What’s The Wrong Way To Think About Equity?
Years ago, I was introduced to the two co-founders of a fledgling semiconductor company. I have an affinity for companies in the space, so I agreed to talk with them. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. The two co-founders told me they had no funding, and they were…
What’s The Right Number Of Co-founders?
The most successful startup I’m currently involved with is now worth well over $2 billion. They’re raising another $300 million as we speak, and they’ll likely be worth around $4 billion when the round closes. The company had one founder, “Ray.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] The…
How Much Money Should You Raise?
“We should be raising a $6 million round, not $12 million,” “Randy”, my co-founder, said to me. In fact, Randy was so pissed at the terms of our funding that he was threatening to quit. “Let’s meet, so I can walk you through why we are better off with the larger amount of funding,” I…
What Are The 7 Misconceptions About Being A CEO?
“Okay,” I said to the group assembled in our large conference room, “We are the launch team for our first product.” The team consisted of Adolfo, my co-founder and VP Marketing, Shoba, our Test Engineering Director, Dave, our Manufacturing Director, and Mary, our Public Relations consultant. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I…
What’s The Behavior You Can’t Have As A Founder?
“I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” “Serge”, the CEO of a struggling startup, said to me. “I think I’m going to give up.” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “What?” I responded. Serge’s capitulation said didn’t register on me. It was foreign to my way…
How Should You Manage Your Stock Option Plan?
“I was expecting an offer of three percent,” Joe said to me. I’d been recruiting Joe since before we got our funding, and, now, two years after we closed our funding, we had offered Joe 0.75% stock options to become a Senior Scientist. Joe had a PhD from Stanford, and the engineering team thought he’d…
Who You Should Never Add As A Co-Founder?
“I just bought a unit in new The Millennium building, up in the City,” my co-founder, “Ken”, said to me. “You should check it out!” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “Really,” I said. “I thought you were going to buy a house on the peninsula, closer to…
Why You’re The Most Important Person In Your Company
“The engine that makes an Analog IC company go is a great VP Engineering or CTO,” I said to Dave, the VC partner I was working with when I was incubating my startup as an EIR (Entrepreneur in Residence) at a VC fund in San Francisco. Then I continued, “Without a great VP Engineering we…
How You Can Make A Great First Impression In Less Than Seven Seconds
“Here’s a slide I think might be good,” the CEO said to us. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. The CEO had just blown it. I mean completely blown it. I was working at a Venture Capital firm at the time, and we were sincerely interested in investing…
Can You Succeed When You Don’t Get Along With Your Co-Founders?
There were these four founders that got together to start their business. Peter, John, Roger and Keith were their names. The products they produced were some of the best in their industry. The customers they had loved their products. And they were well respected by their competitors. By their own admission, they got along horribly.…