What Do You Tell Investors When A Co-Founder Quits?
“What’s your plan?” That’s what “Raul”, one of our two large investors, asked me after I let him know that I was going to fire “Randy”, one of my co-founders. Yes, he also asked my why I was firing Randy. I’ll get back to that later. I told Raul that my plan was to have…
5 Fatal Decisions You Don’t Want To Make
I walked into the office space, and there was no one there. It was just a bunch of empty cubicles. The space was dimly lit, and the ceilings were low. “My god, this space is depressing,” I said to my co-founder “Randy”. “No wonder they failed.” Randy nodded his head in agreement. We had signed…
Should You Ask An Advisor To Invest?
“I would like you to invest $50,000 in my startup,” “Peter” said to me. Peter and I had been introduced a few weeks earlier, and I’d met with him a couple of times. I really liked what Peter was doing, and I was happy to advise him. However, investing in Peter’s company was another matter.…
7 Survival Tips For Startup CEOs
“Hey Brett. Congrats on getting your company funded. I’ve heard the horror stories, and I was just wondering how many hours you’re working?” Kent asked me in an email. The horror stories of founders working 100 hours week on end are commonplace. The reality, or at least my reality, was different. [Do you want to…
Do You Need A CTO To Get Funding?
“I like you, Brett. And I really like what you’re (company is) doing,” Jack, the Venture Capitalist, said to me. “However, I think I’ll wait until you have a VP Engineering before I invest.” In my pitch I had been upfront with Jack that we were looking for a VP Engineering, and, in the interim,…
What Are The Signs You’ve Chosen A Bad Co-Founder?
If there’s one thing I am an expert in, it’s bad co-founders. After all, the first two teams of co-founders I tried to start my company with didn’t work out. There were “Jim” and “John”, my first two co-founders. We worked together for about five months before they quit, stole the company’s IP, and then…
The Three Largest Mistakes You’ll Make
“I run out of money in April,” “Steve” said to me. “I think we’re going to add three new customers this month and I can get to ten new customers with my contacts…” “So you’ve got four months of runway left,” I interjected. “Yes, but look at my plan,” Steve said, excitedly. “I’m going to…
What’s The Best Way To Manage Your Cash?
“We have to ask ourselves the question, Are we going to be a company that spends freely, or are we going to be a company that manages its money well?” I said to the executive staff in our weekly staff meeting. We had just received our initial funding a few months earlier, but I wasn’t…
The Nine Facts Of Fundraising You Need To Know
“Hey Brett, I’m going to be on vacation for the next couple of weeks. I’ll pick up the diligence when I get back,” Tucker said to me. Tucker was a potential new investor in our company. I could tell he was serious about investing in our company based on the work he was doing. Download…
What Are The 11 Steps You Can Take When A Cofounder Quits?
I started my company with two co-founders: “Jim” and “John”. I was the CEO, Jim was the marketing guy, and John was the engineering guy. My two co-founders and I had worked together previously. We understood the plan and direction we were going in. We started pitching VCs after working on the plan for about…