What Are The Main Reasons A Startup Fails After Breaking Even? By Brett Fox I was advising a bootstrapped startup for two years. The startup was at zero revenue when we started working together. They recently got to break even. The future looked really bright for the company. Then the wheels started falling off. The…
What Is It Like As CEO To Downsize Your Company? By Brett Fox I remember when we had to layoff people in order to get our funding closed. We needed the funding to last at least 18 months. So I had to let a lot of really good people go. These were people that helped…
What Are Some Signs Of A Bad Startup Culture? By Brett Fox I was interviewing an engineering candidate a while back. Everyone on the team really liked him, and we were set to hire him if our interview went well. It turned out that I liked him too. He was smart, passionate about his work,…
Can I Fire My Cofounder The Week Before His Shares Vest? By Brett Fox Every CEO on the planet has to ask themselves a really simple question: What type of CEO do I want to be? Do you want to be a CEO that acts with integrity and does the right thing, even if it’s…
How Does A CEO Determine Their Pay? By Brett Fox “So, what are you going to pay yourself?” One of our investors asked me after we closed our funding. I told him the number. “Sounds a little rich to me,” he replied. He would have said that to any number I said. The reality was…
It was a rainy Sunday afternoon in October. I had done my research. I had waited patiently for a day like this for a couple of weeks. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “Thank you,” I said to myself. I got in my car and I started driving.…
“Whatever you do, don’t react,” The investor told me. The investor (we’ll call him the good investor) was driving to our office, and he was going to be a little late to the board meeting. Our other investor (we’ll call him the bad investor) had asked to have the “closed session” of the board meeting…
“We’re in the first stage of a three stage fab expansion,” The CEO proudly told me. It was December 2000, and I was being recruited to run the Communication’s Division of the company. The economic bubble was bursting already, yet here was this CEO boldly proclaiming his company was expanding. “Do you really think this…
How Do You Keep Stress From Crushing You As CEO? By Bret Fox “I think we should sell the company,” One of our investors said to me. I was meeting with the investor at his office on Sand Hill Road. We were in the process of closing our Series B funding. We had a term…
When Is The Second Best Time To Get Help? By Brett Fox “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you,” I said to Jim. “I think the best thing for you to do is sell the company. I wish you the best of luck.” Jim’s company was past the brink of disaster and well into its…