I was in a board of directors meeting for a company I am advising. The discussion moved to stock options. One of the investors, “Michael” said, “We should set the strike price as high as possible so employees that quit will not exercise their options.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe i can…
“There is no negotiation on this term sheet,” “Raul”, the Venture Capitalist, said to me. I was stunned. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. There’s always negotiation, isn’t there? Everyone negotiates, right? Not this VC. The terms we were given were horrible. I tried everything I could to…
Years ago, I worked for this fellow I nicknamed, “The Michelin Man.” He earned his nickname because the Michelin Man had this annoying habit of sitting with his arms folded when you talked to him, and that made him look like the Michelin Man. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help.…
You know that scene in The Social Network. The one where Sean Parker tells Mark Zuckerberg to have business cards printed up saying, “I’m CEO, bitch.” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Well, that should be your attitude. You’re the CEO, bitch. There are no rules that…
“Why in the hell are you selling your part for $20,” The VP at Vitesse angrily said to me. “You’re screwing it up for the rest of us. We’re selling our part for $100!” I smiled and said, “$100 is way too high a price. $20 seemed like a fair price for customers.” [Do you…
“Did you notice the depth of his answer?” My friend and mentor Dave said to me. “The good CEOs stand out, don’t they.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] I’d been an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at the venture capital fund that Dave was a partner at for…
One of the most technically talented people I ever worked with was “Doogie.” Doogie was, and probably still is, a brilliant engineer. He was creative, and he was always coming up with novel ideas for how things should get done. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. And energy?…
I’ve worked with a lot of startups over the past few years, and, by a wide margin, the most common mistake founders make is not having a vesting schedule for their equity. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. It’s not a mistake to have everyone 100% vested if…
One of the things that always made me laugh was my bimonthly check signing ritual with Tina, our Controller. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. We would review the financials, and she would tell me the story behind the various checks I was signing. Once a month, I…
“Here’s what we can afford to pay you,” I said to Greg, one of the best Analog IC design engineers in our industry. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Greg was making $400,000 per year working part time at Maxim Integrated Products. I had known and worked with…