Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2023

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a cofounder or two. Giving a cofounder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Each cofounder should get equity for value, based on these key variables: Lived a key role in a previous startup.

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Technical Cofounder Equity Distribution Cofounder 247

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

Nowhere is the politics more difficult than with co-founders, which is why for years I’ve spoken publicly about “ the co-founder mythology.” ” Of course we all go into businesses expecting to be aligned with our co-founders but over time life changes. Equity for the future?

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Founder Cofounder Sacramento Technical Review 340

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

With all other things equal, that means that a 50/50 split between two co-founders (evenly split if there are more than two), or a 66/33 split based on the premium for coming up with the original idea, and for starting the initial development efforts and sourcing the original team. Is this person taking a salary or not?

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Cofounder Equity Founder Seed Stage 136

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

Jane and Dick, our fearless cofounders of SayAhh, have set up an accounting system and created their first set of financial statements. The founders each have common shares that will vest over four years. Bring Praveena in as a founder and offer 10-20% of the company as stock. Praveena wants to invest $20,000 and get 20% equity.

Cap Table 133

Cap Table CTO Hire Technical Cofounder Cofounder 133

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 24, 2020

Remember that investors will not appreciate a business plan that features exorbitant salaries of the founders. Rustam Gilfanov is an IT company co-founder, IT businessman and international investor. Working on a business plan will help you understand how the business will grow. A brief curriculum vitae.

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Business Plan Ukraine Cofounder Startup 263

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2011

The typical software startup these days is a one or two person operation, founder and co-founder, who do the work themselves on the first product with no salary. In all outsourcing cases, a detailed specification is required.

Intellectual Property 225

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete Vietnam 225

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write this post since September of last year when Brad Feld first wrote about the The Founders Visa Movement. TWTFelipe is the founder of TWTApps , who had developed some really cool add-on applications for Twitter to extend its functionality. university in math or science&# (Thomas Friedman).

Technical Review 282

Technical Review Canada Green South Carolina 282

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2012

The typical software startup these days is a one or two person operation, founder and co-founder, who do the work themselves on the first product with no salary. In all outsourcing cases, a detailed specification is required.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete Vietnam 222

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

No salaries followed by low salaries. ” Almost all startup founders experience a deep and prolonged sadness after selling their company , even when the sale is an outrageous success. The answer is important and fundamental for all startup founders, whether or not they ever intend to sell their company.

Software Review 295

Software Review Startup Cofounder Search 295

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

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 19, 2013

You can either search for a technical co-founder who shares the same vision – which is a lot harder than it sounds – or look at outsourcing to a competent and affordable agency that can help you put something together (but without the soul). “I’m now making double my salary thanks to the knowledge gained.”

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Ruby Missouri Web Development Virginia 182

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

We told him we’d file all the legal papers, pay for his move and normalize his salary with San Francisco. When we started our next company, Koral, Ryan was a co-founder. I knew that meant he wouldn’t come back. So we decided to sponsor Ryan to work out of the US in San Francisco. Ryan accepted.

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San Francisco South Africa CTO Hire Fractional CTO 322

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2011

I covered what I call “the co-founder mythology.&# Either you’re not technical and you think you need a technical co-founder or vice-versa. It is increasingly popular to have “founder dating&# or “startup weekend hackathons&# of some variety or the other. Hire your co-founder.

Cofounder 393

Cofounder Founder Vesting Founder Vesting 393

SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

I guess it should not be a surprise that Founders have lots of challenges working with developers. Challenges I started by asking the founders in the room to tell me some of the challenges they have working with developers. Developers (and Founders) are challenged to know how much is okay in terms of bugs.

Technical Cofounder 280

Technical Cofounder Developer Fractional CTO CTO Hire 280

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 25, 2011

“Yes&# if it means one of the co-founders can quit her day-job. So we’ve given a lot of qualified yeses, and many were rejected. . “Yes&# if this extends the runway of our startup by at least three months. “Yes&# if it completely funds development we’d like to do anyway.

Java 311

Java Software Review Technical Review Salary 311

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 12, 2014

Working at Netegrity was an invaluable learning experience, and the salary and benefits gave me a level of disposable income and financial security that I’d never had as an independent consultant. If you’re not a strong software developer, for example, hire someone or bring on a co-founder who is.

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Angel Investor Security Cofounder Salary 275

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. You need to find the skills or experience you don’t have in business, technology, or money.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. The discussion with Howard Morgan starts off by acknowledging Josh Kopelman as a co-founder of First Round Capital. I'm a huge fan of this innovation.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

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. VCs competing for unicorn investments have given founders control of the board. A pre-IPO board usually had two founders, two VCs and one “independent” member. Technology Cycles Measured in Years.

Founder 281

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 31, 2020

by Roland Polzin , MBA and Co-founder of Wing AI. Alternatively, individual VA contractors can be hired for a monthly salary, or workers for short gigs can be found via Fiverr or TaskRabbit. Roland Polzin is co-founder and the CMO of Wing AI , and a 2020 MBA of the Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine.

Artificial Inteligence 214

Artificial Inteligence Mali Management Technical Review 214

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 19, 2014

by Jeffrey Fermin, cofounder of Officevibe. One thing is for sure; in order to get promoted, you need to stand out against your co-workers. With that being said, have empathy for your co-workers and help them become successful too. Have you ever wondered what really makes an employee awesome in the eyes of the boss?

Cofounder 226

Cofounder Salary Developer Employee 226

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. Whereas New York City has very high real estate costs and very high salaries, launching in Chicago and D.C. were more distributed.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2012

Otherwise, I suggest that founders be up-front with their employers, with an honest commitment that the “side” work on the potential startup will not jeopardize committed results. In a part-time effort, a co-founder is essential to keeping you on-track and working. Pick a day and time per week where you always work together.

Entrepreneur 239

Entrepreneur Cofounder Angel Investor Partner 239

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 23, 2011

Otherwise, I suggest that founders be up-front with their employers, with an honest commitment that the “side” work on the potential startup will not jeopardize committed results. In a part-time effort, a co-founder is essential to keeping you on-track and working. Pick a day and time per week where you always work together.

Founder 233

Founder Startup Cofounder Angel Investor 233

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

So Member Desk is a virtual and yet it can also be physical, literally sitting in the front of the co- working space inexpensive way to do that for pretty much any organization. But the answer is the co-founder’s been in the industry for 30 years and he’s somebody and so they can get meetings. Jason: Right.

Cofounder 199

Cofounder Technical Review Chicago Technical Cofounder 199

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

You might have started searching for a tech-oriented co-founder to help you launch your idea, only to find that your startup can’t afford the ongoing salary for a skilled software developer. Developer salaries are high and often out of reach for a startup business. This is one-time fee, rather than an ongoing salary.

Web 160

Web Silicon Valley Salary Demand 160

rob.by

MARCH 8, 2012

Finding Technical Cofounders Is Hard. Yesterday, Michael Pope posted an article titled Technical Cofounders Are a Myth. He begins by explaining how he arrived at his conclusion: I began the hunt to find a technical co-founder – a software engineer who works for no cash – to help me build my dream website.

Technical Cofounder 42

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Engineering Fractional CTO 42

SoCal CTO

MARCH 2, 2015

I’ve written quite a bit about aspects of this topic, especially from the perspective of startup founders looking for talent – you can find these in: Startup CTO.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Los Angeles CTO Hire Part-Time VPE 150

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

We see this all the time at Forward Partners where we invest right from the idea stage and most of the companies get a first version of their product live for less than £30k (that generally includes founder salaries and time spent doing customer research).

Early Stage 119

Early Stage Development Team Review Technical Review Software Review 119

blog.launchbit.com

MARCH 8, 2012

cofounders. technical cofounder. Why you can(t) recruit a technical cofounder. We didnt put strict specifications on what "technical" means, but the general idea was people who may qualify as a technical cofounder of an internet/tech startup and in particular, those who have been pitched ideas before. Viewed times.

Technical Cofounder 47

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Equity Differentiation 47

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2010

The typical software startup these days is a one or two person operation, founder and co-founder, who do the work themselves on the first product with no salary. In all outsourcing cases, a detailed specification is required.

Software 129

Software Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Non-Compete 129

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

The largest expense a company usually has at this stage is salaries. However, Dick, Jane and Praveena have decided to initially forgo salaries which helps them conserve cash in the near term. For now, we’ll leave it as is but once Dick and Jane meet with a mentor who is a CFO we expect this will change.

Balance Sheet 129

Balance Sheet Fractional CTO Burn Rate Salary 129

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

I like to say that “there are only co-founders” — it’s extraordinarily rare for a successful business to have just a sole founder. But not all co-founders are equal in terms of title, ownership, responsibilities, and so forth. Sometimes co-founders put off the equity split question for some time.

Cofounder 255

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 255

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 12, 2014

I take a salary of $100,000, while healthcare and other HR related expenses like add up to another $16k on top of that. Plus, when I look at my risks--is the risk that a legal term will shoot me in the foot or that these two founders and a prototype run this business into the ground. That''s a big help. You can look at this two ways.

Investment Bankers 167

Investment Bankers Term Sheet Venture Capital Technical Review 167

The Next Web

DECEMBER 2, 2013

Founder Kevin Systrom launched Instagram with 25,000 beta users on October 6, 2010; two years later, the app continues to see massive growth, recently reporting 150 million active users. Ben Schippers is the co-founder of HappyFunCorp , a Web development company that has built sites for TeePublic , Of A Kind , Postography and Yeah TV! “If

Cost 168

Cost San Francisco New York City Ruby 168

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 27, 2019

by Blake Heron, founder of Skills Co. The new wave of opportunities has brought in good news for everyone around the world with average salaries continuously increasing since the last decade. Are you ready to ride this new wave of progress?

Technical Review 127

Technical Review Software Review Cofounder Salary 127

Gust

JUNE 3, 2012

Otherwise, I suggest that founders be up-front with their employers, with an honest commitment that the “side” work on the potential startup will not jeopardize committed results. In a part-time effort, a co-founder is essential to keeping you on-track and working. Pick a day and time per week where you always work together.

Entrepreneur 152

Entrepreneur Cofounder Angel Investor Salary 152