Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

You’ve got entrepreneurs and founders who are really – a lot of them are in the very early stage of their startup. Technical founder. You have been at five startups, you had an exit at your last company where you were the Chief Revenue Officer. But let’s talk about the good and the bad of cofounders.

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Startup San Diego 337

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. — Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm.

Founder 281

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

Supportive co-founder and executive positions. Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold. They want to share your satisfaction in success, maybe as a reward for their own mistakes and learning earlier in life in their own businesses.

Advisory Board 312

Advisory Board Startup Dividend Angel Investor 312

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As the idea went from innovating on software & systems to launching a company to rolling it out in the field brought on Rahul Gandhi as his co-founder to physically launch the company. An example of the systems companies build are pricing & revenue management tools to best help to optimize yield.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

My internal compass has always steered me strongly toward the belief that founders who can scale with their startup companies are better to back that founders who eventually need to hire a CEO. Very few founder CEOs go into the job ever expecting to give up their seat. We set out to find Jonathan’s “co-founder.”

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

All startups, including non-profits, need revenue to thrive, such as such as from subscriptions, retail, online, licensing, or services. They want to see revenue to share in the return. Here I recommend a 5-year projection of revenues, expenses, and funding requirements. Provide specifics on the customer business model.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

I first met Andrew Stalbow , the founder & CEO of Seriously in August of 2013. and Petri was co-founder and head of creative at Remedy Entertainment that launched the hit PC games Max Payne and Alan Wake. Again, I think the company would slug me if released revenue data, but … wow. Domain Knowledge.

Technical Review 373

Technical Review North America Los Angeles Cofounder 373

Hunter Walker

OCTOBER 14, 2024

The order is important because I fell in love with the product before I even knew about the company, and the hustle of its founder/CEO Sandro Roco. I would go into specialty and natural food stores in New York City and look at the other independently owned and smaller brands and just cold-Instagram DM or cold-LinkedIn message the founders.

New York City 110

New York City Hockey Stick Distribution Angel Investor 110

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

Supportive co-founder and executive positions. Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold. They want to share your satisfaction in success, maybe as a reward for their own mistakes and learning earlier in life in their own businesses.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor 266

Steve Blank

MARCH 12, 2014

We realized that past K-12 Entrepreneurial classes taught students “the lemonade stand” version of how to start a company: 1) come up with an idea, 2) execute the idea, 3) do the accounting (revenue, costs, etc.). We wanted to teach our students how to think like entrepreneurs not accountants. That’s when everything changed.

Lean 335

Lean Customer Development Startup Silicon Valley 335

VC Cafe

MARCH 16, 2025

Mention that you do “Consumer tech” as a startup founder and you’d be limiting your funding options to one third of the venture capital funds (in Israel that figure is probably closer to 10%). Gaming founders know this challenge well. Until now, consumer tech was perceived as a risky binary investment.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review B2C Generative AI IPO 78

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Jeff Katzenberg has a great track record – head of the studio at Paramount, chairman of Disney Studios, co-founder of DreamWorks and now chairman of NewTV. Tech IPO prices exploded and subsequent trading prices rose to dizzying heights as the stock prices became disconnected from the traditional metrics of revenue and profits.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2023

But these look for founders who have a technical or business model insight and a team. Accelerators provide these teams with technical and business expertise and connect them to a network of other founders and advisors. Firms asking for greater than 60% are actually hiring an employee rather than a founder.

Technical Cofounder 368

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 368

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 13, 2020

by Simone Semprini, CEO & Co-Founder, TourScanner. It is no secret that transportation is a sector that generates pollution and CO 2 emissions. As pointed out by McKinsey , corporate travel is a major revenue source for many airlines and hotel chains. Effect of the lockdown in the travel industry.

Technical Review 278

Technical Review United States China Cofounder 278

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2013

My estimate is that the top 5 YouTube networks will do > $200 million net revenue in 2013 (after Google’s share). The founders had been responsible for gaining staggering scale in the past 3 years, having been trail-blazers in building a network of talent and an unrivaled understanding of the YouTube ecosystem.

Video 320

Video Los Angeles Technical Cofounder CTO Hire 320

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 11, 2021

by Swapnil Shinde, Co-Founder and CEO of Zeni. Don’t rely on spreadsheets to track revenue and expenses; start using accounting tools as soon as possible. Do you categorize your revenue and costs using departments and classes? Don’t use cash basis accounting; track revenue and costs on an accrual basis.

Small Business 208

Small Business Startup Cofounder Vertical 208

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

San Francisco 256

San Francisco Valuation Los Angeles Technical Review 256

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 21, 2020

by Kathryn Petralia, cofounder of Kabbage. Diversifying revenue streams (35%). According to the data, 76% of business owners have pivoted or are in the process of pivoting their business model to maintain revenue, and among those that already pivoted, 73% expect to pivot again in the next year. Cutting expenses (36%).

Small Business 147

Small Business Cofounder United States Technical Review 147

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

The scrounging and scrabbling and begging and fighting the a s for those morsels of revenue, those crumbs of validation. ” Almost all startup founders experience a deep and prolonged sadness after selling their company , even when the sale is an outrageous success. A startup is the founder’s personal identity.

Software Review 295

Software Review Startup Cofounder Search 295

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. Founder’s perspective. You’ll get empathy. Experience. Relationships.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2018

The entrepreneur who founded and grew the largest startup in the world to $10 billion in revenue and got fired is someone you have probably never heard of. If you’re following Tesla, you might be interested to know that Sloan wasn’t the founder of GM. The founder of what became General Motors was William (Billy) Durant.

Michigan 301

Michigan Cofounder Stock Forecast 301

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 17, 2018

by Felix Winstone, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Talkative. As a startup co-founder with a growing team, here are the recruiting tips I’ve learnt over the last couple of years. Robert Metcalfe, co-founder and CEO of 3Com, says you need to think about it as “recruiting, not hiring”. Be Specific.

Cofounder 164

Cofounder Elevator Pitch Hiring Dividend 164

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 4, 2017

Idealistic founders believe they will break the mold when they scale, and not turn into a “typical big company.” Or it’s fatal because that was a co-founder. If Google launches a new product that generates $10,000,000/year in revenue, is that good? The tradeoff, however, is predictability. This is difficult.

Government 223

Government Startup Cofounder Technical Support 223

Up and Running

JULY 28, 2022

Small Business Administration , an organization is considered to be a small business if their: Firm revenue ranges from $1 million to $40 million Number of employees is between 100 and 1,500. Develop a founders agreement. A founders’ agreement is a legal contract defining and governing the relationship between cofounders.

Small Business 167

Small Business Intellectual Property Cofounder Software Review 167

The Startup Magazine

MAY 13, 2022

Equity distribution among co-founders may be a complex procedure while starting any business. How you split founder startup equity can be even harder for a tech startup due to different roles and contributions from the founders. Founders often earn the greatest initial ownership, which is predictable.

Equity 172

Equity Founder Vesting Cofounder 172

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 17, 2024

Yet, everyone’s got an opinion about how a company measures up, especially the founder. ( The other day, I had a difficult conversation with a founder who clearly felt like VCs were the problem in her fundraising process. I don’t need to remind such a founder how the world is stacked against them. Then, there are nuances.

Technical Review 165

Technical Review Cofounder Startup Equity 165

View from Seed

JANUARY 24, 2018

The concept our Guilds is simple: We want to bring together small groups of Product and Go-to-Market experts to lend their time to support our portfolio company founders and key operators. Pierre Valade, Co-Founder of Sunrise & Mobile Designer at Microsoft. Brian Balfour, Founder & CEO of Reforge. Product Guild.

Operations 176

Operations Cofounder Technical Review Angel Investor 176

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 13, 2020

It doesn’t matter what industry, what product, what revenue model, what stage of development. Can your lack of interest or skill in “selling” be counter-balanced by a cofounder or team that’s great at it? And a non-CEO cofounder who can sell the heck out of your company is just about the next best thing to being skilled yourself.

Technical Cofounder 161

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Startup Matching 161

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 25, 2023

Growing Your Audience (And Your Revenue) With A Book written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Marketing Podcast with Matt Briel In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Matt Briel. Questions I ask Matt Briel: [1:29] Could you tell us about the origin story of Lulu and how did it come to be? [2:25]

Audience 98

Audience Revenue Distribution Differentiation 98

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 12, 2014

Josh Porter is the founder of What to Wear Daily , a service that helps you prepare for your day. He is best-known as the creator of 52 Weeks of UX and was also head of UX at HubSpot, by way of being co-founder of Performable (acquired in 2011). Any success (growth, revenue, or profits) we have will follow from that.

Design 330

Design Product Cofounder Boston 330

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 4, 2024

Our deep dive into the world of email newsletters unveils tactical strategies for transforming subscribers into revenue-generating assets. As the founder of The Clikk, Russell has witnessed the evolving landscape of newsletters, recognizing them as a powerful intersection of content marketing and direct response promotion.

Revenue 96

Revenue Advertising Email ChatGPT 96

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 7, 2017

by Pratik Dholakiya , Co-Founder of E2M and MoveoApps. So, as an entrepreneur, you need a contingency plan for everything from your revenue stream and the supplies to financial records and customer data. Sometimes, avoiding or skipping certain habits and characteristics can help. Try them now!

Entrepreneur 203

Entrepreneur Cofounder Israel Asia 203

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2018

Co-mingling personal and business funds and accounts creates legal risk and tax liability, and makes your efforts look like a hobby. These days you can create a C-corp or LLC online quickly at a low cost, to serve you well in signing partners, intellectual property, investors, and revenue. This is the time for pivots as required.

Technical Cofounder 184

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Silicon Valley LLC 184

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Depending on the composition of the founding team, you might or might not have near-term holes in certain functions at the exec level – e.g. you’ll most likely need to bring on a CTO/VP of Engineering shortly after the seed round if you don’t have a technical co-founder.

Part-Time VPE 195

Part-Time VPE Seed Stage CTO Hire Forecast 195

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

by Chen Amit, co-founder and CEO of Tipalti. Not only that, but McKinsey predicts a 5% increase in global payments revenue every year for the next few years. The accounts payable process is often the biggest thorn in a small business’s side.

Artificial Inteligence 165

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Cofounder Cloud 165

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 16, 2020

by Lamar Tyler, founder of Traffic Sales & Profit. Many retail businesses make the bulk of their revenue during the 4th quarter and this is largely propelled by holiday spending. Lamar Tyler is creator and co-founder of Traffic Sales & Profit , a premier community for purpose-driven African American entrepreneurs.

Cofounder 165

Cofounder Marketing Audience Technical Review 165

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 9, 2021

Matt was the co-founder/CEO of Return Path. The founders of each company talked and, in between efforts to decimate the other, agreed it might be worth merging to survive. He co-founded it in partnership with High Alpha (we are LPs) and SVB. I’ve been working with Matt since 2000. Fred Wilson was his lead investor.

Fractional CTO 195

Fractional CTO Cofounder Startup Lead Investor 195