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5 Keys To Negotiating Your Fair Share Of Any Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Each co-founder should get equity for value, based on these key variables: Lived a key role in a previous startup.

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10 Attributes Of The Perfect Partner For Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

In fact, I would broaden the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” The reason is that good attributes apply equally well to “external” partners, as they do to internal partners, like a co-founder or CTO.

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5 Equity Distribution Parameters For Key Contributors

Startup Professionals Musings

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a cofounder or two. Giving a cofounder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Each cofounder should get equity for value, based on these key variables: Lived a key role in a previous startup.

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6 Due Diligence Goals When Vetting Business Partners

Startup Professionals Musings

Business partners can be co-founders in a startup, multiple owners of an existing business, or a joint venture. As a former startup investor, I was often involved with due diligence on founders, and I felt that founders should do the same on co-founders, as well as investors.

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The Shift from FOMO to FOLD in Early Stage Investing

View from Seed

VCs are always founder focused no matter the market environment. But in a FOMO world, more investors are willing to take a chance on a founder that they don’t know, but seems to match some of the heuristics of other high quality founders. This gets really challenging if it remains difficult to meet in person or to travel.

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5 Reasons Two Founders As A Team Are Better Than One

Startup Professionals Musings

Thus, unless the visionary highlights a cofounder who can take the vision and execute, I assume the worst. My bottom-line recommendation and theirs is that every visionary entrepreneur needs to be matched with a cofounder or key team member who has the required execution attributes. Cause organizational whiplash.

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6 Key Leaders Every Technical Startup Needs To Thrive

Startup Professionals Musings

Thus I was happily surprised when I found the classic book, “ The Tech Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide ,” by Bernd Schoner, PhD, and cofounder of ThingMagic, which leans heavily on the people side of the equation. It just means that the cofounders trust one of their own and are willing to follow. The industry veteran. The financial suit.