The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 18, 2020

As part of The Startup Magazine Female Founder series , we sat down with award-winning entrepreneur Elizabeth Colón. The first is hiring the right person for our company who enjoys working in small teams and has the same values as our organization. We like to say that we hire, fire and breathe our values. Raising capital?

Founder 158

Founder Chicago LLC Leadership 158

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 23, 2023

At first many start-ups hire a lobbying firm. Larger companies hiring a Chief of Staff often look for someone who has an MBA, experience with one of the big consulting firms, or experience doing the job already. They can vote to hire and fire the CEO. A Board of Directors has a formal and legal role.

Government 217

Government Advisory Board Salary Sales Cycle 217

Steve Blank

JULY 11, 2017

By coincidence, the CEO was an intern at one of my startups more than two decades ago.) Before the rapid rise of Unicorns, (startups with a valuation over a billion dollars), when boards were still in control, they “encouraged” the hiring of “adult supervision” of the founders after they found product/market fit.

Part-Time VPE 315

Part-Time VPE Liquidity Event Stock Engineer 315

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

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 308

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 308

Transformify

MARCH 14, 2020

At the same time, the stock markets collapsed, and most businesses already report skyrocketing losses, unmet revenue targets and insufficient stock due to production slow down in China, India and the rest of the world. So, who benefits the most from work from home jobs and diversity hiring programs?

Hiring 98

Hiring Bulgaria Italy Spain 98

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

Yet despite the overarching negative outlook, startups seem to be weathering the storm. Quartz mentions that startups seem to be dealing with the pressures of the pandemic far more effectively than larger businesses and conglomerates. Much of this success is due to the flexibility of startups and their ability to adapt.

Bankruptcy 165

Bankruptcy Startup Agile Technical Review 165

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

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 144

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 144

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 22, 2019

Without the resources to hire a full time bookkeeper and little understanding of how to get their heads above water, many of these small businesses will founder having struggled due to lack of cash flow and poorly managed accounts. Provide real-time stock and inventory levels. One-stop-shop” accounting software.

Software Review 176

Software Review Due Diligence Startup Stock 176

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2014

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 245

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 245

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Things like “ participating preferred stock &# in legalese unsurprisingly never actually call out, “hey, this is the participating preferred language.&# We got a3x participating liquidation preference with interest (not participating with a 3x cap, but 3x participating. Investors own 25%, the founders own 75%.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” So your Q1 results will be $180,000 less profitable than if you hadn’t hired them. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

Free Template for Great Startup Pitch Decks, Direct from VCs. How to Sell Your Startup’s “Secret” Master Plan at the Seed Stage “Articulating and selling your long run vision is important, but trying to convince those that are deeply skeptical about it is simply a mutual waste of time.” Happy reading!

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

VC’s have just changed the ~50-year old social contract with startup employees. In doing so they may have removed one of the key incentives that made startups different from working in a large company. For most startup employee’s startup stock options are now a bad deal. Why Startups Offer Stock Options.

Stock Options 334

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 334

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. Quick & Dirty How-To: Employee Stock Option Allocations Seed Stage Compensation What are typical compensation numbers?

CTO Hire 329

CTO Hire Equity Seed Stage Option Pool 329

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

Capital investments are like gasoline on a startup business’s metaphorical fire. They allow you to hire more people, purchase new technology, and establish new business connections, among many other benefits. If you’re like most startup CEOs, your startup has been your personal fiefdom and baby.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. Private markets for stocks are the opposite. I acknowledged this in the article.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. This term is currently applied to recent startups who profess a current valuation which exceeds $1 billion. Could your startup be the next one? Deep-dive meeting.

Software Review 120

Software Review Sweat Equity Accredited Investor Angel Investor 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

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2017

Guest post by Jennifer Maerz, Program Chair of Lean Startup Co. For eight years, our flagship conference has focused on sharing stories and lessons of putting Lean Startup’s entrepreneurial methodology into practice. Lean Startup Week (Oct. 31 ( limited to the first 200 Gold Passholders.) Sign up for free here.

Lean 108

Lean Programming San Francisco Cofounder 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2022

Yet if you wait for an economy bubble before starting your new business, you will be making a comparable mistake to the people who thought during the dot-com bubble "all I have to do is a startup, and I'll be rich." The economy has some effect, but as a predictor of success it’s a rounding error compared to the founders.

Startup 258

Startup Cofounder Salary Advertising 258

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

Gust

DECEMBER 22, 2011

So you’ve chosen a name for your startup, product, or both. Tech startups are at the other extreme. The gulf has widened with the proliferation of social Internet / user-generated content and mobile application startups. Most of our early-stage startup clients fit this description. Instagram is a textbook example.)

Intellectual Property 149

Intellectual Property Technical Review Software Review IP 149

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

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

At one of our initial board meetings we had agreed on the general principle of an advisory board and put together an overall stock budget to compensate advisors. One of the first potential advisors I reached out to was someone who 10 years earlier tried to hire me as the VP of Marketing of his new division at Sun Microsystems.

Advisory Board 261

Advisory Board Part-Time VPE CTO Hire Stock 261

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. And I tried to evaluate the idea and figure out: What did the founder really need here? Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? Did they really need a Startup CTO or Developer or both?

Technical Cofounder 241

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

Up and Running

MARCH 7, 2018

I spent years as a manager at a startup company. Aside from the time-consuming tasks of screening potential employees, interviewing, and re-hiring , losing and replacing employees is expensive. Hire the right people. In my experience, the employees of a startup company represent the future and face of the business.

Employee 91

Employee Startup Salary Hiring 91

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2015

Startups focus on speed since they are burning cash every day as they search for product/market fit. While technical debt is an understood problem, it turns out startups also accrue another kind of debt – one that can kill the company even quicker – organizational debt. And let me tell you about the vision and strategy again.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2022

In my own experience as a startup advisor and mentor, I find that entrepreneurs who can’t attract and maintain a highly motivated team rarely even get off the ground. Thus if you want to change the world with your new business, you need to follow the example of startups like Zappos , which hires according to cultural fit first.

Stock Options 362

Stock Options Salary Leadership Stock 362

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

But VC is an “illiquid asset&# so funds didn’t disappear quickly - In 2000/01 the stock market quickly adjusted punishing investors in the NASDAQ and in individual public technology stocks. What accelerated this was the collapse of the public stock markets. Importantly, what does this all mean for startups?

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 21, 2009

Okay okay, "Planning == Bad," but the supposed benefits of planning are still important: designing for profitability, understanding your customers and competitors, focusing your attention, deciding what's worth doing next, changing directions, and ensuring the founders agree on important issues. What follows is your startup therapy session.

Startup 315

Startup Revenue Cofounder Sales 315

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

By Daniel Sokolovksy, Co-Founder and CEO, WARP and Troy Lester, Co-Founder and CRO, WARP The dissolution of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was more than just a bank collapse, it was a reality check for both startups and the VCs that fund them. As a founder, ask yourself – does your business actually warrant VC funding?

Early Stage 146

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 146

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Startups that are backed by professional financial investors almost always have a Board of Directors that consists of some set of founders, investors and sometimes independent directors. It is worth pointing out that there are actually three levels of governance in venture-backed startups. hiring & firing the CEO.

Startup 204

Startup Dilution Government Stock Options 204

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2021

Although every startup is unique, there are certain common avoidable mistakes that can lead to legal complications which jeopardize the long-term success of the business. Here are five of the most common examples: Failure to document a Founder agreement at the beginning. Trouble with the IRS over Founders stock value.

Cost 363

Cost Non-Compete Accredited Investor Cofounder 363

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

With the Covid-19 virus a worldwide pandemic, if you’re leading any startup or small business, you have to be asking yourself, “What’s Plan B? If you’re running a startup or small business, your first priority (after your family) is keeping your employees and customers safe. “Winter is coming.”. And what’s in my lifeboat?”.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

VC Adventure

AUGUST 16, 2020

It strikes me that many founders never really consider this question. Many founders feel that it’s equitable to have everyone share in the upside and feel like owners. Many founders feel that it’s equitable to have everyone share in the upside and feel like owners. Why have an option program to begin with?

Programming 149

Programming Vesting Equity Software Review 149

techcrunch.com

JUNE 22, 2012

Startup Battlefield. Free Startup Docs: How Much Equity Should Advisors Get? Free Startup Docs: How Much Equity Should Advisors Get? He covers startups, music, social, mobile, health, and education. This is where a lot of founders get stuck. Enterprise. Smartphones. Digital Cameras. Headphones. CrunchBase.

Equity 94

Equity San Francisco Startup Silicon Valley 94