Steve Blank
MAY 19, 2015
I had lunch last week with Tom, the CEO of a startup that was quickly becoming a large company – last year’s revenue was $40M, this year likely to be $80M maybe even $100 million in ad revenue. to drive traffic to their site, which they then turned into ad revenue. Upgrade their salaries and equity ASAP.
Steve Blank
NOVEMBER 1, 2017
At GE the biggest problem in 2017 was major revenue misses in their Power business.) Often the short-term cuts directly affect employee salaries, jobs, and long-term investment in R&D. capture the imagination of investors and can focus on revenue and user growth instead of on the bottom line. So What is a CEO to Do?
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Steve Blank
MARCH 17, 2020
And how much are variable expenses (salaries, consultants, commission, travel, AWS/Azure charges, supplies, etc.?). Next, take a look at your actual revenue each month – not forecast, but real revenue coming in each month. Subtract your monthly gross burn rate from your monthly revenue to get your net burn rate.
Steve Blank
APRIL 1, 2020
Your revenue plans are no longer valid. What’s your monthly cash burn at your new low revenue level? The CEO should dial through as many of the largest existing customers to get a firsthand understanding of the magnitude of any revenue shortfall. Before layoffs, cut all salaries by 20%. Cut CXO salaries by at least 30%.
Steve Blank
APRIL 10, 2019
Stock options for all employees of startups served several purposes: Because startups didn’t have much cash and couldn’t compete with large companies in salary offers, stock options dangled in front of a potential employee were like offering a lottery ticket in exchange for a lower salary. Today that’s less true.
Steve Blank
MAY 20, 2010
It was the Internet bubble and after almost three years our startup had found a business model and we were scaling revenue and headcount fast. We’d like to adjust our salaries to reflect the new pay scale.” It was clear that he had no memory of a phone conversation my partner and I have never forgotten. Big Name CEO.
Steve Blank
OCTOBER 24, 2017
— Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. Typically, this caliber of bankers wouldn’t talk to you unless your company had five profitable quarters of increasing revenue.
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