Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

Every startup founder loves to prompt for questions from investors and potential key team members about their vision, and the huge opportunity that can be had with their disruptive technology. Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

But the thing I am most proud of about Rob is that he has taken a company with a uniquely talented founder & CTO – Nick Halstead – and managed to build a very tight working relationship with Nick where we drive world-class product development without having the usual founder / CEO conflicts. Rob jokes about it.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

Every startup founder loves to prompt for questions from investors and potential key team members about their vision, and the huge opportunity that can be had with their disruptive technology. Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

” He explains: Either the founders failed to achieve their goal, or – far likelier – they failed to dream big enough. The proper ambition for a tech entrepreneur should be to join the ranks of the great tech companies, or, at least, to create a profitable, independent company beloved by employees, customers, and shareholders.

Acquisition 120

Acquisition Technical Review Stock Options Employee 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2013

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup Founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs. The Founder succession dilemma.

Founder 245

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 245

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. This question runs from about minute 2 – minute 8. We will continue to do more of this.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2020

There is no better way to feel the pressures and unknowns, as well as the excitement, of a startup than to work in one as an employee, and realize that the highs and lows are even greater for the founder. Founders stock and stock options are worth nothing for the first few years.

Silicon Valley 315

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Stock Options Flash 315

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Putting customers first. Legendary customer support. He’d wasted a year of his life and had a pile of stock options that weren’t very interesting. You could just outspend.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

The Next Web

MARCH 11, 2014

Visit his blog to read more about startups and product design. Even its founders couldn’t quite describe it, let alone foresee what it would become. For the past year, they invested in the team and technology to prioritize speed of iteration with disregard to traditional methods of customer development and company building.

Silicon Valley 151

Silicon Valley Cofounder Stock Options Mobile 151

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

We hadn’t even thought about having a customer support line or who would staff it. We had one of the largest US software companies talk about buying us. My competitors from those days STILL love to talk about how much money we raised in February 2000 (get over it already!). Our software wasn’t fully baked.

PR 331

PR Software Review Ireland Germany 331

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

What I love about my job is getting to see teams of super-early-stage companies develop ideas that while raw have potential to make an impact on the market. I have written about the next phases many times. This is all about “leverage” which is the key to success. But alas I must scale with businesses and make money.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

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 118

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 118

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

www.thedailymuse.com

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

What Start-ups Should Know About Hiring a Lawyer. It’s essential to make sure you take reasonable steps to control risk in your interactions with customers, suppliers, users, employees, and the general public. Establishing the ownership and equity rights of the company if there are multiple founders. About the Author.

Hiring 56

Hiring LLC Intellectual Property Private Equity 56

Reid Hoffman

DECEMBER 10, 2020

The very first time that someone reached out to me about Airbnb, he described the business as, “It’s renting couches. So when various other people tried to reach out to me about Airbnb, I told them, “I’ve already heard all about it, and it’s not a good fit for me.” HOW GREYLOCK INVESTED IN AIRBNB. You should go do that.”

Hosting 69

Hosting Hockey Stick IPO Silicon Valley 69

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

” If you don’t create the message about yourself, the market will. As I talked about in “ Is it Time to Learn or Time to Earn ” – overwhelmingly the best economics go to those that start successful companies. And if you want to be a CEO one day you need the messaging to reflect that.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Your role as a founder who brings on board members should be to understand the importance of the team dynamic and try to foster better human relationships so that in the future when you need people to work together for a common purpose a trust and rapport has been formed. The founders of a company are fighting.

LP 269

LP Startup Burn Rate Stock Options 269

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 26, 2020

The early days of a business’ journey require the founders to pour their energy into focusing on getting their product or service perfected and out to customers in the marketplace. If your startup business has more than one founder, a Partnership Agreement, which is an operating agreement, is essential. Partnership Agreements.

Intellectual Property 154

Intellectual Property Startup SEC Stock Options 154

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. So today I want to talk about purpose and style. When I talk about entrepreneurship, I often talk about athletes. When I think about my company, I often think about it like a football club.

Cofounder 119

Cofounder CTO Hire Startup Europe 119

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

This 4-part story, however, explores the Austin ecosystem based on the 4Cs framework —  culture , capital, customers , and competencies. You have to pay attention to money, but it shouldn’t be about the money.” Tim O’Reilly, Founder at O’Reilly Media and promoter of open source and Web 2.0

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley Texas 48

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup Founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs. The Founder succession dilemma.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

We like to talk about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and various random stuff! Small Business and Startups: Customer Service Marketing Manifesto – crowdspring.co/1wYokDi. Startup Equity and Stock Options: What’s It Worth to You?

Social Media 99

Social Media Small Business Design Media 99

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 6, 2021

Although the media has been full of inspiring stories about start-ups in Silicon Valley, the reality is that the rate at which Americans have been starting companies has been in decline for a long time. The great managerial guru, Peter Drucker, liked to say that the purpose of a business is to keep and create a customer.

Limited Liability Company 166

Limited Liability Company Silicon Valley Business Model Stock Options 166

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2013

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder “vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health.

Due Diligence 253

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Burn Rate 253

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2017

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Don’t wait for the harsh reality of the demanding business world to start thinking about these tradeoffs. The founder succession dilemma.

Hockey Stick 144

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 144

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.   Some people will talk about this as a “multiple,” i.e., “I expect ten times my investment back.”   I find this to be imprecise because it doesn’t encapsulate the element of time. An average of these ranges results in a pre-money valuation of about $4MM.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Start Up Blog

JUNE 9, 2016

Them: What are you talking about? If there is anything startup founders should remember it is why it’s worth doing at all. Entrepreneurship is more about exploration and freedom than money. In that case you may as well have the certainty of money that goes with stock options and employment.

Founder 48

Founder Stock Options Startup Valuation 48

Start Up Blog

JUNE 9, 2016

Them: What are you talking about? If there is anything startup founders should remember it is why it’s worth doing at all. Entrepreneurship is more about exploration and freedom than money. In that case you may as well have the certainty of money that goes with stock options and employment.

Founder 48

Founder Stock Options Startup Valuation 48

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2012

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder “vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health.

Due Diligence 244

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate Intellectual Property 244

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder “vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health.

Due Diligence 237

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Entrepreneur 237

www.joelonsoftware.com

MARCH 24, 2010

A word about performance reviews Many companies use regular, formal performance reviews as a "carrot/stick" incentive system to obtain performance. Academic experience We dont care too much about degrees, because they dont correspond all that well with skills for software engineers. Once a year well grant people more stock options.

Software Review 48

Software Review Stock Options Salary Technical Review 48

Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2011

How To Think About The Future. Even for those who don’t care to dive into the numbers, it’s worth a quick glance because co-founder/CEO Andrew Mason wrote a letter which forms the preamble of the full document. Cumulative customers (unique buyers of Groupons): 15.8M (Q1 2011), 9.0M (2010), 0.4M (2009). June 5, 2011.

North America 100

North America Chicago Boston Silicon Valley 100

Gust

DECEMBER 8, 2013

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder “vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health.

Due Diligence 174

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Burn Rate 174

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 20, 2012

Disclaimer: I’m not an investor in OnLive and I know nothing about the specifics of what happened. I read a few articles over the weekend about OnLive potentially going out of business, potentially screwing its employees, and a few other things. The founders equity, the investors equity, and the employees equity.

Recapitalization 136

Recapitalization Stock Options Vesting Equity 136

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2010

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder "vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health.

Due Diligence 229

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Startup 229

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. I never thought of this until I became the Founder & CEO of my first startup company. Why you should never have a data room?—?the

Cap Table 336

Cap Table Due Diligence Forecast Churn Rate 336

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Most board meetings are administrative updates that accomplish very little other than inform board members about the performance of the company since the last board meeting. No board member will truly read and be thoughtful about the entire deck and no team can get through the entire presentation in the meeting.

Stock Options 226

Stock Options Metrics Stock Valuation 226