This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 28, 2021

I would propose that early stage startups start thinking about doing something radically different—think about trying to become the absolute best place to work if you have a family as a means of getting an advantage in the hiring market. Consider extended family leave—six months paid at minimum for all parents of all genders.

Hiring 179

Hiring Early Stage Marketing Term Sheet 179

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

I would e-mail Paul and Rony from Indeed regularly with feature ideas and get super frustrated that they implemented zero of them—especially in the face of stiff competition from Simply Hired. What’s Simply Hired, you ask? Paul and Rony focused on doing one thing and doing it better than anyone else—returning great job search results.

.Net 88

.Net Cap Table Startup Technical Review 88

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

The company was going to hire a VP of Marketing. This sentence is worth reading multiple times as no one – not the person who hired you, the VC’s or your peers -is going to tell you when you’re hired that the company will likely outgrow you. Your original hires embody the company culture. I was devastated.

Part-Time VPE 333

Part-Time VPE Employee Cofounder Community 333

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 9, 2022

Even hiring can be thought of as a subset of adaptability whereby at first you’re hiring generalists that can wear many hats because you simply don’t have the resources to hire individualists (people that are great at very specific things) and as the company grows, you need to adapt that hiring. Quality control?

Cofounder 148

Cofounder Founder Miami Marketing 148

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. I always push companies to hire “an operationally focused CFO” during this phase because in order to systematize you need somebody who brings economic rigor to decision making. As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

We had personally invested $70,000 of our own money at this point, and we were hoping to raise at least another $250,000 to help us hire a team, launch our company, and begin to build our product. of our company in exchange for the $300K, and my business partner and I each diluted from 50% ownership down to 33.3%

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

You’ll need to hire and retain talen to grow your company. The VC’s $1 million still buys them 25% of your company – it’s you who has diluted to 60% ownership rather than 75%. But this example above is all entrepreneur math, not the VC’s. The VC assumes you’ll have an option pool.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

How much dilution should I take for it?&# My friend’s company was pre-revenue. Me: “Zero dilution. But to be clear the overwhelming majority of deals involve one company driving the cultural integration, establishment of uniform processes, hiring / firing decisions, etc. They often involve big hugs on stage.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2022

Certainly managers need to be better trained, more sensitive to worker needs, and focused on hiring and training the right people for the right job, rather than treating all as soldiers. Outside contracts and freelancing rapidly dilute everyone’s focus on the higher company mission and purpose.

Management 333

Management Dilution Forecast Leadership 333

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 1, 2009

I know that people find safety in numbers (and there always seems to be 3 amigos) but imagine this for a moment – you go and raise venture capital and you’re fighting over whether to dilute with a VC by 25% or 30% as a company. Resist the temptation to hire clones of you. Are you intuitive vs. process oriented?

Hiring 289

Hiring Cofounder Dilution Startup 289

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

One great solution I see is to hire an outstanding CFO who runs both. Dilute your cash, equity or both. I think people understand this title to mean more somebody who handles operational issues rather than somebody who is more like a “chief of staff&# as a COO often is. But they aren’t the COO. What will it do?

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

VC Adventure

AUGUST 16, 2020

Yet others try to use cash to minimize dilution for early employees and try to rapidly reduce their reliance on options. But it will also change the nature of your workforce if you only hire employees that can work for well below market cash comp. It’s also important not to go crazy with the trade-off.

Programming 149

Programming Vesting Equity Software Review 149

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. That it is non-dilutive financing? This article initially appeared on TechCrunch. I believe it’s flawed.

Technical Review 403

Technical Review Software Review Startup Churn Rate 403

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 19, 2012

When not approached carefully, growth can destroy value as it outstrips a company’s managerial capacity, processes, quality, and financial controls, or substantially dilutes customer value propositions. Growth can dilute a business’s culture and customer value proposition and put the business in a different competitive space.

Dilution 187

Dilution Virginia Management Washington 187

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

If you are getting funded for the first time, which means that you have not diluted the shares of your company, you will be receiving Series A funding. Hiring more resources. When you are done with making product improvements, start hiring more resources that can work to solidify your brand presence. Series A, B, C Funding.

Startup 104

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 104

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 12, 2024

However, scaling up too quickly can lead to hurried hiring decisions. The Brand Identity Balancing Act While chasing growth, there’s a risk of diluting what made your brand special in the first place. It’s not just about having enough money; it’s about smart money management.

Intellectual Property 118

Intellectual Property Dilution Security Government 118

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

Despite advances in cloud infrastructure, many businesses still have fleshy parts—soft underbellies where a human hand is required to keep quality control, stuff something into a box, order inventory, hire enough engineers to keep the site going or manage cash. Scale brings complexity. If you’re lucky, you realize it in time.

Dilution 104

Dilution Equity Hiring Partner 104

Up and Running

JULY 1, 2020

I needed to determine whether we could profitably hire an additional advisor to properly manage this emerging marker to allow the current advisor more time to manage their own. Will marketing for the expansion dilute marketing of your brand or other products? Do you need to further segment out your established target market?

Business Plan 152

Business Plan Forecast Operations Dilution 152

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 6, 2020

In one stage of my own career, as an executive with a large corporation, I found myself almost totally occupied with managing personnel and organizational issues, including hiring and firing, which kept me away from the products and customers that I loved. With major investors, your equity and return is diluted and delayed.

Small Business 311

Small Business Equity Small Business Administration SBA 311

Austin Startup

MAY 8, 2018

Background reading: Founder Compensation: Cash, Equity, Liquidity Fatal Errors in Early Startup Hiring Early Hires: Options or Stock Given how deeply involved we are with early-stage startups hiring their first key employees, I figured it would be helpful to outline a few key principles to help entrepreneurs navigate the topic.

Employee 48

Employee Seed Stage Startup Equity 48

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

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. First, a caveat. Let's say the number is $25mm.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 9, 2017

But that will dilute your focus, time and energy and mean you have less time you to drive the business forward and expand. You must trust in the experience and skill set of the people you hire, but at the same time, you know your business requirements better than anyone else. It’s also your money and you want it done properly.

Founder 68

Founder Dilution Web Development SEO 68

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

This is often true when the action of the board could dramatically affect shareholders such as raising new capital, acquiring new businesses (that drain existing cash or dilute shareholders), selling the company or raising a lot of debt. hiring & firing the CEO. In many cases management teams confuse the roles and responsibilities.

Startup 204

Startup Dilution Government Stock Options 204

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 16, 2016

But entrepreneurs face other concerns that compete with this growth focus, including hiring, maintaining current revenue sources and distinguishing themselves from the competition. But take it from what a good friend and advisor once said to me: “Ego is dilutive to net worth.”. Don’t expand for the sake of your ego.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Balance Sheet Small Business Administration Technical Review 100

Mike Michalowicz

OCTOBER 1, 2022

Business check point: Are you diversifying your offering, or diluting your company’s impact? Sometimes the more offerings you provide, the more risk for brand dilution, which ends up weakening your business. Brand dilution decreases the consumer’s idea of the value of your past products. . Understandable. The problem?

Dilution 78

Dilution Reputation Product Development Community 78

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

Many startup CEOs hire COOs or launch companies with a co-founder carrying the title. When should founders hire one? So when founders lose focus, they dilute their power and effectiveness, which diffuses the force of their impact. More importantly, A-players attract and hire other A-players. Based on what criteria?

Hiring 336

Hiring Cofounder Startup Technical Cofounder 336

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

If you hire 6 senior sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business 6 months. If you don’t have a strong balance sheet and can’t hire more people that’s fine — but understand this may lead to slower growth.

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

In many instances, you raise an institutional round to either fulfill a product strategy or go-to-market strategy or you’re increasing sales and marketing hires, so you have better visibility into what needs to happen in the next six, 12, 18 months. NVV: Is there any dilution? Any equity the venture debt lender gets?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Rather than dedicating time and resources to an extensive hiring process or training, tapping into this pool of external specialists accelerates progress. Startups need to pose crucial questions: Which tasks are absolutely vital to our brand ethos, and which ones can be safely outsourced without diluting our unique value proposition?

Cost 141

Cost Startup Non-Compete Dilution 141

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 13, 2011

They end up trying to do too much for too many, which dilutes their focus and often the quality of their product or service. Hiring smart. Hiring mistakes are costly, time consuming, and create quality and financial control risks for small businesses. The problem is that too many entrepreneurs never learn to say ‘NO!’

Minneapolis 196

Minneapolis Kentucky Indianapolis Hiring 196

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

If you are able to raise money from credible sources at a reasonable dilution percentage then I personally favor getting the round done now and building your business. How much dilution am I going to have to take now? So if you can take 27% dilution for $1.5 25% dilution). But this is the exception, not the rule.

Pre-Money Valuation 303

Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Valuation PR 303

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 26, 2019

Find and focus on one reliable distribution mechanism before diluting your time diversifying. Either you haven’t hired great talent, or you have but you’re disempowering them. Your values are defined by what you tolerate. Your culture, and even your purpose, is the outcome of living your values. One-on-ones are never a waste of time.

Restful 202

Restful Founder Revenue Acquisition 202

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Plus, any other non-standard items here should be called out, too, like non-dilutive grants, as applicable. The former can include expected burn and runway, guideposts on hiring, and resource allocation. Previous venture firms’ specific involvement on the cap table should be noted here, though.

Cap Table 211

Cap Table Seed Stage Valuation Dilution 211

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Benefits: Non-dilutive, flexible credit offerings that fit SMB or enterprise SaaS. The mode purpose for funding is (in order of frequency) Sales, Marketing, Market Expansion, Product Development, and Hiring Employees. At least 12 months of customer history, generally 20+ enterprise customers or 200+ SMB customers. over next 12 months.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2009

Many startup companies hire advisory boards. You can go as high as 1% because they’re going to get diluted when you bring in VC. This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. It’s very tempting. It’s mostly done by first-time entrepreneurs who want to persuade (bribe?) At a $2 million valuation this is 0.5%

Advisory Board 306

Advisory Board Startup Equity Valuation 306

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 30, 2022

15- Study supply chains and hiring trends. Businesses, in order to function, will have to study supply chains as well as hiring trends to determine pricing, promotions and service offerings, adjusting to current conditions. Thanks to James Wilkinson, Balance One Supplements ! #15- Photo Credit: Cody Candee. Photo Credit: Emir Bacic.

Entrepreneur 122

Entrepreneur Green Technical Review Social Media 122

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2022

A common practice is to hire local employees who know the geographic culture, even though this may well dilute the company culture. This usually marks the end of organic growth, as partnerships and alliances aid growth, but again dilute the focus on culture. Product-line expansion. Efficiency and scale.

Dilution 355

Dilution Startup Merger Flash 355