How Do You Build An Innovative Startup?
James Carville, Bill Clinton’s chief strategist when Clinton ran for president in 1992 famously described their pitch to voters in one simple phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Clinton and Carville’s relentless focus on the economy. Clinton’s opponent, President George Bush, didn’t focus on the economy and he paid the price, losing to Clinton. If you…
How Should You Manage Your Stock Option Plan?
“I was expecting an offer of three percent,” Joe said to me. I’d been recruiting Joe since before we got our funding, and, now, two years after we closed our funding, we had offered Joe 0.75% stock options to become a Senior Scientist. Joe had a PhD from Stanford, and the engineering team thought he’d…
The 5 Reasons Why So Many Startups Fail
There are a lot of studies you can find online that will give you the, alleged, data on why so many startups fail. The problem is the reasons cited are superficial at best. I’ve built several businesses to greater than $100 million/year in revenue. And, I’ve helped many startup CEOs successfully build their businesses. I’ve…
What Should You Look For In A Mentor?
“I want you to meet with Dave,” Mike, the managing partner of the VC fund I was interviewing at to be an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) said. “He does most of our semiconductor investments, so it’s important for the two of you to meet.” I was finishing up a long day of meeting with the…
Do You Really Need A Board Of Advisors?
I remember when I started my company I thought I needed a board of advisors. After all, every other startup company that I looked at had an impressive list of advisors on their website. I thought, “this must be one of the keys to raising money. I’d better find my group of advisors.” So, I…
How Much Equity Should You Give Investors?
When you’re an entrepreneur raising money for your startup from angel investors or venture capitalists, the question that’s on your mind is, “How much equity should you give your investors?” It’s a tough question to answer because angel investors and venture capitalists negotiate term sheets every day and you don’t. I’ve raised over $100 million…
What’s The Right Way To Determine Your Team’s Salary?
I’ll never forget one of my investors, “Raul”, asking me how much I was going to pay myself after we closed our $12 million round of funding. I told Raul I was going to pay myself $200,000, well below the market rate of $250,000 at the time. This was significantly more than the zero salary…
How Do You Make The Most Out Of A Weak Team?
“Where did they find these people?” I asked my friend and employee, Steve. “We would have never hired them at Maxim (Integrated Products).” I was talking to Steve after I’d been at Micrel for a month as General Manager of one of the company’s three divisions. Steve had been at Micrel for two years,…
The 5 Steps For You To Create A Great Elevator Pitch
Malcolm Gladwell, in his landmark book, “Blink”, explained how you only have 7 seven short seconds to make a connection with your audience or you lose their attention. Microsoft did a study showing attention spans are only 8 seconds. That’s it. That’s all the time you get.
Is There A Right Way For You To Fire Someone?
There’s a great story in Ben Horowitz’s book, “The Hard Thing About Hard Things”, that I can really relate to. In the book, Horowitz’s company, Opsware, was going to IPO. At the same time, they were going to perform a layoff. Horowitz was planning on being in New York for the IPO until one of…