Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2016

I’m not suggesting that formal legal documents are always required, but agreements without some paper or email trail are easily forgotten or misconstrued. Filing a provisional patent costs very little if you do it yourself, and it holds your place in line for a year. Reveal “secret sauce” before filing intellectual property.

Startup 62

Startup Patents Entrepreneur Writing 62

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt. It became a huge kerfuffle with many VC partners writing to thank me for the post, which exposed those that gave their industry a bad name. Page 3: Competition.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

Most advisors will tell you to write the business plan first (20-30 pages), then distill the key points into a set of Microsoft PowerPoint slides for standup presentations to potential investors. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. Competition and sustainable advantage. Opportunity sizing.

Slides 94

Slides Competition Sample Sales 94

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Here are some tips which will signal traction and fundability to investors, as well as to your team: Document your business plan. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Here are some tips which will signal traction and fundability to investors, as well as to your team: Document your business plan. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Here are some tips which will signal traction and fundability to investors, as well as to your team: Document your business plan. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 3, 2015

I often write about the best strategies for startup fundraising or how to manage startup financing and optimize for growth. Whether it’s something as extensive as filing patents, more simple trademark registrations, and or putting appropriate documentation in place, don’t ignore this and don’t rely on boilerplate online templates.

Startup 40

Startup Outsource Development IP Outsource 40

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Such a lawyer will not go out of their way to screw you, but when crafting the investor documents and in future investor-related issues, your lawyer’s allegiance must be to your company. At the very least, you or the appropriate member of your team should document the primary deal points in bullet-point form.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Here are some tips which will signal traction to investors, as well as your team: Document your business plan. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. File a provisional patent, register a trademark, and reserve your company domain names.

Tips 88

Tips Startup CTO Hire Press 88