YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2020

by Zain Jaffer, serial entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Zain Ventures. In the early stages, it isn’t uncommon for businesses to bank their earnings on a handful of customers (or sometimes, just one). The loss of these major customers can have a dramatic impact on both internal (employees) and external contributors (investors).

Customer 347

Customer Development Team Review Advisory Board Private Equity 347

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

Thus, in my mentoring of potential technical entrepreneurs who have a real passion for their technology, I often recommend that they find a co-founder who can manage the marketing and execution elements of the new venture. Balance of passion with reality and customer feedback.

Cofounder 332

Cofounder Founder Partner Leadership 332

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

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.

Equity 238

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 238

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2022

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.

Technical Review 313

Technical Review Due Diligence Partner Cofounder 313

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

I was driving home from the BIO conference in San Diego last month and had lots of time for a phone call with Dave, an ex student and now a founder who wanted to update me on his Customer Discovery progress. Customer Discovery. He worked hard to deeply understand the customer problems of these two customer segments.

Cofounder 336

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Coder 336

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 28, 2012

But when it comes to core technical skills, more and more entrepreneurs are opting to partner with technical co-founders rather than hiring someone for an in-house position. I really believe that what’s most important for a founder is the ability to have a vision for the company, make sales and hire well. Laura Roeder , LKR.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Cofounder Founder Software Review 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2023

Customer-facing services, like call centers, should rarely be outsourced. You can’t isolate your customers from language idiosyncrasies and culture issues, per reduced customer engagement highlighted a while back by the The Globe and Mail. But customers are not looking yet another homogeneous product or service, so be careful.

Software Review 285

Software Review Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property 285

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2022

Supportive co-founder and executive positions. Every startup needs two or three key advisors who have the domain experience, connections, and complementary skills to guide the founders through those early crises. Manage customer service. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers. Personnel Manager.

Advisory Board 368

Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor Cofounder 368

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2023

Unfortunately many founders I work with as a mentor are experts on the technical side, but have no insight into leading a team. The only real alternative is to find a cofounder who can build and lead the team, while you focus on the product. Communicate individual results as well as team results to everyone.

Leadership 318

Leadership Technical Review Technical Cofounder Development Team Review 318

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Nils De Moor, Co-founder and CTO at Woorank. After a brief passage through the academic world where he researched simulation of distributed systems, he decided to try his luck as an entrepreneur and cofounded Woorank as the CTO. Marketing Podcast with Nils De Moor.

Technical Cofounder 94

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Fractional CTO Belgium 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2023

Just like executive recruiters recognize the best executives, a technical expert in your business domain will recognize the right combination of skill, creativity, and experience you need for a cofounder or key team member. Start with existing cofounders, extend the request to advisors and investors, and finally to existing team members.

Technical Cofounder 260

Technical Cofounder Technology Management Entrepreneur 260

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 21, 2020

by Kathryn Petralia, cofounder of Kabbage. Kathryn Petralia is the President and Co-Founder of Kabbage , an American Express Company. Kathryn co-founded Kabbage in 2009, and Kabbage has since provided more than $5 billion to SMBs through a fully-automated platform that allows customers to apply in minutes.

Small Business 147

Small Business Cofounder United States Technical Review 147

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2023

In my role as an advisor to entrepreneurs, I often find founders who have such conviction and passion for their new idea, that they can’t believe anyone could challenge it. They bristle quickly when investors or even potential customers raise issues with real value, competition, risk, and sustainability.

Technical Cofounder 341

Technical Cofounder Founder Cofounder Mobile 341

rob.by

MARCH 8, 2012

Finding Technical Cofounders Is Hard. Yesterday, Michael Pope posted an article titled Technical Cofounders Are a Myth. He begins by explaining how he arrived at his conclusion: I began the hunt to find a technical co-founder – a software engineer who works for no cash – to help me build my dream website.

Technical Cofounder 42

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Engineering Fractional CTO 42

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 28, 2012

But when it comes to core technical skills, more and more entrepreneurs are opting to partner with technical co-founders rather than hiring someone for an in-house position. You Need To Know Tech Basics I really believe that what’s most important for a founder is the ability to have a vision for the company, make sales and hire well.

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Cofounder Founder Software Review 79

YoungUpstarts

MAY 30, 2014

by Sam Bahreini, co-founder and COO of VoloForce. Improved customer satisfaction. Improved customer satisfaction often goes hand in hand with increased sales. When customers like your product, they tell their friends, and then their friends tell their friends. Increased sales.

Customer 231

Customer Development Team Review Cofounder Agile 231

www.kernelmag.com

MARCH 8, 2012

The Scene Developers Nailing that elusive technical co-founder. Just last week, start-up supremo Naval Ravikant of AngelList wrote how the “oversupply” of founders starting companies is making it harder to hire for the average startup. Are there any ‘Founders Dating’ events coming up?”. Thursday, 8 March 2012.

Cofounder 43

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Founder Coder 43

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

Unfortunately, I see too many new entrepreneurs who let their passion for a new idea or invention blind them to the stark realities of customer need, opportunity size, or pricing and cost implications. The sooner you face these issues, the more success you will garner from investors and customers.

Advisory Board 356

Advisory Board Bandwidth Cofounder Technical Review 356

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 10, 2010

Every business person with a dollar and a dream these days thinks they’re a technical co-founder away from interweb stardom. Remember the joke on Office Space where you can’t have the engineers talking to the customers? That the one guy’s job was just to interpret what the customers wanted for the engineers.

Cofounder 123

Cofounder CTO Hire Design Founder 123

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

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.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 7, 2024

Guest Author: Danish Ahmed, Founder of startuptools.ai. Companies are turning to AI to streamline their operations, notably in areas like customer service, cybersecurity, and fraud prevention. AI tools help analyze vast amounts of data to provide insights into market trends and customer preferences.

Artificial Inteligence 119

Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur Algorithm Cofounder 119

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Today we’re announcing that my partner Kara Nortman is becoming Co-Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to welcome her to her new role. and of course a relentless pursuit of helping founders succeed. So mostly we just had to listen to customer feedback from founders, VCs and LPs.

Partner 361

Partner Management Cofounder San Francisco 361

View from Seed

APRIL 14, 2020

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.

Early Stage 374

Early Stage Software Review Technical Review Due Diligence 374

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 21, 2012

I often get asked about finding cofounders and I usually give the standard list of characteristics of what I look for in a founder. And I emphasize the value of a founding team with complementary skills sets – i.e. the hacker/hustler/designer cofounder archetype for web/mobile apps. So I asked her to write a guest post.

Cofounder 329

Cofounder IPO Early Stage Green 329

ReadWriteStart

JULY 5, 2023

Recently, the medical diagnostics company Neko Health, which was co-founded by Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, was successful in acquiring €60 million ($65.4 Customers are pleased with the company’s transparent approach and its commitment to providing high-quality medical care, as evidenced by their expressions of satisfaction.

Sweden 126

Sweden Artificial Inteligence Cofounder Technical Review 126

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 9, 2013

I pointed out that the “data” you gather in 10 weeks (talking to 100+ customers, partners, payers, etc.,) Now that you’ve gotten to know your potential channel and customers, regardless of how much money you’re going to make, will you enjoy working with these customers for the next 3 or 4 years? see 0:30 in the video below).

Cofounder 325

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Liquidity Event Lean 325

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 27, 2010

In the video below, LivingSocial co-founder and CTO Aaron Batalion talks about the company's previous manifestations - consultants, Facebook app developers, and so on - and the principles that helped motivate the company to change direction like this. But like many success stories, LivingSocial didn't suddenly spring up wholly formed.

Cofounder 128

Cofounder Fractional CTO Founder Lean 128

ConversionXL

JULY 21, 2022

Optimize each channel, and you’ll win new customers, enjoy higher order rates , and retain customers. In this post, we’ll explore lessons from brands that use omnichannel marketing to deliver a seamless customer experience. Omnichannel aligns branding, messaging , and customer service across every channel.

Customer 118

Customer Marketing Channel Audience 118

YoungUpstarts

JULY 21, 2019

The founders of Benkheim&Co , an online brand which seeks to change the traditional luxury watch concept, explains how motivated entrepreneurs benefit from globalisation, efficient fulfilment services and new technologies. One concept was to cut down on inventory warehouses and send the products directly to the customers.

Cofounder 113

Cofounder Technical Review Technology Netherlands 113

viniciusvacanti.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

Home About Contact Me How To Make It as a First-Time Entrepreneur Vinicius Vacanti Guide to Finding a Technical Co-Founder September 7, 2010 | View Comments Steve Job's Technical Co-Founder “I’ve got this HUGE idea. I just need to find a technical co-founder.&# So, why should they pick you?

Cofounder 43

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Founder Ruby 43

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

Using Video at Every Stage of The Customer Journey written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Ben is a co-founder and executive producer of Storyboard Media, a B2B marketing, and video production firm in North Carolina. How do you marry video or types of video to the different stages of the customer journey?

North Carolina 98

North Carolina Video Customer Technical Review 98

YoungUpstarts

MAY 21, 2020

by Nick Frandsen, co-founder and managing partner at Dovetail. It not only validates your idea, but it helps to identify features, options and adjustments to your idea received from advice from third parties, including potential customers, that you may not have initially considered. It’s genius! It’s the next thing!”

Product 264

Product Cofounder Audience Product Development 264

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2022

by Donna Cutting, who is a globally-recognized guru on employee culture and optimizing customer service. In my experience, a healthy team is a prerequisite for a thriving business, innovation to meet market needs, and high customer loyalty. Emotional stability. Social interactions. Environmental safety. Occupational satisfaction.

Technical Review 353

Technical Review Cofounder Employee Global 353

SiliconHills

OCTOBER 25, 2019

Instead of seeking venture capital, Joyce Durst, Co-Founder, and CEO of Growth Acceleration Partners decided to bootstrap the software development company. Before co-founding GAP, Durst served as CEO of venture-backed startup Pinion Software, a security software company. At that company, she raised […].

Software Developers 81

Software Developers Software Development Partner Software 81

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2012

Do I need a co-founder? These are some of the most frequent questions about co-founders that I have heard from entrepreneurs over the years. Do I need a co-founder? How many co-founders should I have? I have seen many successful companies with as few as 2 and as many of 11 co-founders.

Cofounder 90

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Accredited Investor Equity 90

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2023

Cash isn’t always the scarcest resource startups have to invest – more often it’s the leadership capital of under-experienced and over-stretched entrepreneurs and co-founders. Most new startup founders start out by assuming they need to spread their leadership efforts evenly across all team members.

Employee 267

Employee Leadership Cofounder Matching 267

nikcub.appspot.com

MARCH 8, 2012

Finding a Technical Co-Founder. In the recent weeks, I have also had no less than three people email me and ask about finding a technical co-founder, which has also been a very frequent topic on the Hacker News forums. Ask former co-workers. New Web Order. 5th November 2010. #. Ideas alone are not worth a lot.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Web Founder South Korea 40