Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2020

Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment. If the company has been around for more than a couple of years, and still has no product or revenue flow, there better be a good explanation. When did this effort really start, including pivots?

Technical Review 436

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 436

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment. If the company has been around for more than a couple of years, and still has no product or revenue flow, there better be a good explanation. When did this effort really start, including pivots?

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

Research shows that companies with greater gender and racial diversity drive nearly 15x more sales revenue than companies with homogenous teams, proving that it literally pays to build an inclusive team. When you think you’ve found the right hire, do your due diligence to ensure it’s a two-way fit. Look to organizations like i.c.

Hiring 100

Hiring Technical Review Silicon Valley Due Diligence 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. This could equate to two technical founders (with a minimal salary), funding two developers for a year.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

So you’re interested in raising capital from a Revenue-Based Investor VC. A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors (“RBI”) are emerging. This structure offers some of the benefits of traditional equity VC, without some of the negatives of equity VC. Rational burn profile, up to 50% of revenue at close, scaling down.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

Your revenue plans are no longer valid. What’s your monthly cash burn at your new low revenue level? The CEO should dial through as many of the largest existing customers to get a firsthand understanding of the magnitude of any revenue shortfall. Before layoffs, cut all salaries by 20%. Cut CXO salaries by at least 30%.

South Korea 334

South Korea Salary Business Model China 334

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. This could equate to two technical founders (with a minimal salary), funding two developers for a year.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

The right advisor can have a greater impact on the success of your small business than any other hire you ever make. Here are seven ways that advisors can immediately help your small business achieve the next level of success: Assist With Strategies & Connections to Have Record Revenue & Profit in 2016.

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Small Business Hiring 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

The cost of giving up more equity early is often more than offset by the increased flexibility to recover from mistakes. Pay people with equity or future revenue. Another one to avoid cash burn for software development is a contract for percent of future revenue. Great strategy. Do it yourself and barter for services.

Burn Rate 232

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 232

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2011

The cost of giving up more equity early is often more than offset by the increased flexibility to recover from mistakes. Pay people with equity or future revenue. Another one to avoid cash burn for software development is a contract for percent of future revenue. Great strategy. Do it yourself and barter for services.

Burn Rate 231

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 231

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. This could equate to two technical founders (with a minimal salary), funding two developers for a year.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2015

I had lunch last week with Tom, the CEO of a startup that was quickly becoming a large company – last year’s revenue was $40M, this year likely to be $80M maybe even $100 million in ad revenue. to drive traffic to their site, which they then turned into ad revenue. Next write your new hire job description.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2020

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. With the unlimited access to “how-to” videos and detailed instructions on the Internet, you shouldn’t need to hire experts for most things.

Hockey Stick 423

Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 423

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

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 24, 2014

When I was coming out of college, working in finance, I used to think a lot about my salary. I liked maxing out on raises and I liked the feeling I got getting to a six figure salary. It was, in my mind, what the salary meant. As an investor, I get very involved in the hiring process of some of my earliest stage companies.

Salary 151

Salary Venture Capital Equity Finance 151

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2010

The cost of giving up more equity early is often more than offset by the increased flexibility to recover from mistakes. Pay people with equity or future revenue. Another one to avoid cash burn for software development is a contract for percent of future revenue. Great strategy. Do it yourself and barter for services.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 120

Up and Running

JULY 22, 2014

It’s a table that lists all of your revenue streams and all of your expenses—typically for a three-month period—and lists at the very bottom the total amount of net profit or loss. A typical profit and loss statement should include: your revenue (also called sales), followed by. how you make money.

Balance Sheet 148

Balance Sheet Forecast Equity .Net 148

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

For this article, we asked 14 SaaS CEOs a simple question: “How much did you spend on your MVP before you had your first dollar of revenue?”. The MVP took around four months to build, during which time the company earned no revenue. is a SaaS tool that companies can use to assess engineers before they hire them. Image source).

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 78

VC Cafe

APRIL 29, 2020

Many of these businesses operate in the digital realm and have seen limited impact on revenues – some have even seen their revenues explode VC Backed Startups and PPP: Do You Really Need It? Source: NVCA , “Startup Ecosystem Faces Capital Crunch over Coming Months” USA – SBA Loans and PPP.

SBA 124

SBA Technical Review Startup 124

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 1, 2023

As I've taken the time to invest in companies and programs that can manage various facets of my business on my behalf, I've been able to increase my revenue and provide better financial insulation for my firm to help it withstand the negative effects of a recession. This will keep them sustainable should revenues take a dive.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Software Review Technical Review Revenue 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment. If the company has been around for more than a couple of years, and still has no product or revenue flow, there better be a good explanation. When did this effort really start, including pivots?

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

It’s among the most-asked questions on startup forums, and an issue we’re dealing with right now at WPEngine as we bring on new employees: How do you decide how much equity (shares) to give a new employee or partner? The question is further complicated when the new hire is getting a salary. What about $Y/mo?&#

Equity 276

Equity Salary Hiring Institutional Investors 276

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2013

Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Most startup founders already do this, rather than take a salary, to improve their offering. Every outside hire increases your cost and risk. Hire experts, not help.

Equity 241

Equity Bootstrapping Startup Merger 241

David Teten

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

In an article you wrote for Techcrunch in 2019 about Revenue Based Investing you mentioned that “ traditional equity VC is biased structurally against some women and underrepresented founders”. Another example of a structural solution is the “ alternative VC ” or “ Revenue-Based Investing ” structure that Versatile VC frequently uses.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Partner Technical Review Cofounder 60

discuss.joelonsoftware.com

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

where I can learn about how to build a sweat equity team? Rather, it is a proposal for sweat-equity investors. Mark Walsen Mark Walsen Thursday, October 09, 2008 Deleting … Approving … I think you would be better off hiring people, rather than trying to convince them to work for free in exchange for equity.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Angel Investor Affiliate 40

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment. If the company has been around for more than a couple of years, and still has no product or revenue flow, there better be a good explanation. When did this effort really start, including pivots?

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

For this article, we asked 14 SaaS CEOs a simple question: “How much did you spend on your MVP before you had your first dollar of revenue?”. The MVP took around four months to build, during which time the company earned no revenue. is a SaaS tool that companies can use to assess engineers before they hire them. Image source).

Sweat Equity 50

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 50

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

And how much are variable expenses (salaries, consultants, commission, travel, AWS/Azure charges, supplies, etc.?). Next, take a look at your actual revenue each month – not forecast, but real revenue coming in each month. Subtract your monthly gross burn rate from your monthly revenue to get your net burn rate.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

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

YoungUpstarts

MAY 29, 2019

As Kabbage customers explain, managing seasonal impact on revenue requires preparation – and if possible, alternate ways to bring money in the door. As we tell our customers, if you’re hiring us to transform your property, then you should trust us to take care of it forever.” Launching new services for traditionally slow seasons.

Georgia 113

Georgia New Jersey Private Equity Atlanta 113

sivers.org

JUNE 25, 2010

Derek Sivers about me blog books email list contact How to hire a programmer to make your ideas happen 2010-06-19 Do you have an idea for a website, online business, or application, but need a programmer to turn that idea into reality? Say, “We are hiring a developer to create only the beginning of an application. Hire one from each.

CTO Hire 84

CTO Hire Hiring Software Review Technical Review 84

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Most startup founders already do this, rather than take a salary, to improve their offering. Every outside hire increases your cost and risk. Hire experts, not help.

Bootstrapping 278

Bootstrapping Startup Merger Salary 278

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2016

With one of the new free 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. With the unlimited access to “how-to” videos and detailed instructions on the Internet, you shouldn’t need to hire experts for most things.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Hockey Stick Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 120

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Following up on my post from Monday that rang like "reasons not to take VC money" here are some reasons you should: 1) You really like the investor and believe they can add more value than you give up in equity. Might be time to let someone you want to work with buy your equity.

Venture Capital 153

Venture Capital Equity Salary Acquisition 153

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

3:57] If I’m that solo owner and I’ve been paying myself a nice salary and there’s maybe 10% profit at the end of it – is that considered cash flow or is that considered an expense of the business? [6:34] So maybe they would have some home equity they could pull out or some savings.

Technical Review 80

Technical Review Wisconsin Non-disclosure Agreement Salary 80

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 7, 2022

They hired me to assist them to increase income and help them move forward. After working 10+ years in sustainable private equity and impact investing, I realized there is a significant lack of awareness regarding how to invest and where to invest your money sustainably which is what gave me the idea for my business. 4- Lost a job.

Entrepreneur 118

Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review Non-Compete 118

socialmatchbox.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

How To Calculate Whether A Freelance Web Application Programmer Is Asking For Too Much Step 1: Use the Indeed.com Salary Tool to Search for Their Job Title By Salary Level. The generally accepted hourly wage calculation used by the staffing industry is Annual Salary divided by 2000 Hours. Another option is sweat equity.

Part-Time VPE 41

Part-Time VPE Sweat Equity DC Washington 41