Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

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. Old co-workers or new friends with complementary skills usually make the best partners. Otherwise exit and startup with another idea.

Founder 325

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

Executives run the day-to-day so often the board is more involved as a sparring partner at key intervals. Boards are not appointed to be founder-friendly lapdogs for the 1–3 founders who start companies and usually own the largest equity positions in the company. ICOs certainly have a place in startup financing. That’s true.

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217

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. Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

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. Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

If you’re a startup and you don’t have a close relationship with a few law firms you’re really missing one of the most important relationships that any entrepreneur can have. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. I know that people have an allergy to lawyers out of fear of being screwed.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

I recently sat down with Matt Coffin , the founder of LowerMyBills, which sold for $400 million but was very nearly a bankruptcy only a few years early, and talked “startups.&#. Matt is one of the most transparent, focused & honest startup guys you’ll meet. Mark: 10% warrant coverage is like stock options.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

Austin Startup

JULY 15, 2019

You’ll interact with every VC in Texas and those from Silicon Valley who are investing in Texas and every startup CEO who gets funded. We invest in startups that get funded by all of the top venture capitalists in Texas and Silicon Valley. Capital Factory has been the most active early stage tech investor in Texas since 2013.

Texas 56

Texas Technical Review Silicon Valley Venture Capital 56

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. And you can often throw in a separate action like approving stock-option grants, getting approval for CAPEX spend, discussing fund raising timing – whatever.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Cofounder 120

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

There are many reasons to found a startup. There are many reasons to work at a startup. To most founders a startup is not a job, but a calling. But startups require money upfront for product development and later to scale. Traditional lenders (banks) think that startups are too risky for a traditional bank loan.

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Private Equity 120

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. Old co-workers or new friends with complementary skills usually make the best partners. Otherwise exit and startup with another idea.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Advisor. ); STARTUP. 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. Email address: Home.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

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. Running a Startup: What Life Is Really Like in the Early Days – crowdspring.co/1wNhIpk.

Social Media 99

Social Media Small Business Design Media 99

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

According to the Angel Capital Association: Angels (private money) invest in 55,000 startups each year versus 1,500 companies by VC (venture capital) funding. ” Yes, the JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) is exciting, and it will bring a lot more potential investors into the marketplace. Stock Option.

Angel Investor 159

Angel Investor Technical Review Software Review Accredited Investor 159

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 8, 2013

I am so very tired of MBO-based bonuses in startups. This is totally messed up in a startup. My partner Dave and I took the number, made a list of all employees, and figured out how much we were going to give each of them. Even better, consider using equity compensation as the bonus. Things are changing daily.

Stock Options 146

Stock Options Technical Review Leadership Equity 146

www.drowningamerican.com

JUNE 22, 2012

Next → How we Hire for Sweat Equity (Part 2)… Posted on April 7, 2011 by Travis Biziorek. The first time we hired partners for Kibin was way back in late 2009. I’m not FaceBook or Twitter and have a s**t-ton of potentially imminent IPO stock options to offer someone. equity in the company.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Hiring Technical Review 40

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. Old co-workers or new friends with complementary skills usually make the best partners. Otherwise exit and startup with another idea.

Founder 245

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 245

The Next Web

OCTOBER 8, 2015

As a rule, entrepreneurs are very protective of their equity, and try to keep 100 percent ownership for themselves. employees, partners) are appropriately motivated to help you succeed. lucrative sales commission plan, profit share plan), and sometimes that comes in the form of equity or equity linked incentives (e.g.,

Equity 60

Equity Employee Warrant Stock Options 60

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Startup Advice. As startup entrepreneurs we all want to work with them because having their name as reference clients makes it so much easier for marketing, PR, selling to other customers, fund raising and even recruiting. Think of it as similar to an employee stock option.

Warrant 298

Warrant Dilution Startup Stock Options 298

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. Old co-workers or new friends with complementary skills usually make the best partners. Otherwise exit and startup with another idea.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Your historical trading information including financials and a “customer file” which shows the history of your transactions so that investors can run “cohort” analyses Customer reference, personal references, key team members, compensation, cap table, stock option plan, etc. Some people find this elitist?—?I

Cap Table 336

Cap Table Due Diligence Forecast Churn Rate 336

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. Old co-workers or new friends with complementary skills usually make the best partners. Otherwise exit and startup with another idea.

Hockey Stick 144

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 144

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 9, 2018

I get approached often by tech startups looking for their first outside funding. This article is based on my experiences and the typical mistakes I see every week in startup land. High growth startup companies need seed money to get things going. Without funding most tech startups will die. high growth. Capital = Growth.

Technical Cofounder 20

Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Early Stage Cofounder 20

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

Often when startups who have raised venture capital need another round of financing they will turn to their existing investors to give them money before raising from outsiders. a loan) that is later converted to equity at the time of the next financing. It starts as a debt instrument (e.g.

Startup 290

Startup Burn Rate Warrant Bankruptcy 290

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 12, 2009

Almost all technology startup companies that I work with are C corps. Any company that raises venture financing will need to be a C corp in order to issue preferred stock. Businesses that plan to use equity incentives (e.g. stock options) to attract and retain talent often prefer to operate as C corps.

LLC 61

LLC Stock Options Preferred Stock Stock 61

infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Be The Beatles Not The Flock Of Seagulls John Greathouse’s Bio ConTraps Part 2 ConTrap Part 3 ConTrap part 4 Startup Children Pt 2 Startup Children Pt 5 Startup Children Pt 3 Startup Children Pt 4 Decision Making 101 Talks: Jason Nazar on how to Persuade. Hands-on startup advice for emerging entrepreneurs.

Equity 40

Equity Silicon Valley Cofounder PR 40

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Startup Lessons.&#. To be clear – it is not about being stingy with or hoarding equity – it is about having a prenuptial agreement. To be clear – it is not about being stingy with or hoarding equity – it is about having a prenuptial agreement. To the contrary.

Founder 251

Founder Cofounder Equity Stock Options 251

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

How to Divide Equity to Startup Founders, Advisors, and Employees. The part that I’d like to zero in on is when you’ve got a high growth company what are some of the best practices out there to distribute equity to the founders, advisors, and employees? Equity for Founders. Equity for Employees.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

This post is written with B2B startups in mind, but should be generally applicable. For startup founders, it’s never too early to start thinking about putting together a target market advisory board. In other cases, they may come from your channel partners or elsewhere. As for compensation, stock options in the range of 0.1%

Advisory Board 48

Advisory Board Sweat Equity Marketing Vertical 48

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

In brief, a cap acts to place a limit on the conversion price of a convertible note such that investors are guaranteed a minimum number of shares for their bridge loans if the startup does a priced equity round at a high pre-money valuation – “high” meaning above the cap, which is often a heavily negotiated term. (The

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. I recently wrote a post noting that while the growth cycle of startups has clearly accelerated in the last 5 years, the number of truly monster new businesses (a company ultimately worth $75-100B) remains about the same … it’s a once in a decade sort of thing. February 2, 2012.

IPO 100

IPO South Korea Venezuela Revenue 100

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Want to start a startup? A typical startup goes throughseveral rounds of funding, and at each round you want to take justenough money to reach the speed where you can shift into the nextgear. Few startups get it quite right. 1 ] A startups life will be more complicated, legally, if any of theinvestors arent accredited.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Ben's Blog

APRIL 21, 2010

Six Months Later… Fast-forward six months and everyone in the company is wondering why the sales (or marketing or finance or product) guy who has produced nothing got such a monster stock option package. Meanwhile, the people doing all the work have much fewer options. Beware of equity being the primary motivation.

Stock Options 71

Stock Options Restful Hiring Sales 71

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 15, 2012

Tech startups need more than a great idea and breakthrough technology - they need a team of committed developers who will stick with them through iteration after iteration. Most tech startups think they can attract developers with cool perks and a promise to ship great code. Share the Partner Feel With Equity.

Developer 130

Developer Equity Ruby Cofounder 130

Board Effect

MAY 10, 2019

It’s important to note that the structure and contents of a cap table are unique to how a company has chosen to divide its equity. Cap tables are also used to model waterfalls and what-if scenarios, giving companies a better understanding of how different events might impact shareholder payouts and equity dilution.

Cap Table 40

Cap Table Liquidation Preference Dilution Liquidity Event 40

Ben's Blog

APRIL 28, 2010

When my partner Marc wrote his post describing our firm , the most controversial component of our investment strategy was our preference for founding CEOs. The conventional wisdom says a startup CEO should make way for a professional CEO once the company has achieved product-market fit. Rakim, Follow the Leader.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 78

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Problem was, I seemed to suck at the whole startup thing. Rather, I didn’t have anyone around me familiar enough with startups to tell me that I was doing it all wrong. One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going. No phone system.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84