Founders and Fundraising
How You Know Have What It Takes To Be A Successful CEO
In working with CEOs over the past several years, I’ve observed what separates the great CEOs from the merely good or bad CEOs. It comes down to four key traits these CEOs have that the others don’t. Watch this short video to get my take on what the great CEOs do. Plus watch till the…
Read MoreHow Much Equity Should You Give Your First Engineers?
If you want to build a great engineering team, then you have to get your equity grants right. And, you’ll blow it if you don’t this right. The good news is there are some rules you can follow to help you make good decisions about splitting your equity. I’ll explain how in this short video.…
Read MoreHow Do You Become The 1% That Gets Funded?
“How many crappy startups are there?” I asked Dave and Alain, two partners at the VC fund where I was an EIR. We had just sat through another pitch from a hopelessly lost CEO. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] “Too many,” Dave said and we all laughed.…
Read MoreHere’s Why Your Great Startup Idea Is Worthless
“So, what do you think?” the investor asked me. “I’m really impressed with the technology,” I said. “I think I might invest.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] The investor smiled and we shook hands. Then I left. I went home, and I thought about the company some…
Read MoreHow Do You Raise Your Next Round Of Funding?
Raising your next round of funding is not a given. Each round of funding presents its own set of challenges. In today’s short video, I’ll share with you my tips for raising your next round of funding. Make sure to watch all the way till the end for my last tip; It was the difference…
Read MoreWhy You Shouldn’t Tell Investors You’re The Next Uber
I know. It’s oh so tempting to tell potential investors that your company is the next Uber because, after all, who wouldn’t want to be an investor in Uber. It feels good rolling of your tongue, doesn’t it? The only problem is telling an investor your company is the next Uber or the next Facebook…
Read MoreHow Do You Prepare For VC Technical Diligence?
“Let’s look this guy up,” I said to Jeroen, my cofounder and VP Engineering, about the expert the VC firm was using to do technical diligence on us. I then did a search on LinkedIn and found “Peter’s” resume. “Well, there’s good news and bad news,” I said to Jeroen. “What’s the good news?” Jeroen…
Read MoreWhen’s The Best Time For You To Raise Money?
Nothing is more painful for me to watch then a CEO that has waited too long to raise funded. It’s a self inflicted wound that you can easily avoid. Yet I see this happen over and over again. I’ve raised over $100M, so I do have a little bit of experience in this area. I’ll…
Read MoreWhy Your Technical Cofounder Can’t Be Fired
“Why is Bob with the company?” I asked myself. “He just seems to sit in the corner doing nothing.” Bob was the founder of the startup I had just joined as VP Marketing. Bob was no longer the CEO, but, for some strange reason, he was still with the company, doing what looked to be…
Read MoreWhat’s The Worst Thing You Can Hear When You’re Raising Money?
You will quickly find that raising money is a numbers game. You have to knock on a lot of doors if you’re going to raise your funding. You’re going to hear lots of things from the investors you meet. But there’s one thing you may hear that’s probably the worst thing you can ever…
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