Do All Driven Entrepreneurs Become Successful? By Brett Fox Let me tell you a story about “John”. John is someone I’ve known for years. About ten years ago, John decided he was going to take all the knowledge he’d learned as an engineer and start a company. John was considered one of the best technical…
How Do You Stop Employees From Going To Competitors? By Brett Fox I was recently asked the question, “What should I do to keep an employee that has quit from leaving.” I was happy to answer the question because I have a perfect batting average as CEO of keeping employees from quitting. That’s right. 0.00%.…
Can You Succeed When You Don’t Get Along With Your Cofounders? By Brett Fox 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…
Your business is growing nicely. Revenue keeps going up month after month, quarter after quarter. Soon, you’re going to need to new office space because of the all the people you think you need to hire. But, you’re worried deep down inside. [Do you want to grow your business. Maybe I can help. Click here.]…
When Should You Become An Entrepreneur? By Brett Fox “I built a spreadsheet to determine the value of my stock options if I join your company,” the candidate said to me. “I adjusted the returns for risk, and I think I will make more money staying at my large (corporate) company.” I’d seen it before.…
What’s The Best Pitch Deck You’ve Ever Seen? By Brett Fox The best pitch deck I’ve seen that’s been publicly released is LinkedIn’s. What I love about it is maybe not so much the content, but Reid Hoffman’s commentary about what he was trying to do and what he would do different. But, you really…
How Do You Estimate How Much Money You’re Going To Spend? By Brett Fox I like using the simple formula of $200K/Head/Year to figure out how far your funding will take you. Let’s say you raise $10M, and you want the money to last two years. That means you can have around 25 employees: 25…
How Do You Predict Revenue For A Startup? By Brett Fox “Most startups are horrible at forecasting their revenue, and you’ll find us to be no different,” Barry, our chairman of the board said to a prospective investor. Everyone laughed because there was a lot of truth in what Barry was saying. Startups are usually…
How Important Is Your Location When You’re Raising Money? By Brett Fox I think this Marc Andreessen quote says it all about the importance of a startup’s location regarding fundraising: Location risk — where is the startup located? Can it hire the right talent in that location? And will I as the VC need to…
How Do You Manage Your Costs Early On? By Brett Fox “Are you personally signing every check?” Bill asked me at dinner. I had worked for Bill years ago. Bill was seriously old school in his approach. “Yes, I am,” I replied. “That’s good,” he said. “That’s an important tool for you to keep control…