Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. Another common “failure to start” situation I see is one where the “idea person” insists that the idea is 90% of the value (and 90% of the equity). Expertise can be marketing, technical, financial, or sales.

Equity 91

Equity Startup CTO Hire CTO Coach 91

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Of course, a real contract or purchase order from a big customer is even better.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

But you’re not a great candidate to be funded by VCs then. One great solution I see is to hire an outstanding CFO who runs both. Still, I’ll bet that functionally you divide areas of competence like sales & marketing, product, engineering, biz dev, etc. .&# Dilute your cash, equity or both.

Startup 292

Startup CTO Hire Sales Email 292

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. Another common “failure to start” situation I see is one where the “idea person” insists that the idea is 90% of the value (and 90% of the equity). Expertise can be marketing, technical, financial, or sales.

Startup 101

Startup Entrepreneur Equity CTO Hire 101

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

What is it about the content delivery network market which has enabled Santa Monica-based EdgeCast to go from startup to over $100M in revenues in only a few, short years? We have 35 POPs all over the world, in every major market, and we have more than 6,000 customers today. We caught on with the right product, at the right time.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

socalTECH

MARCH 26, 2014

Most of the solutions in our market are for lots of doctors, and are on-premise solutions, and are really designed for bigger physician groups and hospitals. We''ve raised around $72 million now in equity capital. How did you determine this was the market to tackle, and how did you get into this?

Startup 160

Startup El Segundo CTO Hire Outsource Development 160

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

By spending more time educating your board on your business you get more valuable advice from them. 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. In his spare time he raised nearly $30 million.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

awards dinner on Thursday night I started reflected on what it would take to “change the trajectory&# for Seattle or for any regional market, really. Your highest priority right now is hiring the 1 or 2 people that are going to join your company and make a difference. There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Of course, a real contract or purchase order from a big customer is even better.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

s first accelerator called The Fort and raised VC funding. It provides tools like the Equity Calculator and curates and vets vendors that service startups. They took the “Match.com for entrepreneurs” model literally and hired the former CTO of Match.com to create the algorithms to help predict and recommend matches.

Entrepreneur 87

Entrepreneur Santa Monica Startup CTO Hire 87

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Of course, a real contract or purchase order from a big customer is even better.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Every investor expects to see some traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. It will be wrong, so count on iterating, but you learn something each time, and that is traction.

Tips 88

Tips Startup CTO Hire Press 88

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. They are: Fred Wilson: Lead Investors, Dipshit Companies, and Funding Every Entrepreneur. equity debate. m the f%*kin’ boss.”.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. Call it facts for hire. It would be a bit like the hired gun in the old west, but more suited for today’s times.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175