YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 29, 2020

by Hema Crockett and Jamie Jacobs, co-founders of Gig Talent . Since employees have been working remotely, organizations have seen a significant increase in productivity and communication, making employers more open toward hiring or partnering with people that are located throughout the US and all over the world. It’s a win-win.

Technical Review 275

Technical Review Cofounder Leadership Employee 275

Up and Running

JUNE 29, 2015

You don’t have to do everything yourself—a partner can be an asset to your business. Entrepreneurs have a reputation for trying to do it all singlehandedly. For this reason, you might consider working with a business partner. But, how can you find and cultivate a business partner relationship like that?

Partner 60

Partner Cofounder Networking Founder 60

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 21, 2023

With so many other challenges to address, many founders regard using a lawyer to draft bespoke commercial contracts as a luxury rather than a necessity. This means that founders and third party developers and suppliers (including freelancers) need to have assigned the IPR to the business in writing.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence Early Stage 109

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2016

Amongst the most often asked questions I get from founders is, “How much money should I raise?” Reflexively founders want to raise as much money as they can because they figure it will give them more resources, better chances of competing and a longer runways before they have to do the often painful job of asking, yet again, for money.

Pre-Money Valuation 292

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Early Stage Startup 292

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

This instantly puts founders on guard, in a defensive position. Wouldn’t you like more loyalty and trust from your investors, board members and business partners? Your Reputation is on the Line. Though if you have a reputation giving bad deals, you may not have anyone to negotiate with in the future. Greed or generous?

Technical Cofounder 127

Technical Cofounder Entrepreneur Cofounder Post-Money Valuation 127

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 11, 2023

He’s founder and CEO of Greenhouse , a ‘hiring operating system’ for companies which spans recruiting and onboarding tools for enterprises and SMEs. Hunter Walk: Before we dive into your company Greenhouse , give me one story from your childhood that foretold you were going to end up a startup founder.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Equity DC Leveraged Buyout 78

Austin Startup

JANUARY 3, 2019

Feedback to investors about what helps and doesn’t help founders when fundraising. I originally asked this question to several founders with the intent of addressing angel investors but I’ve found it doesn’t exclude other institutional investors either. Quick No Now onwards to positive behavior that founders love!

Founder 48

Founder Angel Investor Technical Review Due Diligence 48

VC Adventure

JUNE 14, 2022

Most founders don’t feel they are getting value from their investors, even in areas like follow on rounds where they would hope to see specialized experience. But how impactful is all of this according to the people who actually matter – venture-backed CEOs? The answer may surprise you. Creandum’s recent article, Do VCs add value?

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Due Diligence Portfolio Venture Capital 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2013

For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. Serious investors expect founders to have their homework done before the first interaction – documented executive summary, business plan, and financial model. Investor negotiations. Time management. Effective marketing.

Entrepreneur 275

Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review Retention 275

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. Offering a sparring-partner function on strategic decisions. Mentorship. Experience.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2012

What I saw reminded me of some of the best and worst things I did as a founder. Some of the engineers figuring if the founder was declaring they were toast in 90 days were updating their resumes. The company already was gaining a reputation as one without a coherent strategy. A Pivot a Week. We’re building the wrong product!”

Founder 317

Founder Cofounder Advisory Board Burn Rate 317

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 14, 2024

Over a decade ago, when I was working for First Round Capital, we opened our doors for “Open Office Hours”—a series of open meetings where any founder could come in and chat with us for 20 minutes each. I’m not sure we backed any of the founders—but that wasn’t the point. We met quite a few smart folks. We had 70 investors sign up!

Curation 126

Curation Community Founder Stock 126

Steve Blank

MAY 20, 2010

It was clear that he had no memory of a phone conversation my partner and I have never forgotten. This partner lived up to his reputation and helped us hire an experienced, world-class CEO from a large consulting company that we thought would be the guy to take our company to a billion dollars (think Internet-bubble Kool-aid.).

Founder 276

Founder Cofounder Salary Naming 276

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2010

For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. Serious investors expect founders to have their homework done before the first interaction – documented executive summary, business plan, and financial model. Investor negotiations. Time management. Effective marketing.

Entrepreneur 237

Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review Retention 237

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2023

According to the International Business Innovation Association ( InBIA ), there are over 2,000 of these locations worldwide, and new online versions springing up all over the place, like Founders Space in Silicon Valley. Peer-to-peer networking with other startups and founders in the same stage.

Incubator 231

Incubator Silicon Valley North America Small Business Administration 231

Transformify

DECEMBER 5, 2018

Anyone who has managed a successful startup knows the success of a startup in the early phase lies mainly on their founders’ stories. For this reason, it is crucial for founders to build on qualities that inspire trust such as strong communication, passion, genuine relationship, honesty, accountability, respect, and determination.

Customer 65

Customer Startup Reputation Technical Review 65

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 4, 2021

There is a well-known trope that choosing a VC to partner with is like marriage. I know many VC’s that are amazing partners to founders in thick and thin. But their reputation with founders that pitch them is mixed. You can even seek out founders that can talk about how the investor acted when things went badly!

Founder 280

Founder Lead Investor Portfolio Reputation 280

YoungUpstarts

MAY 13, 2014

by Joshua Conran , senior partner at Deksia . Its founders had an idea to offer a mail-order coffee product. Finding your niche is a great way to differentiate your business and build a reputation within your industry. Niche businesses almost always originate from an identifiable need in the marketplace.

Pennsylvania 224

Pennsylvania Retention Differentiation Reputation 224

View from Seed

MAY 12, 2015

Yet once the right firms are identified, I believe that the tougher challenge is to determine which partner at these firms to approach. Most firms have anywhere from a couple to up to a dozen or more partners listed on their websites. Are you a founder of an ecommerce startup? How do you optimize your chance of success (i.e.

Partner 120

Partner Term Sheet Reputation Deal Flow 120

ReadWriteStart

JULY 19, 2023

Yousef Al Hammadi, Executive Director of The Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA) The United States is renowned internationally for its booming startup ecosystem and reputation as a cultivator of technology companies, creating the prime conditions necessary to grow from a seed to a high-value business.

Founder 100

Founder United States Startup Government 100

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

Many VCs focus on specific verticals, usually based on the sector in which a VC initially made her reputation. a “Bitcoin Fund”, a “Social Media Fund”, a “Nanotech Fund”), you’re going to raise capital from Limited Partners who are very focused on Theme X. – Reputation. This model certainly makes sense. – Network.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

Many VCs focus on specific verticals, usually based on the sector in which a VC initially made her reputation. a “Bitcoin Fund”, a “Social Media Fund”, a “Nanotech Fund”), you’re going to raise capital from Limited Partners who are very focused on Theme X. – Reputation. This model certainly makes sense. – Network.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

According to the International Business Innovation Association ( InBIA ), there are over 2,200 of these locations worldwide, and new online versions springing up all over the place, like Founders Space in Silicon Valley. Peer-to-peer networking with other startups and founders in the same stage.

Incubator 398

Incubator Silicon Valley North America Startup 398

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

All of my partners at Upfront do. Another founder … “When I pitched the idea to Adam, he was super on board,” Mr. Sloyan said. If anything it felt like a public service to founders to me. If you have 8 well known, high quality angels with impeccable reputations then be as transparent as you like.

Cap Table 150

Cap Table Cofounder Silicon Valley Startup 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2020

So how do you develop that reputation such that everyone believes in you, and customers jump to try your solution first? You have to stand out from your peers and competitors: Build a reputation for getting any job done, and doing it well. The Key To Business And Career Success ,” by noted business leader Stan Silverman.

Entrepreneur 322

Entrepreneur Reputation Social Media Leadership 322

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

It partners with sales to close more revenue, informs product teams to deliver better products, and in some cases, co-owns demand generation activities with marketing teams. Founder Nathan Barry launched in 2013 to help creators sell their books and courses but failed to meet revenue goals and eventually stalled.

Marketing 110

Marketing Product Audience Equity 110

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2022

Here are six results that you can achieve by building a prototype, which are really the reasons that investors and partners will give you a whole new level of credibility as they evaluate your startup for potential funding: Something you can touch and feel helps validate opportunity. As a startup, you need all the leverage you can get.

Angel Investor 276

Angel Investor Database Cofounder Distribution 276

Up and Running

APRIL 18, 2014

“I realized in the early 1990s that there was no appropriate yoga for fitness professionals,” says YogaFit® founder, Beth Shaw. says HourlyNerd co-founder and co-CEO, Rob Biederman. “So the country in various sectors and from various business sizes and types,” says company co-founder, Adi Bittan. reviews, reputation, Yelp!,

Detroit 156

Detroit Technical Review Cofounder North America 156

View from Seed

MAY 14, 2015

But since almost every founder goes through this, I feel it’s a necessary one. So, when should a seed-stage founder — who, let’s face it, isn’t launching a business because they’re pumped to find corporate real estate — actually start looking for a legitimate office? Who has a good reputation?

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Startup Cofounder Technical Review 120

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 27, 2019

by Manish Dudharejia, President and Founder of E2M Solutions Inc. Building up a reputation and presence as a new brand is difficult. Instead, a better option here (particularly for new startups with tight budgets) is to partner with micro-influencers. However, there is a right way to do this and a wrong way.

Social Media 113

Social Media Media San Diego Sales Cycle 113

Up and Running

APRIL 8, 2015

A business in its early stages can often use a leg up, whether in the form of wise words from a mentor or an introduction to a strategic partner. Q&A with Joe Maruschak, co-founder of Fertilab Thinkubator . If everyone knows who you are and you have a reputation of being awesome, then it’s very easy to hire employees.

Incubator 60

Incubator Cofounder Founder Early Stage 60

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 7, 2021

My job as an early stage investor includes translation services, specifically helping startup founders take what they are hearing from potential investors and providing a read on whether that VC is actually ready to make an offer. Even experienced founders get ‘happy ears,’ not just first time founders. But it still does.

Term Sheet 151

Term Sheet Due Diligence Reputation Early Stage 151

Rob Go

DECEMBER 11, 2013

But VC associates continue to get a bad reputation, and I totally understand why. Partners are prone to bad behavior too, but because they are the “decision makers”, founders are more likely to just shrug their shoulders and move on (although everyone has their limits). Pre-wire the entrepreneur and your partners.

CTO Hire 68

CTO Hire Partner Software Developers Software Development 68

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2019

That’s why Elon Musk, and a few others you could name, don’t have any trouble getting investor attention – they have the reputation and networks to successfully commercialize creative ideas. Reputation capital: visible track record for innovation. What counts most here is that you have been a founder, rather than a contributor.

Product 233

Product Reputation Leadership Social Media 233

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 10, 2022

I love working with great people and as a venture capitalist, am fortunate the number of founders I’m impressed by far exceeds our investment capacity. Here’s an example of a founder that I’ve known for a while who recently raised a seed round with different firms than ours. and we also had a great relationship with the partner.

Cofounder 89

Cofounder Founder Acquisition Startup 89

YoungUpstarts

JULY 21, 2019

If you and your co-founder(s) are friends, why not work on your home instead? If your partner is your roommate, you don’t even have to find a space (yet). A reputable attorney you can trust will help you avoid mistakes that might turn into a lawsuit. Get an executive suite or coworking space. Stay online. Hire a professional.

Software Review 191

Software Review Entrepreneur Cost Cofounder 191

VC Cafe

MAY 29, 2022

Sequoia’s “Adapting to Endure” Sequoia presented this deck to a group of portfolio founders and it quickly spread online to founders worldwide. Investing at this stage is primarily focused on founders, market tailwinds, and underlying product/strategy (in that order). The bull market is over.

Venture Capital 183

Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation Startup 183