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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. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click…
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreWhat 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.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click…
Read MoreDo 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. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] I thought, “this must be one of the…
Read MoreHow 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…
Read MoreWhat’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…
Read MoreHow 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).” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] I was talking to Steve after I’d been at Micrel for a month as General Manager of one of…
Read MoreThe 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. The point is you have a very short…
Read MoreIs 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. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Horowitz…
Read MoreThe Real Reasons Your Startup Isn’t Scaling
You launched your startup’s first product, and, now that it’s been in the market for a while, you can see it’s not scaling and you just don’t know why? In today’s video, I’m going to explain the likely reasons why your having trouble scaling and what you can do to fix it. I’ve launched hundreds…
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