Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2020

Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Because these considerations can be quite complex, very emotional, and have long-term implications, smart entrepreneurs don’t hesitate to get some legal advice at this early stage, in drawing up an agreement document to be signed by each of the co-founders.

Cofounder 435

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Equity Intellectual Property 435

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2020

Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary. Ironically, startup investors are normally in less personal jeopardy than early startup employees.

Technical Review 436

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 436

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary. Ironically, startup investors are normally in less personal jeopardy than early startup employees.

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

As an early-stage company that just closed our seed round at $8.1 So what does an early-stage company do to avoid the doom and gloom plaguing the world of startups? There are startups out there that are valued at a billion dollars, but because of employee salaries, assets, etc. That includes us.

Early Stage 118

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 118

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

I was just asked about a particular startup situation (seed stage, CMO hire, non-founder) and particularly what compensation and equity is appropriate.

CTO Hire 329

CTO Hire Equity Seed Stage Option Pool 329

Up and Running

APRIL 12, 2018

Employees (include salaries and benefits, like insurance and retirement contributions). Your business has specific expenses, or overhead, each month, quarter or year that will always be there. Known expenses. Examples of known expenses include: Rent. Utility bills. Communication (telephone, internet). Marketing.

Forecast 77

Forecast Early Stage Software Review Technical Review 77

Hunter Walker

MAY 13, 2023

Especially in the early days of mobile/iOS engineering, if you hired strong technical talent into your early stage company, you basically created an acquisition outcome floor. .” Yes, this was the ‘fallback plan’ for many team in the web2 era and they weren’t wrong. of the time my answer is no f **g way].

Early Stage 117

Early Stage Cap Table Acquisition Sales 117

Up and Running

APRIL 12, 2021

For compensation, it is important to remember that an employee’s salary will be contingent on their previous experience, the company’s stage, and the role. Startups can utilize industry salary ranges found on Glassdoor or Angel Co. Create employee performance management processes early on.

Employee 139

Employee Management Salary Retention 139

Up and Running

OCTOBER 28, 2022

And there are often many unexpected expenses in the early stages of a new venture. This may include things like rent, inventory, marketing, utilities, employee salaries, and so on. You’ll need to make some allowances in the early stages of the business. Work up a detailed list of all necessary expenses.

Cost 138

Cost Startup Early Stage Vesting 138

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 31, 2020

Alternatively, individual VA contractors can be hired for a monthly salary, or workers for short gigs can be found via Fiverr or TaskRabbit. While we are in the early stages of technological development in the virtual assistant space, a Jarvis-like computer that does all the busy work for small businesses is not too far away.

Artificial Inteligence 189

Artificial Inteligence Mali Management Technical Review 189

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2015

Organizational debt is all the people/culture compromises made to “just get it done” in the early stages of a startup. retaining their existing hires who were working for intern-like salaries with little equity. Just when things should be going great, organizational debt can turn a growing company into a chaotic nightmare.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Because these considerations can be quite complex, very emotional, and have long-term implications, smart entrepreneurs don’t hesitate to get some legal advice at this early stage, in drawing up an agreement document to be signed by each of the co-founders.

Equity 238

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 238

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2016

How much you raise determines valuation I know it sounds crazy but at the earliest stages of a company your valuation often is determined by how much money you raise. There is a general guideline of how much investors want to own in order to invest in your company and the norm is 15–30% with the most common range 20–25% per early stage round.

Pre-Money Valuation 292

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Early Stage Startup 292

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Flexible VCs have created structures based on other company performance metrics than revenues, such as profits or founder salaries. Similarly, when Flexible VC structures are based off of the founder’s own compensation (often via salary or dividends), investors are specifically tying their returns to the financial success of the founder.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2014

Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Because these considerations can be quite complex, very emotional and have long-term implications, smart entrepreneurs don’t hesitate to get some legal advice at this early stage, in drawing up an agreement document to be signed by each of the co-founders.

Cofounder 261

Cofounder Stock Founder Technical Cofounder 261

ReadWriteStart

MAY 22, 2023

The Challenge of Talent and Funding FOV Ventures, the first venture capital firm in Europe to invest exclusively in early-stage Metaverse companies, has announced €25 million in funding for early-stage or seed-stage startups.

Finland 187

Finland Europe Estonia Silicon Valley 187

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 10, 2011

You find early stage employees expecting to work normal hours, to get paid a regular salary, and not asking or expecting equity. And what’s great for the mass of society – a government safety net verging on the ultimate nanny state – makes it impossible to fail. There isn’t much of a killer instinct among the masses.

Finland 324

Finland Naming Russia Government 324

Austin Startup

JULY 8, 2017

A COO / CFO wants to justify his salary, and an easy way to do that is by claiming to ‘save’ you legal fees via DIY legal work. What’s his/her starting salary?” Last time I checked a solid software developer will cost you six figures in salary; ignoring equity. You’re not saving anything. Me: “Great. CEO: “What?

Startup 48

Startup Salary Early Stage Software 48

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Because these considerations can be quite complex, very emotional, and have long-term implications, smart entrepreneurs don’t hesitate to get some legal advice at this early stage, in drawing up an agreement document to be signed by each of the co-founders.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Up and Running

APRIL 1, 2021

Additionally, having have friends in the right places can really help with the early stages of growing awareness of your brand. On average, it takes entrepreneurs three years to accrue the same annual salary they received at their former full-time job.

.Net 123

.Net Technical Review Early Stage Finance 123

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

It follows up on my posts discussing why early stage startups should — or should not — move to Silicon Valley. Should Early Stage Startups Move to Austin because of Competencies? Should Early Stage Startups Move to Austin because of Competencies?

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley Intellectual Property 48

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 14, 2012

If a candidate for your technical lead was a CTO at a big company, for example, but he or she says they want to manage and not code, then he or she is not the right fit for an early-stage startup]. The quality of your startup team can mean the difference between success and failure. It’s worth spending time on recruiting.

Technical Review 159

Technical Review CTO Hire Software Review Startup 159

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2020

Companies that are foregoing entry-level salaries are creating a top-heavy corporate structure that will lack those differences in perspectives, those surges of creativity, and that freshness of an employee with a recent education. The factors are manifold.

Hiring 264

Hiring Early Stage Non-Compete Salary 264

Up and Running

JUNE 28, 2021

The cost of replacing an unhappy employee who quit comes out to be between six and nine months ‘ worth of salary. Whether you’ll use incentives like higher positions and salaries, rewards or praise, or make it mandatory, it is up to you. Employee retention is one of the biggest and potentially expensive issues for companies.

Employee 83

Employee Developer Software Review Salary 83

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

We had raised a $2 million seed round, which meant taking almost no salary so we could afford to hire staff. So even after raising a $16 million A-round I still paid myself a paltry salary. In fact, my salary never caught up with my pre startup salary across 2 companies and 8 years. . “Look.

Founder 409

Founder Salary Startup Early Stage 409

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary. Ironically, startup investors are normally in less personal jeopardy than early startup employees.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

Hunter Walker

APRIL 17, 2022

That’s what my business partner and I decided that we wanted in salary from our newest venture fund. Now, my salary doesn’t go to zero overnight because we’re still drawing down historical management fees but it’s all downhill from here as those income streams taper and end. 0 per year.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Salary Early Stage .Net 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary. Ironically, startup investors are normally in less personal jeopardy than early startup employees.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

Relationships with Venture Partners, Entrepreneurs in Residence , and other non-salaried personnel who can help your companies. Real Ventures , an early-stage, Canadian-based fund, runs a two-day Founder Camp every six months. AskAnything.VC aggregates resources from all the VCs.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Up and Running

JULY 28, 2022

The right time for drafting a founders agreement is in the early stages of business. Still, it makes it easier to pay salaries and file tax returns accurately. The whole point is to avoid business disputes that may come up between the founders. Correctly classify your workers.

Small Business 167

Small Business Intellectual Property Cofounder Software Review 167

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As an early-stage VC I love this phase. Whereas New York City has very high real estate costs and very high salaries, launching in Chicago and D.C. There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. were more distributed.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

And how much are variable expenses (salaries, consultants, commission, travel, AWS/Azure charges, supplies, etc.?). If you’re an early stage company, that number may be zero. How much are fixed expenses (those you can’t change, i.e. rent?) You need to act now. Keep in mind, that today’s circumstances are different.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Semil asserts, Seed-stage valuations have generally been left-unchanged, and I could argue even they’ve gone up since the beginning of 2022. Early-stage is perhaps a more attractive stage to deploy smaller dollars these days – a friend remarked everyone wants to gamble, but no one wants to sit at the whale tables just yet.

Cap Table 93

Cap Table Valuation Salary Seed Stage 93

View from Seed

JULY 21, 2022

They can’t afford to spend 10% of their $100,000 salary on Interior Design Services alone, but they would certainly be willing and able to spend a few hundred dollars. RH: What’s your favorite thing about being an early-stage founder? And your least?

Early Stage 156

Early Stage San Francisco Michigan Portfolio 156

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 28, 2021

In fact, it’s why many startup folks leave the early stage world to go over to the big company side—because the benefits tend to be much better. I mean, think about it—if you have to pay a recruiter to hire someone, you’re paying, on average, 25% of their first year salary anyway.

Hiring 179

Hiring Early Stage Marketing Term Sheet 179

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. People care about salary increases and benchmarking to market and even if you can’t pay market you sure as hell better know what “market” is.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

For the entire first year after I funded the company he refused to take a salary and I had to admonish him to make sure he paid his expenses. I have previously written why I don’t believe in the COO role at early-stage startups. I funded Jonathan’s first $500,000. Reid weighed in eloquently on this topic.

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303