Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2010

Since my background includes software development, I often get the question about when to build a solution in-house, versus outsourcing it to a local company, near-shore service, or off-shore organization in China, India, or Eastern Europe. If your software is your solution and “secret sauce,” don’t entrust it to outsiders of any kind.

Software 129

Software Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete 129

ReadWriteStart

MAY 22, 2012

When it comes to financing a brand-new startup, most founders find themselves stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. When Bob Herman founded Tropolis Group in 2010, he decided to finance with credit cards so he could take advantage of a cash-back rewards program and use the bounty to buy supplies for the business.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Software Review Angel Investor Startup 118

ReadWriteStart

MAY 10, 2012

That may seem intimidating, but programming is not some monumental skill that only specially gifted people can learn. The initial class, taught mostly by Bishay and a group of volunteers, produced 21 students, 15 of whom got job offers (with an average starting salary of $79,000) as developers at the end of the program.

Ruby 137

Ruby Developer San Francisco Silicon Valley 137

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2017

Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues.

Silicon Valley 97

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 97

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 2, 2011

In today’s world, one of the bottlenecks we have to innovation is the lack of software development talent. Bringing skilled developers in from other cities or moving them over from banks is also helpful, but I think it’s the kind of thing that skilled recruiters can also do a good job of.

Developer 117

Developer New York City Java Ruby 117

www.joelonsoftware.com

MARCH 24, 2010

We want to avoid the trap that many companies fall into of forcing good programmers to stop programming and start managing people, if thats not what they want to do. We will also compare our salaries within each level to the competitive norms to make sure we are paying market salaries, at which point people might receive a raise.

Software Review 48

Software Review Stock Options Salary Technical Review 48

Berkonomics

MARCH 30, 2010

Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. In the technology sector where I most often play, extended unplanned software development cycles account for the majority of these corporate failures. Email readers continue here.]

Silicon Valley 85

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 85

SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

There was a lot of passion in the room last week when I presented Working with Developers at the Stubbs Precellerator. I guess it should not be a surprise that Founders have lots of challenges working with developers. Developers (and Founders) are challenged to know how much is okay in terms of bugs.

Technical Cofounder 280

Technical Cofounder Developer Fractional CTO CTO Hire 280

www.virtuosimedia.com

MARCH 8, 2012

Developers. Programming Tutorials. Programming Tools. Custom Programming. This article should also serve as a starting guide for programmers who are approached about becoming technical co-founders. Otherwise, you will have to offer actual compensation (read salary) in addition to corporate shares.

Technical Cofounder 41

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Technical Review NDA 41

rob.by

MARCH 8, 2012

He begins by explaining how he arrived at his conclusion: 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. Twelve months into my startup journey I had four half-built websites that had been built by my four ex-technical co-founders.

Technical Cofounder 42

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Engineering Fractional CTO 42

femgineer.com

JULY 18, 2010

If you’re a founder who is still trying to grasp the product roadmap and create a company vision its probably not a good time to hire an engineer. There are a lot of engineers out there who have been burned by founders who pull and push them in a variety of directions. Sweat equity or salary?

Engineer 41

Engineer Software Review Startup Technical Review 41

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 15, 2016

by Madarapu Nagaraju, co-founder and director at KnowledgeHut. This invariably points out to that the role of a mobile app developer has become ever more essential to provide users new ways to engage with their smartphones. Average Salary: $95,000. So how does one become a mobile developer?

Java 100

Java XML Developer API 100

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 7, 2007

But when done well it can really help get a company going fast, professionally and without the founders having to give up much (if any) equity - or bankrupting themselves. The founders may believe they are onto such a good idea that they don’t want to give up any equity. Award contract - Negotiate a software development contract.

Bootstrapping 41

Bootstrapping Offshore Startup EC2 41

Software By Rob

AUGUST 11, 2009

At a salaried job making $80k plus benefits your time is worth around $55/hour. Even fewer can be installed in five minutes or less, even by an experienced software developer. Im a serial web entrepreneur here to share what Ive learned in my 11 years as a self-funded startup founder. 50 on a slice of pizza. at 11:23 am [.]

Open Source 62

Open Source Software Review Non-Compete Software 62

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2020

Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin are the founders of a company called Bitwise. Their programs teach software programming and IT proficiency to people who have historically been excluded from those fields, and connects their graduates with tech companies around the country. Here's my conversation with the founders of Bitwise.

Fresno 60

Fresno Community Technology California 60

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

Notice that I didn’t say I wouldn’t invest in a founder with an MBA; there are many amazing entrepreneurs and investors with MBAs, such as my friend Aneel Bhusri of Workday. TOP DRAWBACKS OF AN MBA PROGRAM. Like many first time founders, I ran over that landmine. You can listen to the podcast of this discussion here.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

Notice that I didn’t say I wouldn’t invest in a founder with an MBA; there are many amazing entrepreneurs and investors with MBAs, such as my friend Aneel Bhusri of Workday. TOP DRAWBACKS OF AN MBA PROGRAM. Like many first time founders, I ran over that landmine. You can listen to the podcast of this discussion here.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

He's a co-founder and chairman of Work Better Now, which provides talent from Latin America for US based businesses. My world is small and mid-size businesses, companies seem to be laying off people, and yet small businesses can't seem to hire small and mid-size businesses seem to hire the salary expectations here in the states are way up.

Offshore 68

Offshore America El Salvador Software Review 68

blog.nahurst.com

JULY 19, 2010

Nathan Hursts Blog Thoughts on Software, Technology, and Startups « Back to blog Im on the technical side of entrepreneurship in NYC. I love programming, board games, and my wife. Compensation is probably between $0 and a ramen salary. Execution is what matters, and in most web startups that falls on the technical founder.

Technical Cofounder 43

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Equity Salary 43

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Whats is the best way to find a co-founder for your startup? However, one of my co-founders doesn’t seem to be as motivated as the rest of us. As founders invest massive amounts of time into their start-up, how critical is it for them to come out of their “hermit caves” and network? Non of this academic stuff.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Software By Rob

DECEMBER 23, 2008

Consider this the Year in Review for Software by Rob. The Five Minute Guide to Becoming a Freelance Software Developer “This advice is intended for someone looking to become a freelance software developer or web designer (or looking to start a small web design/development/consulting firm).

Software Review 27

Software Review Software Product Technical Review 27

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

And since a startup thatsucceeds ordinarily makes its founders rich, that implies gettingrich is doable too. A lot ofwould-be startup founders think the key to the whole process is theinitial idea, and from that point all you have to do is execute.Venture capitalists know better. Ideally you want between two and four founders.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

Software By Rob

SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

But aside from these, there are some less obvious areas that we spend countless hours working on (and worrying about) that a single founder with no employees will never do again. Im a serial web entrepreneur here to share what Ive learned in my 11 years as a self-funded startup founder. I do enjoy working with awesome developers.

Software Review 50

Software Review Costa Rica RSS Employee 50

discuss.joelonsoftware.com

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

Movie: "Make Better Software" is a 6 movie course designed to help you as you grow from a micro-ISV to a large software company. 2- You could also look at setting up an affiliate marketing program. Find popular, relevant websites and see if you can get them interested in signing up for an affiliate program.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Angel Investor Affiliate 40

Software By Rob

SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

But aside from these, there are some less obvious areas that we spend countless hours working on (and worrying about) that a single founder with no employees will never do again. Im a serial web entrepreneur here to share what Ive learned in my 11 years as a self-funded startup founder. I do enjoy working with awesome developers.

Software Review 27

Software Review Costa Rica RSS Employee 27

ConversionXL

AUGUST 12, 2016

Common acquisition expenses are: paid ads, staff salaries, CRM, marketing automation software licenses, sponsorships, content marketing, and social media. To illustrate the impact this question has, let’s look at this case study on software development company owner, Jerry. Regularly Review Your Customer Personas.

Software Review 48

Software Review Metrics Revenue Acquisition 48

www.singlefounder.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Company founders don’t have the luxury of ‘diversifying their portfolio,’ so to speak. They work at their company until funding is pulled, it goes bust, it’s sold, etc… It’s hard to be the founder at multiple companies at the same time. Myth #3: I need a partner. I certainly understand the mentality.

Software Review 40

Software Review Software Startup Massachusetts 40

blog.expensify.com

APRIL 24, 2012

But it will definitely raise questions during the phone screen, for reasons that are best explained by simile: Programming with.NET is like cooking in a McDonalds kitchen. My example: I have mainly programmed _by choice_ in Python, Ruby, Scala, Haskell, C# and currently I’m doing Java. It’s so blinded, it’s shocking.

Java 107

Java PHP Software Review Coder 107

sivers.org

JUNE 25, 2010

Ive always wondered how to go about outsourcing programming, as whilst I understand and have done programming successfully in the past - I absolutely hate it! What I do like is the coming up with the idea and mapping out the development part. Sandcastle is a software development service for entrepreneurs.

CTO Hire 84

CTO Hire Hiring Software Review Technical Review 84