Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2015

Startups focus on speed since they are burning cash every day as they search for product/market fit. These shortcuts add up and become what is called technical debt. You fix technical debt by refactoring , going into the existing code and “cleaning it up” by restructuring it. Organizational debt was coming due.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

A version of this article is in the Harvard Business Review. Uber , Zenefits , Tanium , Lending Club CEOs of companies with billion dollar market caps have been in the news – and not in a good way. Technology cycles have become a treadmill, and for startups to survive they need to be on a continuous innovation cycle.

Founder 263

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 263

Eric Friedman

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

I caution everyone to use the questions and diligence techniques provided here to make sure there is a fit for both sides. They can help with technical challenges they have faced. An example here is Shaq taking 1% of Ring and doing major endorsement deals and marketing. How does vesting equity with an advisor work?

Early Stage 103

Early Stage Equity Vesting Cap Table 103

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 19, 2020

5 Types of Video That Improves Marketing Content written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Video content is a hot topic in marketing circles. Oftentimes when people think of video marketing, they think of social media content. That is your job when you have your marketing hat on, after all!

Video 101

Video Marketing Technical Review Software Review 101

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 19, 2019

The stock market has historically been a long-term source of wealth creation, but due to a widening wealth gap, has become largely inaccessible to young people. The majority of entrepreneurial-minded people have forgotten about the stock market as an alternative to their next side hustle. Actually Learn How to Invest Your Money.

Investment Bankers 147

Investment Bankers Technical Review Stock Vesting 147

David Teten

MAY 7, 2019

Briefly, we think there’s a substantial market for a business which helps enterprises to execute initiatives which require coordination across diverse stakeholders, e.g., make a large sale to a critical client, or lobby for a change in regulation. Q: Is this civic tech? If the answer is yes to any of these, keep reading. A nonprofit?

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

David Teten

JULY 10, 2019

Briefly, we think there’s a substantial market for a business which helps enterprises to execute initiatives which require coordination across diverse stakeholders, e.g., make a large sale to a critical client, or lobby for a change in regulation. Q: Is this civic tech? Our technology can also scale to other geographies.

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

A few months ago we saw a CEO present who had personally made hundreds of millions of dollars in a financial services business and had a plan to capitalize on the current market conditions. We were super excited by their offering – they had patented technology in a field that we believe will continue to grow massively.

Technical Review 284

Technical Review Due Diligence Entrepreneur Early Stage 284

The Startup Toolkit

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

false As a cheatsheet, the “normal” equity structure is: Founder terms: 4 year vesting, 1 year cliff, for everyone, including you. 2.0% ) : 4 year vesting, optional cliff, full acceleration on exit. When it comes to equity terms, there are only 3 things to understand: vesting, cliffs, and acceleration. Cliffs & vesting.

Vesting 56

Vesting Equity Cofounder Technical Review 56

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 8, 2023

How to Become a Fractional CMO written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Ever heard of a fractional CMO ? Imagine wielding the power of a marketing wizard without having to afford their six-figure salary. You see, as marketers we often forget that less can be more; but not when it comes to knowledge and expertise!

Technical Review 73

Technical Review Retention Networking Leadership 73

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

The easy answer of splitting it equally among all co-founders, since there is minimal value at that point, is usually the worst possible answer, and often results in a later startup failure due to an obvious inequity. Expertise can be marketing, technical, financial, or sales. Pre-existing intellectual property.

Intellectual Property 252

Intellectual Property Equity Cofounder CTO Hire 252

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2016

In addition to funding, the good news is that all of these provide aspiring entrepreneurs with an opportunity to perfect their marketing pitch, get some valuable target customer feedback and improve visibility to other funding sources. Project your costs as diligently as your revenues. Keep all IP details close to the vest.

Non-disclosure Agreement 120

Non-disclosure Agreement Intellectual Property Technical Review Vesting 120

NZ Entrepreneur

MAY 27, 2019

Finding a technical cofounder. It’s a common issue – you have an idea that will require some technical know-how (eg coding, engineering, science) but don’t have those skills yourself. Hence you need what they call in startup world a “technical” cofounder. Finding a non-technical cofounder.

Technical Cofounder 64

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 64

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

The easy answer of splitting it equally among all co-founders, since there is minimal value at that point, is usually the worst possible answer, and often results in a later startup failure due to an obvious inequity. Expertise can be marketing, technical, financial, or sales. Pre-existing intellectual property.

Equity 228

Equity Intellectual Property Cofounder CTO Hire 228

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2009

I know that advertising is important to inform consumers of offers – the same reason many tech companies use SEM. In-Stream rewards the content producer, Contextual just the technology provider – The funny thing about contextual search like that in Google is that it benefits the tech company and NOT the content producer at all.

Advertising 277

Advertising Technical Review Affiliate SEM 277

Up and Running

JULY 11, 2017

Most successful business plans entail launching a new product, service, or distribution outlet that attacks existing market competitors on what military planners would term an exposed flank. For example, Wendy’s did not start out attacking the fast food burger market by trying to out do McDonald’s with inexpensive, quick to deliver burgers.

Technical Review 80

Technical Review Development Team Review Differentiation Leadership 80

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

You’ve got a great idea and domain expertise, but limited money and insufficient technology resources. They’re well aware of the conventional VC bias against funding companies which externally develop their technology, but they do have relevant skills. Should you co-found your company with a software development shop?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

so compelling (other than the fact that the CEO Sean Rad is a great young technology leader and his advisers – Brian Norgard , Dan Gould and Evan Rifkin - are some of the guys I respect most in the LA tech market.). Wordpress), video (YouTube), pictures (Flickr), review sites (Yelp) and collaborative content (Wikipedia).

Technical Review 286

Technical Review Advertising Early Stage Internet 286

crowdSPRING Blog

JULY 1, 2011

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Tech Start-Ups Struggle With Followup Fund-Raising – [link]. 10 Marketing Lessons for Early-Stage Tech Startups - [link].

Social Media 92

Social Media Small Business Design Media 92

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

AngelList 101 : As you know, AngelList is a platform where angels can invest in semi-screened tech deals. But as with many people who have a vested interest in fast rounds being assembled, they don’t quite get why it is so important that VCs actually take their time. I have a slightly different take on why I find it valuable.

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

Altgate

JUNE 25, 2012

Facebook’s situation is far from unique, even among recent tech IPOs. Other prominent examples of drop-out co-founders who held significant amounts of dead equity include those at car-sharing company Zipcar and at tech startup govWorks.com (made famous in the movie “Startup.com”). They fail to include vesting terms (i.e.,

Equity 44

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 44

The Next Web

AUGUST 14, 2013

You can choose not to be profitable, but it must be your choice, not something forced on you by the market). Always have a vesting schedule. Assume the market is efficient and valuable ideas will be discovered by multiple teams nearly instantaneously. That’s the efficient market hypothesis again. Market to your users.

Startup 161

Startup Ruby Technical Review Vesting 161

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

There’s too much PR and too many tech blogs and too many newsletters and aggregators and Twitter summarizers to even try to catch everything that’s going on and equally there’s so much noise that it becomes harder to be heard. I often tell people that in some ways it’s easier to build great companies in down markets.

Software Review 150

Software Review Turkey Portfolio Syndicate 150

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 13, 2012

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Good & useful post for entrepreneurs about founder stock vesting & things to consider – [link]. Less marketing douchebaggery. Did everybody see what just happened?

Social Media 95

Social Media Small Business Design Media 95

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

The Role of Sales Materials in a Digital World written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. They can pour through the pages of your website, read reviews from existing customers to glean the unvarnished truth about your business, and peek at your social media presence to get a better sense of your personality.

Sales 81

Sales Vesting Technical Review Channel 81

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Only install applications from trusted application “stores” Apple, Google, and RIM (Blackberry) all have a vested interest in offering secure software to their device owners. It’s the software that is downloaded outside of the application “stores” or “markets” that poses the most risk.

Security 160

Security Mobile Software Review Technical Review 160

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 25, 2016

Examples: how a market will evolve, what competitors are investing in, whether new marketing campaigns will be successful, or how an important new hire will perform. For example, take the decision “should we build feature X:” If we add feature X, we will be unique in the market.

Differentiation 120

Differentiation Framework Restful Software Review 120

Altgate

AUGUST 25, 2012

Facebook’s situation is far from unique, even among recent tech IPOs. Other prominent examples of drop-out co-founders who held significant amounts of dead equity include those at car-sharing company Zipcar and at tech startup govWorks.com (made famous in the movie “Startup.com”). They fail to include vesting terms (i.e.,

Equity 28

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 28

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

There are many ways to measure technical skills and check work histories and achievements, but assessment of team chemistry is a high art form. Are they consistent with your founding team, are they competitive in the market, and will they not create precedents that you’ll regret in the next round of hiring?

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

I wassurprised recently when I realized that all the worst problems wefaced in our startup were due not to competitors, but investors.Dealing with competitors was easy by comparison. Angels whove made money in technology are preferable,for two reasons: they understand your situation, and theyre asource of contacts and advice.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Up and Running

MAY 3, 2012

Entrepreneurship continues to be a sexy topic for governments, with every country worth its salt trying to create its own tech hub, mimicking Silicon Valley. For technology entrepreneurs, we need to encourage them to understand the lean startup methodology, as a means to help them validate their assumptions. What is there not to like?

Entrepreneur 82

Entrepreneur Technical Review Silicon Valley Lean 82

Hearpreneur

NOVEMBER 19, 2021

When I moved back to Australia I identified a gap in the market as these clear aligner businesses were not mainstream here. Increased productivity also leads to reduced lead-time and improved due date performance, both of which reduce chaos and foster a great work culture. Thanks to Daniel Phung, Full Books Marketing ! #21-

Entrepreneur 149

Entrepreneur Software Review LLC Web Development 149

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

MARCH 10, 2011

One of the biggest lessons I learned is when going into business that requires heavy technical work, such as the e-commerce website (programmed in PhP) we ran, it is better to find a programmer that will work with you on a profit sharing basis rather than payment per task. If you can’t do it, hire someone who knows what they are doing.

Technical Review 71

Technical Review PPC Due Diligence Exit Strategy 71

venturehacks.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

It’s more important than your product, market, and investors. He can be technical, but he must be able to wield the tools of influence. What you don’t know Business founders who don’t code use bad proxies for picking technical co-founders (&# 10 years with Java!&# ). Build in founder vesting (a.k.a.

Cofounder 101

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 101

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

Also worth a read after you review these startup failure post-mortems. surrendered market leadership and thought leadership. A month ago, half way through my angel funds raised from family members, I decided to review the progress I’ve made and figure out what still needs to happen to make this a viable business. Author : Kabir.

Software Review 79

Software Review Startup Technical Review Vesting 79

Ben's Blog

APRIL 28, 2010

The conventional wisdom says a startup CEO should make way for a professional CEO once the company has achieved product-market fit. The macro reason: that’s the way most of the great technology companies have been built. At Andreessen Horowitz, our primary goal is to invest in the great technology franchises. Seagate—Al Shugart.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 78

Tim Keane

DECEMBER 14, 2009

   We worked all day building market strategies for customers while we tried to embody our expertise on software that would expand the company's reach.    That advice is often both technical and srtructural.    That advice is often both technical and srtructural.    Amen.

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Angel Groups Seed Stage Startup 60