David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

Managers of VC funds typically want to grow their business aggressively, just like the founders we back. Among the sites we have found most helpful with practical guides for founders: Biztree , First Search , Foundersuite , Goodwin Founders Workbench , Guides.co , Inc.com , and StartupRocket. . – Hire more Partners.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2017

Guest post by Jennifer Maerz, Program Chair of Lean Startup Co. For eight years, our flagship conference has focused on sharing stories and lessons of putting Lean Startup’s entrepreneurial methodology into practice. 31 ( limited to the first 200 Gold Passholders.) 31 ( limited to the first 200 Gold Passholders.) Sign up for free here.

Lean 108

Lean Programming San Francisco Cofounder 108

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2021

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a Founder agreement at the beginning. This oversight can lead to the so-called “forgotten Founder” problem. Trouble with the IRS over Founders stock value. Founders ignore non-compete clauses from former employers.

Cost 363

Cost Non-Compete Accredited Investor Cofounder 363

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 22, 2010

It’s still important advice for startup founders and something that I’m passionate about. I never hire job hoppers. They make terrible employees. Why do job hoppers make such bad employees at startups? -. You’re a startup founder. You have tough choices to make about whom you hire on your team.

Hiring 392

Hiring Employee Vesting Silicon Valley 392

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Employee Equity: How Much? The most common comment in this long and complicated MBA Mondays series on Employee Equity is the question of how much equity should you grant when you make a hire. For your first key hires, three, five, maybe as much as ten, you will probably not be able to use any kind of formula.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

By Daniel Sokolovksy, Co-Founder and CEO, WARP and Troy Lester, Co-Founder and CRO, WARP The dissolution of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was more than just a bank collapse, it was a reality check for both startups and the VCs that fund them. As a founder, ask yourself – does your business actually warrant VC funding?

Early Stage 115

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 115

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

Paige Briscoe, founder of ReRoot. Do you need to hire additional staff to complete the drop-offs? There continue to be major shifts in the roles that different team members play within a business, and often that requires retail employees to wear multiple hats. Do you want us and want us to offer curbside pickup? We did them.

eCommerce 155

eCommerce Cofounder Community Channel 155

The Next Web

AUGUST 12, 2013

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Christian Reber, CEO and co-founder of Berlin-based 6Wunderkinder. Define how you want to motivate your employees every day to produce high-quality and industry-leading results. Many founders don’t deal well with people leaving, but I am probably one of the worst.

Cofounder 119

Cofounder CTO Hire Startup Europe 119

Hearpreneur

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Hiring an expert or a coach to walk you through this stage can help you minimize the chances of failure although identifying the problem first can be a great way to create a long-lasting strategy. Using this capital , the founders launched and enjoyed exponential growth in their first year, with 10K users and thousands of listings.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Bankruptcy Southern California South Africa 97

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

To avoid the tax implications of co-mingling personal and business funds and assets, create your business entity before you hire anyone or spend money building the product. File founder stock election so no taxes are due until exit. Don’t wait for that first investor or prototype.

LLC 210

LLC Limited Liability Company Cofounder Preferred Stock 210

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 2, 2011

It’s a lot like investing in the stock market — once everyone else starts jumping on the bandwagon, you’ve missed the window. The “benevolent” part means always putting the entity, the employees, and, most importantly, the customer, first. Let “Mother” do the hiring. The truth is, entrepreneurial success isn’t rocket science.

Cofounder 154

Cofounder Vermont Ohio Brazil 154

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 21, 2009

Okay okay, "Planning == Bad," but the supposed benefits of planning are still important: designing for profitability, understanding your customers and competitors, focusing your attention, deciding what's worth doing next, changing directions, and ensuring the founders agree on important issues. Cartoon by Andertoons. It could be an intern.

Startup 315

Startup Revenue Cofounder Sales 315

Scott Edward Walker

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

Question My co-founders and I are working on a cool new site, and we’ll be ready to launch in a few weeks. We have no money – so we’re going to do the legal ourselves. (And please don’t tell us to hire a lawyer.) Otherwise, if one of the founders quits after a few months, he would take all of his shares with him.

Vesting 89

Vesting Software Review IP Intellectual Property 89

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

You are looking for cofounders that can help you build a product. You have finally found a cofounder that can take care of the startup. By offering the advantages of your company, you will be able to find some great employees. Hiring more resources. So, hire more people or go for outsourcing to remote workers.

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Funding challenges and other issues founders face in the early days of starting up were the focus of interviews with the latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on SiriusXM Channel 111 (airing weekly Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern). Will Zell , co-founder and CEO of Nikola Labs wireless power company.

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Silicon Valley Ohio Columbus Entrepreneur 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

The stock market clearly values companies that can deliver disruptive innovation. Some companies use a suggestion box, others like Google give employees 20% of their time to work on their own projects. And to keep executing large organizations hire employees with a range of skills and competencies. This never ends well.

Private Equity 329

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 329

The Next Web

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Two more entrepreneurial ventures later, Gleb cofounded online backup provider Backblaze to help consumers affordably, automatically, and safely back up their data. What are the pros and cons of starting a business alone versus with cofounders? How many founders are too many? Hire everyone you need as an employee.

Cofounder 143

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Kenya Dilution 143

VC Cafe

JULY 4, 2022

Venture Capital Feels the Stock Market’s Pain, Wall Street Journal. Remote hires represent the majority in the US in H1 2022. In 2019, about 35% of new hires were based in a different state than the primary company headquarters. Remote hires are now the majority in the US (source: Carta). VC funds invested about $47.5

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Venture Capital Valuation Private Equity LP 167

Berkonomics

JANUARY 7, 2021

Two: Co-management. Few entrepreneurs can do it alone, with subordinate hired help and no expert management to share the burdens, skill sets, and efforts involved in growing the enterprise. So, co-management is the second group to share in the bounty upon a liquidity event. Three: Outside investors. Reward for early risk.

Liquidity Event 96

Liquidity Event Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder Initial Public Offering 96

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Before you even get the business off the ground, it’s important to ensure that you and the co-founders (if any) agree on everything. Every startup should have a written founder agreement, which should include the following points: The roles and responsibilities of each member. Stock Option documentation.

LLC 168

LLC Startup Stock Options Cofounder 168

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Determining how to value sweat equity is key when negotiating with investors and employees. When you're getting started, sweat equity is often a critical component of your negotiating leverage with co-founders, early stage employees and others who aren't paid market wages to help you grow your business.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

Altgate

JUNE 25, 2012

Re-posted from post co-authored with Prof. —————– Dead equity — equity held by employees and founders no longer working at the company — is a large and growing problem. Thanks to that one decision, he owns nearly four million shares of stock, worth in excess of $100 million.

Equity 44

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 44

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. VCs competing for unicorn investments have given founders control of the board. Hire a CEO to Go Public. A pre-IPO board usually had two founders, two VCs and one “independent” member.

Founder 274

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 274

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

We all know that we use renewal to be thoughtful about our futures so why not take the time this week to take stock in where you want to be a year from now and what steps you could take personally to make a difference. Most founders have a strong sense of what they’re trying to achieve. A Sense of Purpose.

Leadership 150

Leadership Southern California San Diego Hiring 150

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Employee Benefits. Back in 1997, Randy Parker was staring at a blank whiteboard, wondering where hed find the money to hire the employees and consultants he needed to build his new product. "We a 50-employee provider of e-marketing solutions to small and midsize businesses, based in Needham, Mass. "We Business Taxes.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 29, 2013

This post was written by Sarah Milstein, co-host of The Lean Startup Conference. Often, in very young organizations, those people are simply the founders. Oh, and your salespeople have to make sure bookstores will stock it, and your marketing and PR people will have to make sure readers know it exists.

Lean 165

Lean Technical Review Startup Software Review 165

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 9, 2018

In their quest for sustainable growth, the elusive dream for most first time founders is that first funding. This can either come from the founder(s) own bank account or from outside investors. They need the money to rent offices, hire staff, and establish their initial presence (website, incorporation, marketing).

Technical Cofounder 20

Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Early Stage Cofounder 20

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2012

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a Founder agreement at the beginning. This oversight can lead to the so-called “forgotten founder” problem. Trouble with the IRS over Founders stock value. Founders ignore non-compete clauses from former employers.

Non-Compete 249

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Cofounder Startup 249

Altgate

AUGUST 25, 2012

Re-posted from post co-authored with Prof. —————– Dead equity — equity held by employees and founders no longer working at the company — is a large and growing problem. Thanks to that one decision, he owns nearly four million shares of stock, worth in excess of $100 million.

Equity 28

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 28

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

For starters let me use “CEO” as a proxy to include her “inner circle” which might mean co-founders or might just mean senior execs of the business. The Mind of the Founder. The mind of a founder is wired differently than most people. The startup CEO was not the original founder.

Startup 417

Startup Dilution San Diego Stock Options 417

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2013

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a Founder agreement at the beginning. This oversight can lead to the so-called “forgotten Founder” problem. Trouble with the IRS over Founders stock value. Founders ignore non-compete clauses from former employers. Marty Zwilling.

Non-Compete 235

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Startup Cofounder 235

Andrew Payne

SEPTEMBER 9, 2017

In practice, most equity grants within a company are driven by broad calibrations with existing employees. If an early very experienced developer has 1%, and a less senior dev has 0.5%, those become two reference points for the next dev hire. And, how can founders talk about percentages before any funding?

Equity 71

Equity Founder Vesting Dilution 71

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2014

Many startups these days are started by young, technical or product founders who are in the idealistic phase of their lives and careers. It’s why I wrote a post outlining why the job of a CEO is often “chief psychologist” – especially if the company grows beyond 20 employees. Foursquare? Then Evan Williams.

Startup 385

Startup Stock Options Cofounder Campaign 385

www.joelonsoftware.com

MARCH 24, 2010

When we decide to hire someone, the interviewers who were involved in the "hire" decision will sit down with the candidates resume and salary history and figure out what level they will start at. Our biannual reviews are done internally by management; they are not intended as a way to give employees grades or gold stars.

Software Review 48

Software Review Stock Options Salary Technical Review 48

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

Darren Nix , Group Manager of the Assessments product team at Indeed and founder of the Y Combinator -backed startup Interviewed (acquired by Indeed), puts it this way: “Users can’t design your product for you. Hunter Brennick , co-founder and COO of Landing Lion , emphasizes humility and listening for product managers.

Management 85

Management Product Technical Review Software Review 85

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2011

Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a founder agreement at the beginning. This oversight can lead to the so-called “forgotten founder” problem. Early co-founders often drop out of the picture due to disagreements, and you forget about them, but they don’t forget about the verbal promises you made.

Non-Compete 246

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Entrepreneur Cofounder 246

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 21, 2017

They really care about their employees, and have enough money to buy a fair amount of happiness. My team and I have created Happster, the first product created to take employee happiness to new heights through positive psychology. Remember when someone told you money doesn’t buy happiness? 4 – Sr. Sales Account Manager.

Entrepreneur 48

Entrepreneur Investment Bankers PR Social Media 48