Should Your Build Your Core Team Or Your MVP First? By Brett Fox Why do you have to choose between building your core team first or building your first product? You’re likely going to need a team of some sort to build your first product, or where is the barrier to entry? Now, I’m not…
What Are The Three Reasons Your Startup Will Succeed? By Brett Fox Marc Andreessen wrote an excellent blog post about why startups succeed. His view is, when you look at the three key components to success (team, product, and market), that the market is the most important reason that a startup succeed. Andreessen quotes what…
What Are Some Signs You Should Give Up On Your Startup? By Brett Fox I drove home from Sand Hill Road. We had just been turned down. Again. This was the 63rd VC that decided not to invest in our company. And this rejection was particularly vicious. We had gone through weeks of diligence, and…
What’s The Hardest Thing About Starting A Business After You’re 40? By Brett Fox I was in my 40’s when I started my company, so I am somewhat of an expert on this topic. I can tell you what weren’t the hardest things for me: A. It wasn’t experience. When you’re in your 40’s you…
You’ve worked really hard creating a really solid investor pitch about your company. You’ve rehearsed your investor pitch, and you feel ready to go. Then you start pitching investors, but something isn’t right. The investor pitch is still not working. Investors are not biting. And the problem is you don’t get a second chance when…
How Long Should Your Startup Pitch Take? By Brett Fox Imagine you’ve been invited to present your company to the full partnership of a VC firm. You bring the executive team with you because you felt it was the right thing to do. You start out your pitch to the partnership. You barely get going…
One of the biggest debates we had early on was whether to buy an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system to scale our manufacturing. I’ll never forget it because it set off a chain of events that changed our company forever. Here’s the story… Two of my cofounders, “Ken” and “Randy”, came into my office about…
What Is The Best Advice When You Partner With A Larger Company? By Brett Fox I’ve been on both sides of this equation. We did several deals with companies bigger than us including: Companies that were distribution partners, and.. Companies that were manufacturing partners, and… Companies that were possible acquirers. There is one consistent thing…
What Can You Add To A Term Sheet To Keep From Being Fired? By Brett Fox You’re looking for protection to keep your investors from replacing you. A term sheet is not going to do it. The cold, hard reality is you lose control of your company the second you take funding from outside investors.…
What Is The Biggest Challenge You Face As CEO Besides Funding? By Brett Fox Let’s say you don’t have funding worries because funding is the biggest challenge startups face. What is the second biggest challenge startups face? I’ll tell you what isn’t the second biggest challenge startups face. It isn’t: A. No market need. And…