of ComIT. While it might be an effective short-term strategy for cutting costs, reducing risk, and ‘surviving,’ it’s an oversight that will plague operations in the long run. But for many companies, it’s a source of stress, and an area too often overlooked.

Hiring 264

Hiring Early Stage Non-Compete Salary 264

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 14, 2019

It is estimated that at least 80% of all startups rely on personal funds from their founders for operations, albeit in their formative stages. If you need any money from this account, let it be in the form of a salary. A large number of startups are often funded by the people that believe in their founders the most.

Balance Sheet 128

Balance Sheet Limited Liability Company Bootstrapping Startup 128

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. Operating Costs. million to fund operations in their first year of operations. I don’t want to be beholden to investors.”

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

And while I’m quite optimistic about the coming years, we’re not yet through the pain for many existing companies navigating the transition from a hypergrowth market to one which rewards a different style of operating. But think of this as equivalent to average salary of Top 10 picks in the NBA draft vs picks 11-20.

Cap Table 93

Cap Table Valuation Salary Seed Stage 93