“How much cash do we have left?” I asked Tina, our very able controller. “We have $197,000 and change left, Brett. That’s enough to run the company for another three months,” Tina replied. “Okay, assuming we close (our funding) on schedule, then we won’t have to ask for a bridge (loan) from our investors,” I…
How to determine the equity splits between you and your co-founders is a key indicator of whether the relationship between you will work out. Unless you and your co-founders are happy with the results there will be problems ahead. Over 50% of all co-founder relationships end in failure. In today’s video, I’ll explore how you…
A little over two years ago, Jim, a well known entrepreneur, began singing my praises all over social media. He didn’t have to do what he was doing. I thought it would be nice to say thanks. So I reached out to Jim, and we arranged a time to talk. We had a really fun…
“It’s a mug’s game, then?” Dave, one of the hosts of the podcast Jeroen, my co-founder and VP Engineering, and I were being interviewed on, said to us. I had just finished telling him that the odds of raising funding for a startup are around one in one hundred. So, Dave was rightfully asking me…
Back in the day, long before the internet, I would drive over to Stanford University to do my market research. The business school had a really nice library where I could find just about everything I wanted. This would be my ritual every time we entered a new market. And, if I was lucky, I’d…
“We help the daring build legendary companies!” One legendary Silicon Valley venture capital fund exclaims on their home page. “We are in the company building business.” exclaimed another well-known VC fund. I’m here to tell you that all these marketing claims from VCs are just that, marketing claims. VCs can’t help you build your startup.…
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. The two co-founders told me they had no funding, and they were looking to hire a VP of Engineering. They found a good candidate for…
Don’t fool yourself. The odds are decidedly against you raising money for your startup. Only 1% of all startups get any outside funding. That’s it! But let’s say that you believe your startup is destined to be the one out of 100 startups that receive angel or VC funding, yet you’re still not breaking…
We’ve all been there before. Nobody likes going to meetings and wasting their time. It’s like this: You go to the meeting. There’s small talk, people are joking around, and people are wasting your precious time. This happens when you have a lot of people in the room together. You can count up the dollars…
Years ago, I was interviewing VP Sales candidates. One of the first candidates I interviewed was someone that I quickly realized was completely wrong for the job. I finished the interview, and I thanked him for his time. Then, as I usually did when there was no hope of the person progressing to the next…