Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

It’s more possible to bootstrap today than a few years ago, as the cost of entry continues to go down. With one of the many new tools , and a dose of sweat equity, you can create a website for almost nothing -- and you are on your way to success with ecommerce, your latest invention or personal services.

Equity 349

Equity Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity 349

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth? Just because it was your idea doesn’t mean you “deserve” 90% of the equity. The value in a startup is all about tangible results, so I see no equity value in the idea alone. Key to required patents or trade secrets.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs, like online web sites and smart phone apps. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Use crowd funding.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs, like online web sites and smart phone apps. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Use crowd funding.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs, like online web sites and smart phone apps. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Use crowd funding.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

This could involve leasing out unused space, selling off non-core assets, or finding innovative ways to monetize intellectual property or data. Simultaneously, we conducted a thorough operational review to identify inefficiencies and areas for cost reduction.

Technical Review 158

Technical Review Due Diligence Bankruptcy Intellectual Property 158

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2014

The first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth? Just because it was your idea doesn’t mean you “deserve” 90 percent of the equity. The value in a startup is all about tangible results, so there is no equity value in the idea alone. Key to required patents or trade secrets.

Cofounder 261

Cofounder Stock Founder Technical Cofounder 261

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain, such as online web sites and smart phone apps, that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Use crowd funding to build reserves.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Register some intellectual property. These are things that can cost very little money, but go a long ways in convincing someone that you are making progress. Investors like to see that you have committed personal funds as well as “sweat equity,” and they like to see real progress at this level. Show personal investment.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain, such as online web sites and smart phone apps, that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Use crowd funding to build reserves.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Of course, not every equity compensation story is a David Choe Story. If you’re thinking about extending equity to an employee or a vendor (as in the example above), you should know that the topic is multi-faceted. In this article, I’m going to examine: What equity compensation is. Different types of equity compensation.

Equity 60

Equity Employee Stock Options Vesting 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2020

It’s more possible to bootstrap today than a few years ago, as the cost of entry continues to go down. With one of the many new tools , and a dose of sweat equity, you can create a website for almost nothing -- and you are on your way to success with ecommerce, your latest invention or personal services.

Hockey Stick 423

Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 423

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

I like the work just published by Bob Rice in “ The Alternative Answer ,” which does a great job of summarizing the investment universe, starting with the “conventional” stocks, bonds, and real estate, but moving on through more esoteric alternatives, including hedge funds, private equity, real assets, managed futures, and finally venture funding.

Angel Investor 269

Angel Investor Cram Down Intellectual Property Venture Capital 269

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Register some intellectual property. These are things that can cost very little money, but go a long ways in convincing someone that you are making progress. Investors like to see that you have committed personal funds as well as “sweat equity,” and they like to see real progress at this level. Show personal investment.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

They have equipment and smart students that would otherwise cost you a fortune through an outside contract. Access to intellectual property and current research. Every startup needs to start their funding search looking for grants, with no equity dilution, as well as contests and foundations.

Arizona 276

Arizona Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Entrepreneur 276

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

Those at the other extreme don’t look up from the grindstone long enough to notice whether all their work is producing sweat equity or just sweat. Of course, never forget those ongoing perspiration items that seem to haunt you every day: Create intellectual property. Starting a business may be fun, but it’s not easy.

Sweat Equity 400

Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Startup Viral 400

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

The corporate entity lends itself best to the concept of “sharing” equity required by investors, and unincorporated entities don’t get funding. Define some intellectual property. File a patent and trademarks to show real intellectual property. Line up an experienced team. Close at least one initial customer.

Intellectual Property 249

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 249

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Register some intellectual property. These are things that can cost very little money, but go a long ways in convincing someone that you are making progress. Investors like to see that you have committed personal funds as well as “sweat equity,” and they like to see real progress at this level. Show personal investment.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 10, 2018

However, what you don’t need is lawyers’ prohibitive fees, which can cost your startup hundreds of thousands of dollars — even millions — in just the first few years. Though most extant legal software solutions target law firms, there are some applications startups can use to reduce their legal costs. Intellectual property creation.

Software Review 92

Software Review Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Software 92

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2021

Every business, including non-profits, need a viable source of revenue to cover the costs of operation and sustainability. Show a cost margin of at least fifty percent. Projecting a low cost margin, with a commitment to low overhead and hard work, is not convincing. Identify your intellectual property or “secret sauce.”

Intellectual Property 332

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Channel 332

Up and Running

DECEMBER 8, 2021

Patent strategies are a series of steps that a company takes in order to secure and position its inventions, innovations, and/or intellectual property. The fact is, not paying for the critical review and legal costs to create or enforce a patent almost always ends up costing more in the long run. Don’t do it.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Portfolio Startup Intellectual Property 88

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2016

Investors like to see new intellectual property as a barrier to entry. Investors expect to hear annual revenues, average margins, customer acquisition costs and sales pipelines. Every investor I know has seen multiple plans to add more features to Facebook, or add yet another dating site.

Technical Review 134

Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence Angel Investor 134

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

They also need to decide whether to structure terms as an equity deal or a convertible security deal. ” The Cost of Financing. .” ” The Cost of Financing. Startups bear the costs of their financing, from the first seed investment to the sale of Series A stock. Even $15-20,000 is too expensive.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

Skip the fuzzy marketing terms, such as "easier to use," "lower cost" and "disruptive technology." " Investors want to buy into an entrepreneur with a startup that can provide evidence of an ability to double customer productivity, at half the cost, with patented technology.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

In fact, an entrepreneur friend of mine, who made millions on her marketing expertise, asserted recently that most inventors fail in business because they refuse to believe that any business expertise or experience is worth more than 5 percent in partner equity. The best technologies are barely invisible and low cost.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

The corporate entity lends itself best to the concept of “sharing” equity required by investors, and unincorporated entities don’t get funding. Define some intellectual property. File a patent and trademarks to show real intellectual property. Line up an experienced team. Close at least one initial customer.

Angel Investor 224

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Technical Review Elevator Pitch 224

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

They have equipment and smart students that would otherwise cost you a fortune through an outside contract. Access to intellectual property and current research. Every startup needs to start their funding search looking for grants, with no equity dilution, as well as contests and foundations.

Arizona 310

Arizona Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Dividend 310

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Register some intellectual property. These are things that can cost very little money, but go a long ways in convincing someone that you are making progress. Investors like to see that you have committed personal funds as well as “sweat equity,” and they like to see real progress at this level. Show personal investment.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 222

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2022

Engineers can input design goals into AI-driven generative design software , along with parameters such as performance or spatial requirements, materials, manufacturing methods, and cost constraints. GPT-3 uses 175 billion parameters and was trained on a cluster with 1,024 Nvidia A100 GPUs that cost ~$25 million! Example here.

Artificial Inteligence 422

Artificial Inteligence Software Review Algorithm Technical Review 422

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2020

This type of business has long been primarily run out of the home, well before COVID-19 made that a necessity, and it still works to keep the costs of operation down. Just because you want to start a business doesn’t mean you are entitled to outside equity, loans, or crowdfunding. Keep the initial scope within bootstrapping limits.

Intellectual Property 313

Intellectual Property Small Business Administration Bootstrapping Differentiation 313

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Intellectual Property. Should You Share Equity with Consultants? To grow his cash-strapped start-up, Parker ended up sharing equity -- not only with employees, but also with consultants and vendors. Parker found that equity as compensation helped build loyalty to his company -- even among consultants. INNOVATION.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Intellectual Property. Will Work for Equity. Dave Graham Business Venture Capital Private Equity GlobalLogic Inc. Determined not to miss another opportunity, Graham has begun waiving fees and instead taking equity in clients he thinks have a good shot at success. INNOVATION. Managing Creativity. The 2011 Inc.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

Gust

DECEMBER 1, 2011

Notice what is missing from this list of priorities: The company itself – that is, a business entity, most often a corporation , that will own the entire business (however defined), issue equity to founders, take investment capital , enter into contracts, make sales, pay employees and contractors, and so forth. Good stuff!

IP 114

IP Intellectual Property Equity Liquidity Event 114

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . In the private equity universe, most Partners have primary training as deal-makers, not as managers. (To see the video above, please click the image, and then click on the Play button.).

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018

In order to get your invention and business off the ground, you will need to invest time and money on protecting your intellectual property , development, production and marketing. While covering these costs can seem daunting, there are a number of funding opportunities available. Using personal resources. Business financing.

Intellectual Property 113

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Government Venture Capital 113

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

In spite of this, private equity funds have used the rallying cry of efficiency to hijack corporate strategy and loot the profits that historically would have been reinvested into research and development and new products. For example they can reduce component cost, introduce a line extension or create new versions of the existing product.

Private Equity 329

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 329

Gust

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

In April 2012, Congress passed the JOBS Act , which authorizes equity crowdfunding and liberalizes some requirements regarding the issuance of securities by privately held companies. Intellectual Property. Free Speech. Healthcare Reform. Yes, really.

Silicon Valley 187

Silicon Valley San Francisco Intellectual Property Accredited Investor 187