This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
As a cofounder you are *always* selling. To customers, to investors, to press, to team members, to potential hires, to partners. Even if you’re the most technicalCTO out there, you have to get comfortable with this reality. Having a cofounder who loves selling doesn’t (fully) solve for this.
The next default of waiting until later is equally bad, since partners who bow out early will still expect an equal share of that first billion you make later. Value factors include your related product breadth and depth, relationships with thought leaders, key vendors, and large potential customers. Now comes the reality check.
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.
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. I don’t have a killer idea, or a technical team, but I do know how to build, grow, and manage teams.”.
Every new business I know dreams of building momentum in their business, where growth continues to increase, customers become your best advocates, and employee motivation is high. Unfortunately, with limited resources, this isn’t possible, and it frustrates customers and the team. Focus first on finding more of the right customers.
I was driving home from the BIO conference in San Diego last month and had lots of time for a phone call with Dave, an ex student and now a founder who wanted to update me on his Customer Discovery progress. Customer Discovery. He worked hard to deeply understand the customer problems of these two customer segments.
Even if they realize that they need real technical strength at the top, they are not sure how to attract and select the talent and expertise they really need. Should they go after high-tech nerds for partners, or professional technologists? The right answer for a good business partner today is neither of the above.
The next default of waiting until later is equally bad, since partners who bow out early will still expect an equal share of that first billion you make later. Value factors include your related product breadth and depth, relationships with thought leaders, key vendors and large potential customers. Now comes the reality check.
skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Time Rich, Time Poor and Apple Jeremy Liew at Lightspeed Venture Partners has an interesting post: Time Rich or Time Poor? He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony.
The next default of waiting until later is equally bad, since partners who bow out early will still expect an equal share of that first billion you make later. Value factors include your related product breadth and depth, relationships with thought leaders, key vendors, and large potential customers. Now comes the reality check.
In my experience as a business advisor, that’s probably the biggest hurdle to success encountered by every new business owner. Your biggest challenge may be members of your own family, some of your best customers, or a key business partner or investor. One of these without the other is a recipe for disaster.
Max and his partners interviewed and analyzed over 650 early-stage Internet startups. They also over-invest in solo founders and founding teams without technicalcofounders despite indicators that show that these teams have a much lower probability of success. Technical-heavy founding teams are 3.3x Congratulations.
skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 22, 2007 Discussion Creation Among Bloggers - LinkedIn, Blogging and Discussion Groups Ive been participating in a Yahoo Group that are users of LinkedIn and who are Bloggers: [link] Its an interesting group of folks from diverse backgrounds.
I pointed out that the “data” you gather in 10 weeks (talking to 100+ customers, partners, payers, etc.,) Now that you’ve gotten to know your potential channel and customers, regardless of how much money you’re going to make, will you enjoy working with these customers for the next 3 or 4 years? ——– 1.
It was all technical. You know, the weird thing, Derek, and I should probably let you speak some time, but I was deeply technical when I went into Andersen consulting, and I got paid much less than engineers who graduated, because I had a degree in economics. Technical founder. And my specialty was computer networks.
Wondering how to find the right cofounder but don’t know where to start? Finding a technicalcofounder. It’s a common issue – you have an idea that will require some technical know-how (eg coding, engineering, science) but don’t have those skills yourself. Finding a non-technicalcofounder.
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. Advisors and investors need to see your whole story in as few as ten slides. Validate your solution with a prototype and real customers.
Finding TechnicalCofounders Is Hard. Yesterday, Michael Pope posted an article titled TechnicalCofounders Are a Myth. He argued that software engineers don’t finish what they start, and that you’re better off paying a technical person than partnering with one. Tuesday, August 17, 2010.
You’re spending much of your time selling: the vision to employees, the opportunity to investors, the story to the press, the offering to the customers, the relationship to partners. Can your lack of interest or skill in “selling” be counter-balanced by a cofounder or team that’s great at it? Yes and No.
Nathan Hursts Blog Thoughts on Software, Technology, and Startups « Back to blog Im on the technical side of entrepreneurship in NYC. The graphic below balances the risks cofounders take with their relative contributions to help answer this question. I love programming, board games, and my wife. This doesnt have to be the case.
cofounders. technicalcofounder. Why you can(t) recruit a technicalcofounder. There are a lot of aspects to this ranging from finding your first paying customer and validating your idea to putting together a minimum viable product that lets you learn about your business as quickly as possible. Eric Elias.
I realize now that these two were near-perfect co-founders, with Bill having the technical passion, and Steve bringing the business experience from his prior stint at Procter and Gamble. The challenge is how to find that elusive perfect-fit partner. In fact, your ideal partner may also be an investor.
This movement, coupled with free websites and apps, makes it possible for almost any technical person to start a business. In my view as an advisor to new ventures, the Maker Movement is an integral part of a new age of the entrepreneur. Provides networking with cofounders and strategic partners.
The next default of waiting until later is equally bad, since partners who bow out early will still expect an equal share of that first billion you make later. Value factors include your related product breadth and depth, relationships with thought leaders, key vendors, and large potential customers. Now comes the reality check.
Andrew is the co-founder and CTO of Parse.ly , a technology startup that provides big data insights to the web’s best publishers. You’re trying to discover a product that will work for some market, while also being a hugely motivating space for you and your cofounders to work in for (potentially) ten years.
Custom Programming. Home ▶ Businesses ▶ Startup Business Advice ▶ Current Page How To Find A TechnicalCofounder For Your Online Business Idea. This article should also serve as a starting guide for programmers who are approached about becoming technical co-founders. Business Services. Web Design.
However, they tend to be extremely difficult to navigate especially if you do not have a cofounder from and/or experience in that country. Some founders go GD1 whilst still based in Singapore, some make their move to the US to be closer to their users/customers. Indonesia from day one.
For most of my career, I’ve served startups and early-stage companies as an operating executive or advisor. Do you need highly skilled functional managers or do you need a true partner? someone to be that true partner). This is why I encourage almost every startup founder to find a partner or a cofounder.
Eric was the very first practitioner of my Customer Development methodology which became the core of the the Lean methodology. He later co-founded and served as CTO of IMVU and then authored The Lean Startup. Listen to my entire chat with Eric: If you can’t hear the interview, click here. Taking My Class. Origins of the Lean Startup.
Listen to this episode if you want to hear about a founder who has a product and users and paying customers … and is trying to figure out how to take his company to the next level and grow faster. Jason: So how many of those 20,000 people are paying customers? Edwin: Okay, I have different types of customers.
In 2002, I met Libba and Gifford Pinchot, cofounders of Bainbridge Graduate Institute , at a retreat. During this period, I helped Hewlett-Packard save on the order of ten million dollars a year on customer support costs, roughly a 100x return on my salary. Enter the Craziness. I protested, saying that I was too busy.
by Alejandro Cremades , cofounder of Panthera Advisors and author of “ The Art of Startup Fundraising: Pitching Investors, Negotiating the Deal, and Everything Else Entrepreneurs Need to Know “ Why should entrepreneurs intentionally be generous when negotiating with investors? She is speaking from experience.
Ohad Frankfurt is the cofounder and CEO of Swayy , a personalized content curation and management platform. Although we knew how we should actually build the product, we had nearly no experience on how to ship it to the market, get funded and attract customers. Sometimes, it was a technical issue that other founders helped us to solve.
Get a technical co-founder. The toughest part is that my cofounder and I are non-technical co-founders. “To launch fast, have your development plans and partners locked down” Advice from Andrew Thomas, Co-founder of SkyBell. It’s the blessing and curse of the entrepreneur.
The best sellers can sell to customers, partners, investors, and employees. He can be technical, but he must be able to wield the tools of influence. Partner with someone who is irrationally ethical, or a rational believer that nice guys finish first. Having the wrong partner is worst than not have one at all.
Joseph is an Achieved CEO/CTO investor and strategic advisor. He was also Cofounder & CEO of Redbeacon, which allowed consumers to request bids for home services. You can redesign your website based on where you want the traffic flow to go when you keep track of what your customers want. Corporate Partners.
My partner Dharmesh Raithatha wrote the post below on the Forward Partners blog earlier this week. With no team and no technical expertise Matt was planning to find a team and build out some product before starting to raise some seed money. FINDING A COFOUNDER. Are you a solo founder with an idea? CONCIERGE MVP.
If a VC asks his advisors what they think of your deal and they dislike it, it’s dead. If you are looking to add experienced people to your team but can’t afford to pay employees, look at finding a cofounder or using venture labor (hiring someone you pay in equity instead of cash). Horrifying, but true. Being invisible or forgotten.
The Scene Developers Nailing that elusive technical co-founder. Recently, my friend Harjeet Taggar, partner at US seed fund YCombinator, tweeted that, increasingly, the problems faced by start-ups they fund are being addressed by other start-ups. There are certainly many talented technical people out there. Yiannopoulos.
The path that led Aaron Batalion to join Lightspeed as my partner, focusing on consumer investments, is one of those relationship driven stories. Over the next four years I worked closely with Aaron and his cofounders as LivingSocial rode out the ups and down of the local daily-deals space. Aaron was not an introverted CTO.
The path that led Aaron Batalion to join Lightspeed as my partner, focusing on consumer investments, is one of those relationship driven stories. Over the next four years I worked closely with Aaron and his cofounders as LivingSocial rode out the ups and down of the local daily-deals space. Aaron was not an introverted CTO.
Home About Contact Me How To Make It as a First-Time Entrepreneur Vinicius Vacanti Guide to Finding a Technical Co-Founder September 7, 2010 | View Comments Steve Job's Technical Co-Founder “I’ve got this HUGE idea. I just need to find a technical co-founder.&# I was in this situation and we barely escaped.
I’ve talked with a number of software development shops who are eager to get into the business of cofounding companies, i.e., getting product revenue and equity instead of just consulting revenue. The question is: how should they be compensated when cofounding a company? equity that belongs to departed cofounders)?
7 Crucial Lessons from an Embarrassing Customer Service Trainwreck | Help Scout - [link]. Seth’s Blog: The cycle of customers who care - [link]. Questions to Ask Potential Cofounders: The Master List | Founder Dating - [link]. Seth’s Blog: The cycle of customers who care - [link]. What Makes People Happy?
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 5,000+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content