Both Sides of the Table

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Beware of Ballers on a Budget

Both Sides of the Table

Work on budgets, submit RFPs, answer customers support calls, work the bug-tracking software, and trying to meet the next sprint release schedule. The people who really are working hard at their startups with no money to pay real salaries and sharing a cramped office. Sell stuff.

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The Very First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in is You

Both Sides of the Table

We had raised a $2 million seed round, which meant taking almost no salary so we could afford to hire staff. Back then there was no “cloud” so we had to plow money into hardware, software licenses and web hosting. So even after raising a $16 million A-round I still paid myself a paltry salary.

Founder 409
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Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not?

Both Sides of the Table

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. The first company represents a normal software company that sells its products directly (either via sales staff or directly off of the internet).

Startup 418
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Choose Your VC Investor Carefully

Both Sides of the Table

Many years ago I worked at Andersen Consulting, originally developing software for large corporations and then as a strategy consultant. In the end I chose Pune because as much as I loved Bangalore I felt the annual salary increases and staff attrition would have been too high. Let me explain. But much good also came.

Pakistan 297
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Start-ups are all Naked in the Mirror

Both Sides of the Table

Our software wasn’t fully baked. We had one of the largest US software companies talk about buying us. As the economy soured and people grew wary of buying Internet software (we were SaaS as early as 1999 – our buyers were certainly “early adopters&# ) and life grew more difficult. We were unprepared.

PR 331
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The @TWTFelipe Story – A Tale of US Visa Policy Gone Awry (#startupvisa)

Both Sides of the Table

He came to the United States in 2001 to study Software Engineering at Auburn University. We then moved our Chief Software Architect over. I wanted several of the software engineers to join me at our next startup but their employment was tied to BuildOnline. At the time he granted me permission to write about his story.

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The Case for Optimism and Risk at Startups

Both Sides of the Table

There are those amongst us the are willing to abandon the comforts of a job with a salary and perhaps the prestige of being able to tell family members, loved ones and friends that “I work for Google, Goldman Sachs, Apple, FedEx, Verizon or Coca Cola” and instead put out selves out there to potentially look stupid one day.