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. Favor profitability over revenue and user growth. Use your equity for key executives and business partners.

Hockey Stick 423

Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 423

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Only real results count. Attract a well-rounded team.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2023

That’s why all those so-called million dollar ideas I hear about as an investor don’t get me excited, and entrepreneurs find that working twenty hours a day often generates nothing more than sweat, instead of the desired sweat equity. Enjoy watching key members of your team grow from followers to leaders.

Sweat Equity 296

Sweat Equity Startup Salary Viral 296

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2021

The average amount per startup has been $23,000, usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment. The vehicle of choice is most often a convertible note, which is really a loan with a specified duration and interest, with an option to convert it to equity when professional investors come in later.

Sweat Equity 346

Sweat Equity Elevator Pitch Equity Venture Capital 346

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. They then spent the first year qualifying the product and testing out their revenue model.

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 78

Gust

MAY 24, 2012

As a quick review, most startups begin life as corporations with a single class of equity securities, referred to as Common Stock , issued to founders, employees, and outside service providers. Options and warrants, when issued, are also typically exercisable for shares of Common Stock.

IPO 159

IPO Equity Common Stock Stock 159

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Only real results count. Attract a well-rounded team.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2020

That’s why all those so-called million dollar ideas I hear about as an investor don’t get me excited, and entrepreneurs find that working twenty hours a day often generates nothing more than sweat, instead of the desired sweat equity. Enjoy watching key members of your team grow from followers to leaders.

Sweat Equity 435

Sweat Equity Salary Viral Leadership 435

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Only real results count. Attract a well-rounded team.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

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. They then spent the first year qualifying the product and testing out their revenue model.

Sweat Equity 50

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 50

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Only real results count. Attract a well-rounded team.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 222

grasshopperherder.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Piercing the Corporate Veil – Sweat Equity Consulting. But much like becoming a co-founder, getting paid sweat equity is essentially becoming an investor in the company. I think it’s difficult, if not impossible, to value a pre-revenue company with any reasonable accuracy. GrasshopperHerder.com.

Sweat Equity 41

Sweat Equity Equity Cofounder Non-Compete 41

socialmatchbox.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Another option is sweat equity. It is important to realize that most people who are willing to work for sweat equity are not a) the best, b) in demand, and c) going to put their heart and soul into your project. Motivation to work for sweat equity is something else that founders tend to take for granted.

Part-Time VPE 41

Part-Time VPE Sweat Equity DC Washington 41

Austin Startup

JUNE 26, 2019

I recruited a top-flight engineer and serial entrepreneur to build our MVP, on equity?—?and You might notice what’s not on that list above: revenue, investors. No revenue isn’t always a problem for venture-style businesses; no investors + no revenue = challenges for most founders without tremendous self-funding.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup B2C Sweat Equity 54

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. Favor profitability over revenue and user growth. Use your equity for key executives and business partners.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Hockey Stick Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 120

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 15, 2018

You might as well have all your liquid assets and sweat equity in place but if you are unable to raise money for your business beyond the valuation which has been stated by your investors ($ 1.5 Here it should be mentioned that “quantifiable” revenue is a must even if you are ready with a pathbreaking idea.

Pre-Money Valuation 124

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Sweat Equity Startup 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2015

The average amount per startup was $23,000, usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment. The vehicle of choice is most often a convertible note, which is really a loan with a specified duration and interest, with an option to convert it to equity when professional investors come in later.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Equity 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2016

That’s why all those so-called million dollar ideas I hear about as an investor don’t get me excited, and entrepreneurs find that working twenty hours a day often generates nothing more than sweat, instead of the desired sweat equity. Enjoy watching key members of your team grow from followers to leaders.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Salary Startup Viral 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Funding requirements.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

How big is the funding request, and how much equity will you give? Quantify founder investments, both cash and sweat-equity. What are your forecasts for revenue, expenses and cash flow? Justify funding requirements, use of funds and specify a current valuation estimate.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2015

That’s why all those so-called million dollar ideas I hear about as an investor don’t get me excited, and entrepreneurs find that working twenty hours a day often generates nothing more than sweat, instead of the desired sweat equity. Enjoy watching key members of your team grow from followers to leaders.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Salary Viral Leadership 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Funding requirements.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

How can I go about looking for a (very) good programmer willing to do this as sweat equity? You can find a technologist to join you as a partner, for half of the company’s equity. It’s common for a college student to do a sweat equity partnership with another college student. So you see my dilemma.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Fractional CTO Partner CTO Hire 40

Up and Running

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Sweat Equity. “I Using Revenues to Fund Growth. Rather than wasting energy chasing alternative sources of funding, start selling your product to customers and slowly grow your company using generated revenue. You can use your own savings to fund your company and move to a cheaper area to save money.

Finance 92

Finance Sweat Equity Bootstrapping Entrepreneur 92

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Investors want to hear about your first customers, other investments put into the company (including your own sweat equity), key media placement, signed letters of intent (LOI) to purchase/partner, product and customer milestones , key hires, and so on. 160 is average revenue per user (ARPU). 1,000 new leads captured per month.

Sweat Equity 122

Sweat Equity Churn Rate Elevator Pitch Forecast 122

Austin Startup

JANUARY 30, 2020

We made it from nothing, built it up with sweat equity, do everything in our means to make this thing grow, and wait to see what happens. So when things aren’t going the way you need them to, you’ll do whatever you need to do to breathe life back into your creation. Last summer, we found our business in this predicament.

Sweat Equity 63

Sweat Equity B2B B2C Business Model 63

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Funding requirements.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Instead of hearing from your long lost third-cousin, you will be inundated with an avalanche of ‘congratulatory’ emails, calls and letters from people who want to relieve you of the burden of your hard-earned equity round. Many such ‘congratulations’ will come from consultants. Performance-based deals are healthy for all parties.

Equity 40

Equity Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 40

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Researchers polled experts in lending, mezzanine capital, private equity, venture capital and private businesses themselves. Respondents deemed between 12%-16% of companies generating revenues to be essentially “worthless” and deemed 20%-26% of their pre-revenue investments to be “worthless.” Add to this that 72.7%

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

Up and Running

AUGUST 19, 2014

The famed venture capitalist Peter Thiel once declared that the salary an entrepreneur collects from their startup is about a lot more than dollars and cents—it sets the precedent for the guiding force behind the company, among both internal staffers and equity shareholders.

Salary 119

Salary Sweat Equity Silicon Valley Sales Cycle 119

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it requires at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

As a startup with zero to very low revenue, your friends, family, and cofounders do not expect you to have achieved very many major milestones. Investors at any stage like to see that you have committed personal funds in addition to sweat equity. If your product is not developed, you will need some sort of mockup.

Sweat Equity 71

Sweat Equity Founder Cofounder Valuation 71

grasshopper.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Getting Paid in Equity: A What to Do Guide. Equity-based pay is often used by the founders of young start-ups who want to grow their businesses but cannot offer big salaries to qualified professionals. Below are some helpful tips and suggestions to keep in mind when contemplating whether or not to take an equity-based position.

Equity 41

Equity Vesting Sweat Equity Salary 41

Up and Running

JANUARY 24, 2014

Investors want to hear about your first customers, other investments put into the company (including your own sweat equity), key media placement, signed letters of intent (LOI) to purchase/partner, product and customer milestones, key hires, etc. 160 is average revenue per user (ARPU). 1,000 new leads captured per month.

Sweat Equity 138

Sweat Equity Churn Rate Forecast Business Model 138

Gust

AUGUST 7, 2012

Sweat equity can be a problem. They are not measured by the quantity of impressive graphics or the size of the revenue projections. And a founder who fudges the truth , thinking nobody will notice, has to be very good at it, or very lucky, because when this comes out investors assume that lies never exist alone.

Business Plan 172

Business Plan Sweat Equity Salary Founder 172