Founders and Fundraising
How Much Equity Should You Give Advisors?
A little over two years ago, Jim, a well known entrepreneur, began singing my praises all over social media. He didn’t have to do what he was doing. I thought it would be nice to say thanks. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. So I reached out to…
Read MoreWhy Investors Can’t Fix Your Startup
“We help the daring build legendary companies!” One legendary Silicon Valley venture capital fund exclaims on their home page. “We are in the company building business.” exclaimed another well-known VC fund. I’m here to tell you that all these marketing claims from VCs are just that, marketing claims. VCs can’t help you build your startup.…
Read MoreWhy You Can’t Raise Money For Your Startup
Don’t fool yourself. The odds are decidedly against you raising money for your startup. Only 1% of all startups get any outside funding. That’s it! But let’s say that you believe your startup is destined to be the one out of 100 startups that receive angel or VC funding, yet you’re still not breaking…
Read MoreWhy Can’t You Turn Your Integrity On And Off?
My wife and I went for a run together last week, and, on our walk home, we started talking about Elizabeth Holmes. The new docudrama about her and Theranos, “Dropout”, just dropped on Showtime, so it was on the top of our minds. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click…
Read MoreThe Top Ten Mistakes First Time Entrepreneurs Make
“You’re a first time CEO. You’re going to make mistakes.” That’s what investors say about first time CEOs. And, you know what, investors are right, you’re going to make mistakes. However, why make business mistakes when you can avoid them. In today’s video, I’ll walk you through the top ten mistakes entrepreneurs make. Plus, I’ll…
Read MoreHow Can You Renegotiate Founder Equity?
“I want to cut the equity of my co-founder from 45 percent to twenty percent,” “Oren” said to me. “He’s not performing very well. What do you think?” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “I don’t think that’s going to go over very well,” I said. “You certainly…
Read MoreWhy Investors Say No To Entrepreneurs?
100 to one. Burn that ratio into your brain. That’s the number of face to face meetings a typical venture capital firm will have for every one startup they invest in. How do I know this? I was an Entrepreneur in Residence with a major VC fund in San Francisco. Raising your startup funding isn’t…
Read MoreWhat Are The Rules For Selling Your Startup?
“There’s a company in our portfolio, I can’t say who, where the founders decided to sell to Microsoft,” one of my investors, Gill, said to me. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “Congratulations,” I said. “Well, they decided to sell a little earlier then I would have preferred,…
Read MoreHow Do You Determine Your Total Available Market?
Understanding how big your total available market is a critical step in building your startup, and understanding your TAM is a critical slide when you’re fundraising. Yet most entrepreneurs get their total available market slide wrong. Part of the problem is should you present your TAM or your SAM? Or, maybe you should you present…
Read MoreHow Do You Buy Out Your Co-Founder?
I had four co-founders. I had to fire one of my co-founders within six months of us being operational. This was six months before we had any revenue. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. The negotiation of “Randy’s” exit was simple. It took less than one hour to complete.…
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