Founders and Fundraising
What 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…
Read MoreWho You Should Never Add As A Co-Founder?
“I just bought a unit in new The Millennium building, up in the City,” my co-founder, “Ken”, said to me. “You should check it out!” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “Really,” I said. “I thought you were going to buy a house on the peninsula, closer to…
Read MoreHow You Shouldn’t Write A Pitch Deck
There’s a huge difference between the question of “How long did it take you build your pitch deck?” and the question of “How long did it take you to build a successful pitch deck?” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Our original pitch deck took, I don’t know,…
Read MoreWhen Should You Start Paying Yourself?
There is a friend of mine, Mark, who started a company about four years ago. Mark raised angel funding to start his company. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. The company has grown at a nice clip, and the company has a real chance at long term success.…
Read MoreWhat Makes A Great CTO Great?
One of my biggest mistakes ever was adding “John” as my co-founder and VP Engineering/CTO. Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that John wasn’t that great of an engineer, and he failed as our CTO because his engineering skills weren’t that good. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help.…
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