Founders and Fundraising
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.” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. In my pitch I had been upfront with…
Read MoreWhat 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. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. There were “Jim” and “John”, my first two co-founders. We worked together…
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreWhat 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…
Read MoreWhat You Shouldn’t Say During A Pitch Meeting?
“You need to sign an NDA,” my co-founder “John”, said to David, the investor we were presenting to. It was our second meeting with David, and John’s comment took me totally by surprise, but David’s response didn’t take me by surprise. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. David…
Read MoreWhat Are The 17 Biggest Surprises When You Founded Your Company?
I remember talking with Jeroen, my fellow co-founder and VP of Engineering. Jeroen smiled at me and said, “I’m in line at the market and I just want everyone to start moving faster! “That used to never happen to me.” Then we both laughed. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can…
Read MoreWhat Do You Do When A VP Quits During Fundraising?
“You can’t tell the new investors that ‘Tommy’ quit!” “Raul”, one of my investors, said to me when I told him our new VP Sales, had resigned that morning. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “Your job now is to get him (Tommy) to change his mind,” Raul…
Read MoreWhen Should You Start Planning Your Exit Strategy?
If there’s one thing I hate, it’s when I meet an early stage startup CEO who’s focused on selling their company. Inevitably, I’ll ask the CEO, “Why are you focused on a sale now?” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Inevitably, the answer, more times than not, comes…
Read MoreWho’s The Right Person To Be CEO?
“I’d like you to be the CEO of the company,” “Ray” said to me. We were meeting for the first time outside of a Starbucks in Los Altos. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Ray had spent the previous thirty minutes explaining what his company was going to…
Read MoreHow Much Money Should You Raise?
“We should be raising a $6 million round, not $12 million,” “Randy”, my co-founder, said to me. In fact, Randy was so pissed at the terms of our funding that he was threatening to quit. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “Let’s meet, so I can walk you…
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