Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2019

In April, 1996, Yahoo! Google - Larry Page and Sergey Brin started working on Google in 1996 – but three years later in 1999, few people had even heard of it yet. You rarely hear about the owners who took out second mortgages to make payroll or to hire a salesperson. had its initial public offering, raising $33.8

Initial Public Offering 277

Initial Public Offering Startup California .Net 277

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

Bill Gross founded Idealab in 1996, making it the longest-running technology incubator alive today. Bob Sutton is a Stanford professor and the author of several best-selling books on standout management, including Scaling Up Excellence , an investigation of high-growth companies.

Lean 165

Lean Fractional CTO Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE 165

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2020

Of course, part of the change is that Gen Z (born after 1996) now outnumbers the Millennials (born after 1981). Hire, train, and reward employees who are customer-centric. Make shopping a satisfying experience, whether online or in-store. This process has to start at the top, and extend through all levels of your organization.

Customer 334

Customer Social Media .Net Analytics 334

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

So I was an Angel investor from 1994 to 1996. In 1996 got connected up with Softbank which was investing very aggressively in the U.S. And then was hired by Stephen Spielberg for Minority Report. So I was on the front line of this very aggressive rollup and I got involved in helping with the technical due diligence…”. “As

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

They sold 2 years later for $16 million In the financial crisis of 2008 we had a company that had jointly hired lawyers to consider a bankruptcy and also pursued (and achieved!) the sale of the company for $1 billion. It was ~30 days from bankruptcy. It can be years before you start seeing returns.

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

Infonautics went public in 1996 and Half.com was sold to eBay in 2000. Management should communicate how the board can help - strategy, markets, key hires, introductions. The discussion with Howard Morgan starts off by acknowledging Josh Kopelman as a co-founder of First Round Capital. and Half.com.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2013

In April, 1996, Yahoo! Google - Larry Page and Sergey Brin started working on Google in 1996 – but three years later in 1999, few people had even heard of it yet. You rarely hear about the owners who took out second mortgages to make payroll or to hire a salesperson. had its initial public offering, raising $33.8

Initial Public Offering 297

Initial Public Offering Startup California .Net 297

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2016

In April, 1996, Yahoo! Google - Larry Page and Sergey Brin started working on Google in 1996 – but three years later in 1999, few people had even heard of it yet. You rarely hear about the owners who took out second mortgages to make payroll or to hire a salesperson. had its initial public offering, raising $33.8

Initial Public Offering 148

Initial Public Offering California .Net Business Plan 148

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2012

In April, 1996, Yahoo! Google - Larry Page and Sergey Brin started working on Google in 1996 – but three years later in 1999, few people had even heard of it yet. You rarely hear about the owners who took out second mortgages to make payroll or to hire a salesperson. had its initial public offering, raising $33.8

Entrepreneur 263

Entrepreneur Initial Public Offering California .Net 263

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2011

In April, 1996, Yahoo! Google - Larry Page and Sergey Brin started working on Google in 1996 – but three years later in 1999, few people had even heard of it yet. You rarely hear about the owners who took out second mortgages to make payroll or to hire a salesperson. had its initial public offering, raising $33.8

Initial Public Offering 295

Initial Public Offering California .Net Business Plan 295

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

As the executive producer of the DEMO conference from 1996 to 2009, she helped more than 1,500 companies make their market debut. Among these was the realization that a formal onboarding process for new hires is critical. Anand : …We hire really high achieving people, and they felt that they weren’t achieving anything.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Cofounder Channel 120

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Meet the “Everywhere Girl” Back in 1996, Jennifer Anderson posed for a stock photo shoot shortly after graduating college. Don’t get me wrong—by all means hire a professional photographer if you can. And if you’re really unfortunate, one of those other schmucks was also your competitor.

Stock 71

Stock Software Review Arizona Technical Review 71

Austin Startup

AUGUST 29, 2021

After one year you will take their spot and hire your replacement. Josh founded his first startup in 1996 in his college dormitory at Carnegie Mellon University and now teaches a class at the University of Texas for student entrepreneurs. You will start as the Assistant Chief of Staff reporting to the current Chief of Staff.

San Antonio 95

San Antonio Texas Houston Dallas 95

Austin Startup

JANUARY 14, 2021

After one year you will take their spot and hire your replacement. Josh founded his first startup in 1996 in his college dormitory at Carnegie Mellon University and now teaches a class at the University of Texas for student entrepreneurs. You will start as the Assistant Chief of Staff reporting to the current Chief of Staff.

Texas 83

Texas Houston Dallas Austin 83

ConversionXL

MAY 1, 2017

Reporting in the Harvard Business Review on a major study of growth stalls they conducted, Olson and his colleagues cite the case of the iconic brand Levi Strauss, which hit a historic high mark of sales in 1995, reaching revenue of $7 billion, but then, starting in 1996, saw a decline in sales so precipitous that by 2000, revenue was down to $4.6

Technical Review 127

Technical Review Algorithm Channel Analytics 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 29, 2010

In April, 1996, Yahoo! Google - Larry Page and Sergey Brin started working on Google in 1996 – but three years later in 1999, few people had even heard of it yet. You rarely hear about the owners who took out second mortgages to make payroll or to hire a salesperson. had its initial public offering, raising $33.8

Initial Public Offering 221

Initial Public Offering Startup California .Net 221

K9 Ventures

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

In December 1996, while I was still a student in the Master of Software Engineering program at Carnegie Mellon, I got bit hard by the entrepreneurial bug. in December 1996, while on a student visa. I hired my TA as my first employee and paid him $12.50 I always knew that I would someday start my own company.

United States 114

United States Founder India Venture Capital 114

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 14, 2014

Back in 1996, Jennifer Anderson posed for a stock photo shoot shortly after graduating college. Don’t get me wrong, by all means hire a professional photographer if you can , but don’t blame not doing your own photography on “lack of equipment” just so you have an excuse to hold yourself back. Photograph.

Stock 129

Stock Software Review Lead Generation Arizona 129

www.reincubate.com

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Start-ups often hire at one extreme -- closer to a Lead Developer or VP of Engineering -- whereas corporates may focus on their CIO, which is potentially quite a different role. © 1996 - 2010 Reincubate Limited. Firstly, theres no one-size-fits-all description. Some companies look for a more strategic or a more hands-on CTO.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review CTO Hire 40

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 19, 2020

In 1996, Jim left his career in the media industry—working with Chicago Tribune, WGN Radio and CLTV News—to become a full-time volunteer and teach individuals with disabilities how to scuba dive. Once registered as a nonprofit we could begin raising money and then we were off to the races. Getting visibility? Raising sponsorship funds?

Founder 158

Founder Entrepreneur Chicago Illinois 158

OnlyOnce

OCTOBER 10, 2019

For example: I will still be as “retail” as possible with my new colleagues since my natural inclination is to focus on the people in the business, but I can’t possibly get to know hundreds upon hundreds of people all at onece the way I got to know an even greater number over many years of hiring and onboarding them myself.

Leadership 48

Leadership Developer Operations Hiring 48

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

Investors bet that by offering prospective hires a stake in the company’s future growth- with a visible time horizon of a payoff – employees would act more like owners and work harder– and that would align employee interests with the investor interests. That made sense.

Stock Options 333

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 333

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

So back in 1996 I wanted to start my own business and I asked my mom, “Hey, what businesses could I do from home?” I was just going to get hired somewhere. How did you kind of get to this place where you are the president of the company and doing other entrepreneurial things? Lance Cummins: You’re going to love this.

Audio 57

Audio Boston Video HTML 57

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

I’m a partner at TCV, which we founded in 1996. Good CEOs will look inside and say: “Hey, maybe we’ve been hiring a little bit too much during the sugar rush phase of the pandemic, and what does that mean for performance management? Here is the full YouTube — Please enjoy this episode: How to Scale Unicorns.

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

help.bplans.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

I am hiring a consultant for assistance in piecing my business plan together. Copyright ©1996-2011 Palo Alto Software, Inc. More Business Software. Tim Berrys Blog. Up and Running Blog. Affiliate Program. Contact Us. Compensating a consultant at start-up phase. by Tim Berry. Sample Business Plans. |. Business Plan Help. |.

Software Review 41

Software Review Equity RSS Business Plan 41

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

He is the co-author of several books including The Black Art of Java Game Programming (Waite Group Press, 1996). He serves on the advisory board of a number of technology startups, and has worked as a consultant to a number of startups, companies, and venture capital firms.

San Francisco 155

San Francisco Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO CTO 155

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

With that implicit assumption, startups hire a VP of Sales with a great rolodex and call on established mainstream companies while marketing creates a brand and buzz to create demand and drive it into the sales channel (web, direct salesforce, etc.) In 1996 no potential customer had even heard of a Personal Digital Assistant.

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

BeyondVC

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

This is a story about starting an enterprise seed fund called Boldstart in 2010 and our journey in enterprise since 1996. We will always work side-by-side with our founders and be with them every step of the way as they build their first product, hire their first employee, close their first customer, and realize their full potential.

Cap Table 60

Cap Table Cofounder Dividend Institutional Investors 60

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

That year the two founders decided to get serious about being a company, and hired a CEO. In 1996 RIM was still in the hardware business selling packet-switched wireless radio modems to OEMs. Soon, RIM was focusing on making products for people on the move, using wireless communication and digital data. Wireless Communications.

Hockey Stick 271

Hockey Stick Customer Development Silicon Valley Networking 271

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2010

We worked together at Andersen Consulting between 1996-99 when the markets were booming. Everybody was doing marketing blitzes, over-paying to steal the best staff, pimping out urban offices to the nines , and hiring in a frenzy. He always was. But his favorite line was, “can you please slow down and explain this again?

Turkey 302

Turkey Differentiation IP Technical Review 302

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 17, 2024

16:53] As a consultancy with a few clients how does one determine their first hire in order to scale? [18:22] No, not 19 2006, not 1996, 2006. What's my first hire? But beyond that, you need to hire a money person, C-O-C-A-O, whether it's part-time or full-time. Phil (01:40): Well, when I started, I had no clue.

ChatGPT 74

ChatGPT Email Sales Campaign 74

Software By Rob

MAY 4, 2009

As a developer you have the ability to build/hire out/buy applications and websites, where the margin is huge and you have something unique. The better route is to find a drop-shipper who will ship directly to your customers once you’ve made the sale. Which is great, except at that point your margins are slim…think 20-40% gross profit.

Product 35

Product Software Review RSS Software 35

Up and Running

DECEMBER 14, 2015

If you’re ready to hire your first employee, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed. Before you hire your first employee, you’ll need to set up your EIN, or Employer Identification Number. See Also: Is It Time to Hire an Employee? Prepare to hire: Okay, there’s the boring part out of the way. Let’s get started.

Hiring 60

Hiring Employee Small Business Programming 60

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 3, 2012

Technical founders Tom Leighton and Danny Lewin built the original prototype at their lab at MIT starting in late 1996 before raising capital, so in a sense Akamai’s Minimum Viable Product (MVP) was a prototype with the basic architecture and traffic mapping in place that validated algorithms for the founders and investors alike.

Distribution 49

Distribution Lean Massachusetts Cofounder 49

Occam's Razor

APRIL 25, 2011

Hire smart people. Hire smart consultants. Your website was created in 1996, updated slightly in 2001, and left to rot ever since. If you have $100 to make smart decisions on the web, invest $10 in tools, spend $90 on people. The 10/90 rule. People matter. Even the most basic insights you need will come from people.

Marketing 126

Marketing Flash Analytics Web 126

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

One of the best tricks I learned during our startup was a rule for deciding who to hire. And when businesspeople try to hire hackers, they cant tell which ones are good.Even other hackers have a hard time doing that. When we got real funding nearthe end of 1996, we hired a great CFO, who fixed everything retroactively.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

Scalable Startup

MAY 24, 2012

They used this to win the 1996 election by rallying people who were tired of such a weak, debt ridden economy. We’re hiring.) I’m paraphrasing a Clinton/Carville line “It’s The Economy, Stupid” in the title above. Sound familiar? The Bubble Begins To Pop. million in investment and 18 months of operation.

Early Stage 22

Early Stage Revenue Naming Web 22