Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Seksom most recently ran Corporate Development & Strategy for Twitter so he knows a thing or two about exits to corporates and whether he funds a startup or not I suspect many will get value from building a relationship with him for his expertise. He also wrote this excellent book on the Venture Capital industry that I highly recommend

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

Simple metrics and your personal knowledge of the industry can’t keep up with all the relevant competitive forces. Apple pulled ahead of other mobile phones in its early days largely because it cultivated an ecosystem of software developers who created iPhone apps to meet every consumer niche and need.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

There was a lot of passion in the room last week when I presented Working with Developers at the Stubbs Precellerator. I guess it should not be a surprise that Founders have lots of challenges working with developers. But my developers want to go into way too much detail. In fact, they often don’t really understand the business.

Develop 280

Develop Development CTO Coach CTO Hire 280

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics. I like the ten steps he outlines, which I characterize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2019

The keys to sustainable success require you to retain that sense of urgency, focus, and vigilance after the launch that you felt during the development and early funding stages. For a successful launch and scalable growth, they need to establish many checkpoints, with metrics to assess their progress and alignment with the vision.

Startup 88

Startup Demand Training Customer 88

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young.

Startup 89

Startup Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 89

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young.

Startup 108

Startup Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 108

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Cashflow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 105

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics. I like the ten steps he outlines, which I characterize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion.

Startup 108

Startup Sales Metrics Entrepreneur 108

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 16, 2015

And when it comes to timing, wait until you’ve come up with a working prototype and developed your product before you seek external funding. Think of it as a business development process and plan for your raise to take up to 6 months. Expect to be diluted by 20-25% with each equity round. Start with your fundraising end in mind.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Equity Funding 40

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2018

Risk level has always been directly correlated to the number of unknowns, so eliminating even one variable will improve your odds: Eliminate one aspect of research and development. Most equity investors tend to avoid truly disruptive technology startups, since they take longer and more money to scale.

Startup 65

Startup Social Media Study Research 65

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics. I like the ten steps he outlines, which I characterize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion.

Startup 56

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 56

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics. I like the ten steps he defines, which I can summarize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion.

Sales 96

Sales Metrics Startup Entrepreneur 96

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2014

Risk level has always been directly correlated to the number of unknowns, so eliminating even one variable will improve your odds: Eliminate one aspect of research and development. Most equity investors tend to avoid truly disruptive technology startups, since they take longer and more money to scale.

Technology 103

Technology Entrepreneur Study Research 103

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

Of course, these should never be in a customer pitch, but investors expect an overall strategy with specific budgets, milestones and metrics. No investor pitch should end without asking for a specific amount of money, providing some details on how that money will be used and what equity in the company you are offering in return.

Product 103

Product Slides Customer Custom 103

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2016

Risk level has always been directly correlated to the number of unknowns, so eliminating even one variable will improve your odds: Eliminate one aspect of research and development. Most equity investors tend to avoid truly disruptive technology startups, since they take longer and more money to scale.

Technology 57

Technology Startup Study Research 57

Tech Coast Venture Network

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Design the Job – Include reporting relationships, authority, responsibilities, and performance metrics. Two Basic Colors – Debt (borrow) and Equity (buy). Hire the Right Team – Not just on qualifications, but personality and team chemistry. Plan can be used for both external (biz plan) and internal (budget) focuses.

Design 100

Design Resource Metrics Patents 100

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

What we're trying to positions ourselves as, and it might sound touchy-feely, is a friend to app developers and app owners who have mobile applications. A lot of what we've been looking at are the metrics. That's really appealing for a lot of those developers. What kind of apps have you been looking at?

Media 153

Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

We focus very much on finding employees who are a cultural fit and we share equity when appropriate. Semick: We’re a very metrics driven company, and we have been from the beginning. Metrics related to customer acquisition, lifetime value and churn.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

That's where I learned I enjoyed interacting with customers and working with development teams to build and launch products. In some ways it is similar to early stage incubators such as Y Combinator, although FI is even earlier stage, focusing on developing the founders themselves as entrepreneurs as opposed to actual companies.

Product 150

Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

Once you build it, they will now ask you about the key metrics that they need proven in order to see if you really are a good investment. The real reason to build an MVP is to do early tests of key Startup Metrics for the business. " Once you have the metrics defined, it focuses your effort. To prove/disprove a hypothesis.

Technical Review 338

Technical Review CTO Hire CTO Coach Software Review 338

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

But the thing I am most proud of about Rob is that he has taken a company with a uniquely talented founder & CTO – Nick Halstead – and managed to build a very tight working relationship with Nick where we drive world-class product development without having the usual founder / CEO conflicts. Always seek input.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

CircleUp is an online social marketplace that supports direct equity investments from individual investors to small private consumer and retail companies. DeveloperTown is this awesome huge warehouse filled with mini houses that are offices developers work in. It’s most literally a town of quality start up developers.

Startup 104

Startup Technical Review Search Engine Optimization Los Angeles 104

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Mithril is struggling to compete against ferocious competition in the growth-stage equity market. Startups either get three dozen term sheets or none at all, since every firm is walking around with the same frameworks and metrics in their head. Can the race to build roads in Southeast Asia avoid development gridlock? Obsessions.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

And a big factor is how big is the Founder Developer Gap. There’s a funny phenomenon where often the best sounding technical people are often the worst developers. I would suggest if you are thinking about what you really need for your startup in terms of technology, you also take a look at: Startup CTO or Lead Developer.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Technical Advisors CTO Coach Startup 170

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

But while universities are developing online content they are not fundamentally disrupting leaning because the method of delivery is not a new business model. He believes that one of the financial metrics taught at business schools and reinforced by Wall Street has accelerated offshoring of industries. Then there is a royalty rate.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

We both felt that the critical reasoning skills and writing skills were critical to our career development. Company grew by more than “400% each year” for past few years [assume growth metric = revenues]. Metrics: 2.5mm members, 1,000 brands, 2,500 sale events to-date. Social network app developer and ad network.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2016

Incorporate your business today, register intellectual property, document partner equity agreements, and meet real customers. Do take the time to develop and communicate high-level business strategy and objectives. Define clear goals and metrics for your productivity. Balance your work time by taking time off to rest.

Tips 100

Tips Activity Startup Product 100

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 20, 2014

WordPress, by way of $15M via North Bridge Growth Equity in WPEngine. Drucker, who famously said, “ Culture trumps strategy ,” I believe, was alluding not just to the characteristics of a business, but of the economic development of a city, a state, and a country. Natural language merchandiser Compare Metrics.

Technical Review 71

Technical Review Commerce Yahoo Web 71