Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2023

Don’t manage details and hold people accountable. Balance here comes again from the operational expert, who is very good at leading, managing, and holding people accountable. Tends to hire helpers and not develop talent. Good integrators are fanatical about problem resolution and making decisions.

Partner 206

Partner Cofounder Startup Bandwidth 206

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2020

Don’t manage details and hold people accountable. Balance here comes again from the operational expert, who is very good at leading, managing, and holding people accountable. Tends to hire helpers and not develop talent. Good integrators are fanatical about problem resolution and making decisions.

Founder 329

Founder Cofounder Bandwidth Matching 329

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

Outside professionals are always available, but they may have their own agenda, such as building a career, making money quickly, or managing up the stock price for a quick exit. The operations superstar. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. If they or you find it hard to trust others, love to work alone, always have to be in control, or insist on micro-managing, it may be time for change or looking elsewhere.

Cofounder 221

Cofounder Software Review CTO Hire Founder 221

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

Staffing and people-management costs. As you scale up the business, you realize how many people you really need, including full-timers, managers, and hourly workers. Just the process of hiring and interviewing takes critical time, recruiting fees, and expenses you never remembered. Subscription software and computer hardware.

Cost 264

Cost Founder Software Review Startup 264

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2019

Evidence of ineffective hiring and recruiting. The reality is that bad hires are a huge constraint to growth, and they are expensive and time consuming to fix. The solution is to always be hiring and developing people, including diversity of thought, background, and operating style.

Leadership 217

Leadership Analytics Hiring Operations 217

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cashflow personally every day.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

Outside professionals are always available, but they may have their own agenda, such as building a career, making money quickly, or managing up the stock price for a quick exit. The operations superstar. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners.

Technical Cofounder 308

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 308

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2012

Near-shore and local outsourcing alternatives are manageable with contracts and non-disclosure agreements. In these calculations, be sure to include indirect costs of remote work, such as more project management, more travel, and less efficient communication. Creative or operational. Protect your intellectual property.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete Vietnam 222

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2011

Near-shore and local outsourcing alternatives are manageable with contracts and non-disclosure agreements. In these calculations, be sure to include indirect costs of remote work, such as more project management, more travel, and less efficient communication. Creative or operational. Protect your intellectual property.

Intellectual Property 225

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete Vietnam 225

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. If they or you find it hard to trust others, love to work alone, always have to be in control, or insist on micro-managing, it may be time for change or looking elsewhere.

Partner 140

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Cofounder 140

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Here are some recommendations on how to keep the rate low, and help your startup to prosper at the same time: Measure it and manage it. As a rule, you need to review your burn rate every month, and manage it every day. This will equate to 2 working founders (taking no salary), hiring a 5-person development team for a year.

Burn Rate 232

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 232

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

A few other credible ones would include Chairman of the Board (COB), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers.

CTO Hire 252

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 252

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

Managing to specific goals, priorities, and a plan. Preparation and management of funding. Even if you are not requesting outside funding, I would expect a clear process for sourcing and managing the investment you plan to apply. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required.

Exit Strategy 288

Exit Strategy Metrics Operations Cost 288

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2011

Here are some principles on how to do that, and help your startup to prosper and live another day: Measure it and manage it. As a rule, you need to review your burn rate every month, and manage it every day. For example, a web-based startup should be able to operate for a year if they raise $500,000 from the founders or angels.

Burn Rate 231

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 231

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Hire more help than helpers. In addition to fresh products, you need people smarter than you for real help, with the right combination of skills, experience, and passion to foster and manage new growth. Managing business growth is more than metrics. Separate management from leadership, and provide both.

Mezzanine 368

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 368

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

Certainly, some risks are uncontrollable, such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic, but others are manageable. For example, you must secure adequate funding for operations, hire good people for operations, and manage your reputation and service. You can improve your odds by reducing risks.

Reputation 363

Reputation Operations Channel Business Model 363

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2021

Engage operational leaders first. Studies show that if one’s line manager is disengaged, his/her employees are four times more likely to be disengaged themselves. To stay engaged, I always practiced “management by walking around.” Hire and promote the right behaviors.

Entrepreneur 347

Entrepreneur Social Media Hiring Employee 347

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

A few other credible ones would include Chairman of the Board (COB), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers.

CTO Hire 244

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 244

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2014

Large companies move slowly because they are usually in reasonable financial condition, with less urgency, have a lot to lose from making bad decisions, and have built layers of management sign-off over the years. For startups, the time to do the people filtering and fit analysis is before the hire. Get used to dynamic budgeting.

Startup 258

Startup Early Stage Technical Review .Net 258

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2013

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. It’s here that entrepreneurs must shift their thinking from tactical and operational, to strategic and managerial. I’m convinced that management is a learnable skill.

Management 273

Management Startup Entrepreneur Revenue 273

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2020

Don’t delegate this cash management stage to anyone else in the business. Make sure someone is managing people and operations. Building a business requires a stage of focus on execution and managing people accountability. Very few entrepreneurs can play both roles, so find a partner or hire an integrator to help.

Metrics 351

Metrics Agile Hiring Matching 351

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2021

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. It’s here that entrepreneurs must shift their thinking from tactical and operational, to strategic and managerial. I’m convinced that management is a learnable skill.

Management 429

Management Entrepreneur Revenue Internet 429

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2016

Don’t manage details and hold people accountable. Balance here comes again from the operational expert, who is very good at leading, managing, and holding people accountable. Tends to hire helpers and not develop talent. Good integrators are fanatical about problem resolution and making decisions.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Founder Entrepreneur Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2010

Near-shore and local outsourcing alternatives are manageable with contracts and non-disclosure agreements. In these calculations, be sure to include indirect costs of remote work, such as more project management, more travel, and less efficient communication. Outsourcing for services needs to be carefully managed.

Software 129

Software Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete 129

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

Outside professionals are always available, but they may have their own agenda, such as building a career, making money quickly, or managing up the stock price for a quick exit. The operations superstar. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners.

Technical Cofounder 144

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2013

Large companies move slowly because they are usually in reasonable financial condition, with less urgency, have a lot to lose from making bad decisions, and have built layers of management sign-off over the years. For startups, the time to do the people filtering and fit analysis is before the hire. Get used to dynamic budgeting.

Early Stage 264

Early Stage Entrepreneur Technical Review .Net 264

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2012

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. It’s here that entrepreneurs must shift their thinking from tactical and operational, to strategic and managerial. I’m convinced that management is a learnable skill.

Management 237

Management Entrepreneur Revenue Internet 237

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2022

After many years in business, I’m convinced that none of us has the strengths and interest in all the areas needed for success, including solution changes, finance, marketing, and operations. This work requires market feedback, managing trials, and working with the sales team as well as developers.

Metrics 272

Metrics Early Stage Finance Programming 272

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

They keep waiting for top management to somehow fix the situation. In reality, I believe that building and sustaining a winning culture is everyone’s business, not just that of top management. Getting and maintaining leadership buy-in must be your relentless and continuous focus.

Leadership 291

Leadership Agile Metrics Programming 291

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2014

Outside professionals are always available, but they may have their own agenda, such as building a career, making money quickly, or managing up the stock price for a quick exit. The operations superstar. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners.

Technical Cofounder 245

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 245

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2011

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. It’s here that entrepreneurs must shift their thinking from tactical and operational, to strategic and managerial. I’m convinced that management is a learnable skill.

Management 279

Management Entrepreneur Revenue Internet 279

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2023

The first ones address trends that I see in the market today, while the rest are meant to force you to be proactive in managing your own team and organization to anticipate the level of change I’m sure you will face ahead. Put operational systems and metrics in place early. Enlist industry leaders and influencers as proponents.

Marketing 290

Marketing Leadership Differentiation Equity 290

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2015

Don’t manage details and hold people accountable. Balance here comes again from the operational expert, who is very good at leading, managing, and holding people accountable. Tends to hire helpers and not develop talent. Good integrators are fanatical about problem resolution and making decisions.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Bandwidth Matching Leadership 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

Managing to specific goals, priorities, and a plan. Preparation and management of funding. Even if you are not requesting outside funding, I would expect a clear process for sourcing and managing the investment you plan to apply. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required.

Entrepreneur 328

Entrepreneur Exit Strategy Metrics Operations 328