When I was just starting my career, I was blessed to work at a really successful company for a really good CEO. I learned a lot working for Jack Gifford at Maxim that I could use when I started my own company. One of the most important lessons I learned was the power of promoting…
I remember talking with my Dad about the absolute necessity of having Tier 1 investors for my company. I was an EIR (Entrepreneur in Residence ) at a San Francisco based VC fund at the time, and I had just formed my company. In fact, we hadn’t even started raising money. Yet here I was,…
“I want to pay half market rate,” the CEO, “Richard”, said to me. Richard had just raised his first round of funding. I asked Richard why? Richard said, “I want them (the employees) to share in my risk.” Richard’s feelings are not unique. You might feel the same way. “But 50% of the market rate…
When you’re just starting out, you may have some members of your team that have serious issues. Ideally, you’d let the person go and find a replacement. But you may not have that option when you’re just starting out because the perfect fit for a given role may not want to join your startup yet.…
“How many people do I need on my the board?” I asked our attorney Marcia when I was incorporating our company. “You need to have a board of directors, but it doesn’t have to be large. In fact, you can be the only member of your board when you’re starting out.” “Really,” I answered. “The…
I once heard a CEO of a company that recently IPO’d say, “Work life balance? You’re running a startup. You can’t have work life balance. Just forget taking vacations.” I believe the thought process that you can’t take vacations and have a successful startup is wrong. You can take vacations and have a successful startup.…
Of all the crazy, stupid, ridiculous things I’ve ever heard, I’d have to say this doozy from “Donald”, a very well known billionaire VC, has to be the craziest, stupidest thing ever: “I hate high margin businesses!” It just goes to show you how much things have changed when it comes to building companies. I’ll…
A few years ago a CEO of a pre-revenue startup reached out to me for guidance. The company was preparing to raise money. The CEO said to me during the initial consultation, “We’ve had a 409A valuation done on the company, and the valuation indicates the company is worth $20M. “We’re trying to raise $2M,…
To: Past Self From: Future Self Subject: If I knew then what I know now Hey, it’s your older and wiser self. Somehow or other, despite all your screw ups, you made it! You’re done. You’ve achieved your dream of starting, building, and leading a company from scratch. I’ll tell you this. It would have…
Years ago, I remember a startup CEO telling me, half joking, that his hiring criteria was, “Anything that breathes.” That’s not exactly a sound strategy to grow you startup, is it? I think what the CEO meant was that it’s tough to hire really good people when you’re starting out. The reality is it’s always…