How Do You Deal With A Broken Co-Founder?
“Tell me about your background,” I said to “Jim.” “John,” my co-founder who recommended Jim to me as our VP Engineering, and I were having lunch with Jim at Bucks. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Bucks, for those of you not living in the Silicon Valley, is…
Why You Can’t Use A Broker To Raise Money
Wouldn’t it be great if there was someone out there who could magically introduce you and your startup to every investor you want to meet? Wouldn’t that be great? And, yes indeed, there are people out there who will, for a fee of course, claim they will introduce you to investors. These people are called…
How Do You Gain Leverage When You’re Raising Money?
“Congratulations,” I said to “Ray,” I CEO I have been working with. “Getting funding in three weeks is quite an accomplishment.” “Thank you,” Ray responded. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “Especially, after what you’d been through in your first two rounds of funding, you deserve a little…
How Do You Get Your First 1,000 Customers?
There are some things you never forget when you’re a startup CEO, and watching my co-founder and VP Sales, “Ken,” run around the office yelling, “Hey, Hey!” after we got our first order is one of them. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. We had just soft launched…
What Type Of Return Do Your Investors Expect?
If you’ve never raised money before, working with angel investors and VCs can be a mystery. One of the big questions you need to understand is your company investable? At the heart of this question is the return expectations your investors will have. That’s what I’ll explore in this short video. I hope you like…
How Should You Talk About Bad News With Your Team?
“I think we’re getting really close to getting funding,” I said to myself. We had just had another VC pass, but THE WAY VCs were passing seemed different to me. Maybe we were getting close to getting funded. More likely we weren’t. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.…
How You Can Run Multiple Startups At Once
“I’m managing three companies,” “Jason” said to me. It was our first conversation, and warning lights started going off. “Tell me about the three companies?” I said. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Jason said, “The first company is a software company which is doing about $5 million…
You Need To Fire Your Co-Founder
One of the most painful things you’ll have to do is deal with your co-founder or early stage employee that was doing good work early on, but now is no longer cutting it. What you do next may likely determine the future of your company. In this short video, I’ll give you my take on…
How Much Is Your Company Worth?
You’ll hear about a lot of ways to value your startup. Discounted cash flow. ,ROI, and 409A valuations are some of the methodologies you’ll find with some simple research. However, there’s one and only one way to determine the value of your startup. And if you guessed none of the above, then, you’re right. I’ll…
Why Your Revenue Doesn’t Impact Your Valuation
A couple of years ago I was advising an entrepreneur, “Jacques,” who had, what we call, a “roll up strategy.” In other words, he wanted to consolidate an industry by buying several small companies, reducing their overhead, and combining them with his company. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click…