How Should You Divide Equity As Your Company Grows?

By Brett Fox | October 23, 2023

-“Here’s what I think is fair for your role,” I said to “Ken,” one of my co-founders. Ken smiled, and said, “I was thinking the same number.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] We shook hands, and that was that. I had agreed to the equity for my…

How Can Transparency Help Get You Funding?

By Brett Fox | October 18, 2023

How transparency can help get your startup funding Every startup has problems. And somehow or other, these problems, such as you missing your numbers, or a co-founder, always happen at the worst possible time which is when you’re raising money. Now, what do you do? Do you hide the problem from your potential investors or…

How Much Equity Do Your Employees Deserve?

By Brett Fox | October 17, 2023

I was advising the two founders of a technology company.  They had no funding, and they were looking to hire a VP of Engineering. They found a good candidate for the position, and they only wanted to give him 1% equity vesting over four years.  I told them the candidate wasn’t going to take the…

How Should You Respond To An Investor’s Rejection Email?

By Brett Fox | October 16, 2023

I’ve got a lot of experience with investor rejection emails since we had 63 investors pass on investing when we raised our Series A funding and a whole bunch more when we raised our Series B funding. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Many investors just never responded…

Why You Want Investors to Say No

By Brett Fox | October 11, 2023

When you’re raising money, having investors tell you no, we will not invest in your startup is a good thing. Yes, you heard me right, hearing an investor say no is a good thing. In today’s video I’ll explain: What you don’t want to hear an investor say to you? How do you know if…

How Do You Know What Startup Advice Is Good?

By Brett Fox | October 4, 2023

When you’re raising money, you’re going to get lots of advice on your pitch and pitch deck. Some of the advice will sound really, really good. However, the problem is it’s really tough to tell what advice will help and what advice will hurt you. In today’s video, I’ll explain how you can tell the…

Your Startup Doesn’t Need A COO

By Brett Fox | October 3, 2023

“I’d like to be Chief Operating Officer,” “Randy”. We had already agreed on Randy’s ownership in the company and his salary, so all that was left was the title. Randy had over thirty years experience, and he was a true heavyweight. “I think that makes sense,” I said. [Do you want to grow your business?…

How Should You Choose Between Competing Term Sheets?

By Brett Fox | October 2, 2023

Congratulations on getting two competing term sheets. You’re one of the few entrepreneurs that is in such an enviable position. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Most entrepreneurs are fortunate just to get one term sheet.  Now you have two to choose from! Now you get to choose…

The Five Non-Obvious Ways To Build Your Team

By Brett Fox | September 27, 2023

The most important indicator of whether your startup will succeed is your ability to build a high performance team. The performance of your team influences everything from your company culture, to your products, to your ability to sell and market your product. Try and do anything with a bad to mediocre team, and you’ll know…

Why You’ll Fail As A Startup CEO

By Brett Fox | September 26, 2023

“The co-founders were fighting all the time,” Abdenour, an engineering candidate said to me about the previous startup he worked at. “It made the work environment really bad. I think that’s why we failed.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Abdenour’s right. When you and your co-founders are…