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I was asked by a reader how much equity he should give out to early employees and to service providers in a very early stage startup. I'll get to service providers in a later post. Founders vs. Early Employees To help with this discussion, let me start with a definition of "early employee." Steve Blank divides the individuals associated with startups as: Founders Early Employees (Employees # 1-25) Later Employees (Employees # 26-125) The reality is that the definition of founder and em
Fred Wilson wrote a blog post yesterday called “Real Names” in which he talked about a commenter on his blog who preferred not to comment because he didn’t want to use his real name. It’s all told through a graphic & very short so worth your having a quick read. It’s a powerful concept. The idea of not using one’s real name is something I’ve had to come to understand better through other people providing context.
In August 2004, FastCompany published an article titled, Inside The Mind Of Jeff Bezos , written by Alan Deutschman. Although the article is informative, it is the accompanying sidebar that has remained with me over the succeeding years. Under the heading, “The Book On Bezos,” the callout lists ten actionable and impactful nuggets of startup advice.
Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based LifeCrowd (www.lifecrowd.com) unveiled its service to help connect people with real life activities. The firm is initially focusing on the Los Angeles market, and connecting people with fun, interesting classes, activities, and more in the local area. The company was founded by Bong Koh, a former EIR at Prism VentureWorks and venture capitalist at Advanced Technology Ventures; he also co-founded ibeatyou.
Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.
This is one of my favorite insights, since I lived this one in a positive exit from my computer business. Most people will tell you that there are two kinds of eventual buyers for your business: financial and strategic. A financial buyer will analyze your numbers, past and forecast, to the n’th degree, and calculate the price based upon the result, after carefully comparing your numbers with those of others in the same and similar industries.
Sometimes in life, we are just plain wrong. As a fellow TEDster recently said, “I want to correct something i just said. Being wrong does feel like something. It feels like being right.&# – Kathryn Schultz from TED2011. In 2007, my company negotiated an unprecedented marketing agreement with Verizon to sell their FiOS and in turn their technicians in the field would refer Make It Work services to their customers.
This post is admittedly the outcome of a conversation with a few people over some beers. Some of it is a bit tongue-in-cheek and certainly we are greatly simplifying things. The people around the table included a bunch of us who would be prey in some situations. So, please take this in the spirit intended. The conversation centered around a founder who's key question is "Where Do I Find a Developer for My Startup?
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This post is admittedly the outcome of a conversation with a few people over some beers. Some of it is a bit tongue-in-cheek and certainly we are greatly simplifying things. The people around the table included a bunch of us who would be prey in some situations. So, please take this in the spirit intended. The conversation centered around a founder who's key question is "Where Do I Find a Developer for My Startup?
By now you probably know that Netflix is splitting its business into two parts: its digital streaming business (retains the name Netflix) and its DVD mailing business, which was its original business (to be called Qwikster). If you haven’t read Reed’s explanation of this split make sure you read it (of course, after you’re done with this post ) —> here.
Guy’s latest book, Enchantment , was released in March of 2011, to overwhelmingly upbeat reviews. Of the 225 customer reviews currently posted on Amazon, over 90% are highly positive. I enjoyed the book as well, as evidenced by the review I wrote at the time of its release, which you can read HERE. I even plan to use it in my upcoming UC Santa Barbara Entrepreneurial Selling class.
Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal , the provider of local online marketing services to small and medium sized businesses run by Zorik Gordon, said this morning that it continues to expand its presence with the opening of three new offices. ReachLocal said it has opened up direct local sales offices in Dusseldorf, Germany; Newcastle, Australia; and Columbus, Ohio.
Have you ever noticed how slow time passes when you are in a troubled environment? Conversely, sometimes you look up at the end of a great day and wonder where the time went. Over the years, I have discovered that the difference is not just applicable to the good times, but to the environment, created by the senior executives, that filters throughout the organization.
A while back, when a startup founder mentioned to me that he wasn’t sure he had the personality to be an entrepreneur, I realized how important that insight was. My first thought is that if you are more annoyed than energized by expert advice, team suggestions, and customer input, then you should probably avoid this line of work. Actually, it’s more complicated than that, but that’s a good start.
This post is admittedly the outcome of a conversation with a few people over some beers. Some of it is a bit tongue-in-cheek and certainly we are greatly simplifying things. The people around the table included a bunch of us who would be prey in some situations. So, please take this in the spirit intended. The conversation centered around a founder who's key question is "Where Do I Find a Developer for My Startup?
It’s very common for startup companies to have COO’s. So I know I’m getting myself into a bit of trouble by writing this. But … Startups don’t need – shouldn’t have – COOs. I have this conversation with every startup that comes to see me and has a CEO & a COO. I think usually a COO title at a startup is an ego thing.
Nithin Jilla was 14-yrs old when he became involved in Kenya Dream. Over the past four years, Nithin has generated national coverage for his from several leading cable news networks, as well as a number of local and regional newspapers. He has also combined his passion for dance to further expand Kenya Dream’s audience by establishing a series of Ken-Ya Dance showcase events festivals.
Los Angeles is looking to prove it is a center of the social media universe next week, with a roster of events for Social Media Week Los Angeles. According to local event organizers, the Los Angeles Social Media Week events--75 in all--are expected to have well more than the 4,000 who participated last year. The week long list of events includes parties, celebrity social media personalities, conferences and panels, and a keynote by Robert Tercek.
Announcing EIGHT new mini-books and eBooks by Master Entrepreneur, Dave Berkus , just released by The Berkus Press. Covering important business growth subjects, these books are a must-have for you and your associates. As a bonus, the “quick read&# eBook and Kindle editions are priced as “singles&# at only $2.99 each. Featuring a total of 202 of Dave’s insights from BERKONOMICS and ADVANCED BERKONOMICS, these books are easy reading, cover important business issues, and help you
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 -- 3D Entertainment Summit. The 3D Entertainment Summit brings together thought leaders from around the globe to analyze 3D in all platforms theatrical, home entertainment, gaming, advertising, and alternative content.
One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? Especially if the idea could be whipped-up by a few 24-year olds in a few weeks? Lots of thoughts here. First, if your idea really is something that a couple programmers can whip up in a few weeks, then you may not have much of a business here.
Email. Ah, email. That great productivity drain that we somehow all buy into. I’ve taken to saying, “Email is our personal to-do list that anybody adds to – whether they know us or not.” I was lamenting it tonight when I saw the most brilliant response Tweet by Andrew Hyde . “inbox = tetris getting zero lines doesn’t win it just makes the next move easy.” Brilliant!
Team Above Self – the Team’s objectives supersede those of the Individual. The ninth tenet outlined in Core Values. When I was an operational startup executive, I seldom lost my temper in the workplace. However, one of the few things that angered me at a base level was when an employee would place their personal interests above those of the company.
Los Angeles- and London-based casual gaming developer King.com said Thursday that it has launched a new Facebook game, Bubble Witch Saga. According to King.com, the newest title was launched in the run up to Halloween, and focuses on bursting bubbles around a witch's cauldron. King.com said it now has over 200 games running online, via Facebook, on mobile, and tablets.
This is an exercise I perform with my boards no less than once every several years in planning exercises attended by the board and senior management, sometimes augmented with an industry consultant or expert from the outside. Use a white board visible to the entire group. Draw and label four columns and ten rows. The columns: “Name of candidate acquirer”, “what they want”, “what we want” and “likelihood”.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 -- LA Mobile Entertainment Summit. The 2nd Annual LA Mobile Entertainment Summit will host the brightest minds in mobile technology, interactive media and entertainment to examine how content and rapidly evolving technology is dramatically changing the entertainment marketplace.
One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? Especially if the idea could be whipped-up by a few 24-year olds in a few weeks? Lots of thoughts here. First, if your idea really is something that a couple programmers can whip up in a few weeks, then you may not have much of a business here.
Yesterday I saw a Tweet from Chris Sacca fly by that prompted me to want to write a blog post helping entrepreneurs understand why they should push back against VCs asking for “super pro-rata” rights. I’ll explain what they are and why you should avoid them if you can. A primer on “pro-rata” rights. Institutional investors will always insist on pro-rata rights.
Richard White, author of The Entrepreneur’s Manual , surveyed a number of venture capitalists, asking them to identify the characteristics of successful, serial entrepreneurs. One of the attributes identified by all of the venture capitalists questioned was, “Frugal use of capital.” In fact, several of the venture capitalists pointed out that successful entrepreneurs often have to be encouraged to spend more aggressively.
Santa Barbara-based Make It Work , the provider of in-home and on-site technical support and services headed by Eric Greenspan, said today that it has inked a deal to offer up its services for sale at Costco Wholesale Corporation locations in Southern California. According to the firm, it is in an initial pilot rollout within 20 Southern California Costco locations, in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.
I’ve been involved with well over a dozen successful exits and four initial public offerings over the years, some of them with monstrous gains, some more modest. Then in addition, there are the exits that returned some portion of capital, but nothing more. And finally, there are the sad exits that were complete write-offs for the investors, regaining some portion of note-holder or creditor money in the process. .
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 -- TheGrill.At a time of unprecedented change and shifting business models, TheGrill is the only high level forum for discussing the transformational forces in our changing entertainment industry under the auspices of knowledgeable journalists who care a whole lot - thats TheWrap.com.
I've posted quite a few things on the topics associated with being a Startup CTO. I've tried to collect them together here as a starting point for this topic. Technology Roles in Startups Visualization of Startup CTO Equity and Salary Data Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data Hiring a CTO for Your Startup Startup Founder Developer Gap Startup CTO or Developer Part-Time CTO Technology Advisor CTO Founder Acting CTO Start-up Advisors CTO Equity - Negotiation After Funding Equity-Only CTO and Equity-
Sales. It’s the lifeblood of any organization and yet most startups don’t have any sales DNA on their teams. It’s important enough that I dedicate a tab on my blog to startup sales & marketing. This week I had the chance to have an hour-long discussion with Vince Thompson (ran West Coast sales for AOL for 7 years – back in the day when AOL was what Facebook is today) and Mo Ali , who has the awesome Twitter handle @BornToCall – runs sales at This Week In.
“Whenever it is possible, a boy should choose some occupation which he should do even if he did not need the money.”. William Lyon Phelps, American Author. Growing up, I dreamed that one day I could say, “I don’t have to work.” My parents were both government employees of modest means and thus the goal of retiring as a relatively young person was a fantasy to nearly everyone I knew growing up – everyone but me.
In the day and age of digital photos, too often the photos we take end up filed away untouched on your computer, or buried on your iPhone. Unlike the past, when photos were treasured and shown off to friends and family, it seems like photos are almost disposable. However, Los Angeles-based Postcard On The Run (www.postcardontherun.com) is trying to recapture that sense of value of physical photographs, with its new service, which turns digital photos into postcards.
I have saved this next story until now because it is one of my favorites, and certainly illustrates the point as well as anything I could devise from fiction. First here is a bit of the background. The year was 1998. After presenting a “state of the company” report at a national meeting of resellers for a company where I sat on the board, I was approached by one of the audience members, complimenting my presentation and stating, “I have a problem.
BSAK Errors. I always loved the term … ”Between seat and keyboard.” Normally it was my tech team just being cheeky with me about my withering technology chops. But … … was thinking about a very common BSAK error that I see committed – the “flaming email.” Or when I worked at Accenture we called these “CLMs.” (career limiting maneuvers).
I was an entrepreneur for years. I must have pitched 40-50 VCs over the years. Possibly more. As I talked about on many occasions when I was an entrepreneur – and blogged publicly about - I learned a lot about my business and myself in these meetings. It was largely a positive experience. [Make sure to watch the video ]. Still, it was bloody annoying, too.
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