Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 2, 2010

If you’re a pure startup and haven’t raised any money – you might change the life of every person you hire. I always encourage people to allocate a few extra stock options to those that join super early when your company is risky and they just believed in you. Sure, you can get away with less, but why?

Europe 352

Europe France San Francisco Chicago 352

The Next Web

JUNE 15, 2012

From Silicon Valley to Peoria, Illinois, cash-strapped startups look for inventive way to finance their business – often handing out equity to employees, consultants, vendors, and other service providers. However, if you are thinking about compensating non-employees with equity, make sure to consider the following points: 1.

Equity 116

Equity Stock Options Vesting Stock 116

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 23, 2023

Most of her lessons were applicable to any government employee venturing out to the private sector. At first many start-ups hire a lobbying firm. Larger companies hiring a Chief of Staff often look for someone who has an MBA, experience with one of the big consulting firms, or experience doing the job already.

Government 241

Government Advisory Board Salary Sales Cycle 241

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 22, 2010

I never hire job hoppers. They make terrible employees. Why do job hoppers make such bad employees at startups? -. You have tough choices to make about whom you hire on your team. Now is the time that you need “all hands on deck.&# That awesome gal you hired in engineering has job options and she knows it.

Hiring 392

Hiring Employee Vesting Silicon Valley 392

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

How to Divide Equity to Startup Founders, Advisors, and Employees. The part that I’d like to zero in on is when you’ve got a high growth company what are some of the best practices out there to distribute equity to the founders, advisors, and employees? Equity for Employees. Strike price of options: meaningless.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

Up and Running

MARCH 7, 2018

In my time, I learned a thing or two about the importance of preventing employee turnover. Aside from the time-consuming tasks of screening potential employees, interviewing, and re-hiring , losing and replacing employees is expensive. On average, it costs nearly three times an employee’s salary to replace them.

Employee 91

Employee Startup Salary Hiring 91

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2015

If you’re thinking about extending equity to an employee or a vendor (as in the example above), you should know that the topic is multi-faceted. If however you are giving a “normal employee” an incentive stock option plan (more on that later), that’s entirely different. Finding great employees first.

Equity 60

Equity Employee Stock Options Vesting 60

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

One more key employee or one more investor will probably not turn the situation around. Every startup should have at least a couple of outside advisors who are not major investors or family members, anxious to talk to new investors and key new hires. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

One more key employee or one more investor will probably not turn the situation around. Every startup should have at least a couple of outside advisors who are not major investors or family members, anxious to talk to new investors and key new hires. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2016

The most effective and productive team members are positive, driven and want to be measured by results rather than hear work hours, perks or stock options. Attracting, evaluation and hiring direct reports is a task that should never be delegated. Motivation and commitment to results. Personal character and chemistry.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Stock Options Salary Hiring 120

crowdSPRING Blog

OCTOBER 10, 2014

“the people you fire are more important to your [company''s] culture than the people you hire.” Stock option questions startup employees should ask | Business Insider – crowdspring.co/1n8lUje. 5 Ways to Hire the Best Talent for Your Startup Team – crowdspring.co/1ptyfds.

Social Media 97

Social Media Small Business Design Media 97

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

For a well-funded seed company I have controversially recommended hiring a great office manager that doubles as an administrative assistant. This happens because many CEOs are passionate, market-driven people who are constantly trying to launch new products, win contracts, get press, hire staff and woo VCs. HR & Legal.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

The Next Web

AUGUST 12, 2013

Define how you want to motivate your employees every day to produce high-quality and industry-leading results. They should be able to hire great designers to help build a better product. Make sure you hire an experienced lawyer for setting up the company. Within weeks of starting the company we already launched a product.

Cofounder 119

Cofounder CTO Hire Startup Europe 119

Up and Running

JANUARY 4, 2017

Employee taxes. Hiring the right employees. This is why it’s important to find employees with potential. See Also: How to Hire Your First Employee. Approach them as you would an investor—what can this possibly over-qualified potential employee gain from joining your team? Travel expenses.

Small Business 122

Small Business Social Media Stock Options Employee 122

Up and Running

OCTOBER 19, 2021

The American job market has become even more competitive amid the pandemic-fueled “Great Resignation” — the number of employees quitting their jobs peaked in April 2021 and has remained high over the past few months. . As a startup looking to hire your dream team, this news can be exciting. Resourcefulness.

Startup 127

Startup Salary Stock Options Employee 127

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

Stock Option. If you are more of a technical person and not a business leader by nature, make sure your investor knows that you intend to hire a CEO to take your place as soon as reasonably possible. Management Resumes and Organizational Chart. Customer References. Personal References. But don’t ask for a non-disclosure.

Angel Investor 159

Angel Investor Technical Review Software Review Accredited Investor 159

Ben's Blog

OCTOBER 6, 2011

The Employee Lifecycle. The best way to approach management quality assurance is through the lens of the employee lifecycle. From hire to retire, how good is your company? Some of the questions that they will help you answer: Recruiting and hiring. Do your managers give consistent, clear feedback to their employees?

Management 64

Management Development Team Review Stock Options Technical Review 64

www.thedailymuse.com

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

We’re Hiring. What Start-ups Should Know About Hiring a Lawyer. Hiring and working with a lawyer is often confusing and daunting, especially if you’ve never done it before. What should new entrepreneurs look for when hiring a lawyer? Hiring employees. We’re Hiring. Get Involved.

Hiring 56

Hiring LLC Intellectual Property Private Equity 56

prosperati.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Hiring Of all the issues we ran into when we first built our team, hiring was the most critical. So when you first start building your team, the most important hire should be your lead architect. The cliches of hiring the best of the best is as true in Malaysia as it is in the US. Culture creation is not easy.

Offshore 40

Offshore Malaysia Developer Stock Options 40

www.joelonsoftware.com

MARCH 24, 2010

When we decide to hire someone, the interviewers who were involved in the "hire" decision will sit down with the candidates resume and salary history and figure out what level they will start at. Our biannual reviews are done internally by management; they are not intended as a way to give employees grades or gold stars.

Software Review 48

Software Review Stock Options Salary Technical Review 48

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 17, 2013

I’ve never really understood why the majority of stock option refresh grants are stacked grants mid-way through the granting process. Assume you hire someone and grant them 10,000 options with monthly vesting of four years with a one year cliff. options / month, or 2,500 / year.) Let me give an example.

Stock Options 135

Stock Options Stock Vesting Retention 135

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

We had personally invested $70,000 of our own money at this point, and we were hoping to raise at least another $250,000 to help us hire a team, launch our company, and begin to build our product. So we hired another firm to help us facilitate the removal of this clause. Our attorney should have known.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2022

I was shocked to read an old Gallup study that indicates only 13 percent of employees worldwide are actively engaged at work, and more recent data shows only a small change in the right direction. Good hiring, training, and mentoring are the best motivators. Investors have long agreed that you invest in the team, more than the product.

Stock Options 362

Stock Options Salary Leadership Stock 362

Ben's Blog

APRIL 28, 2010

Andy Grove was Intel’s third employee (after the two cofounders Robert Noyce and Gordon E. Salmon points out that “not a single one of the 12 [candidates] is a CEO who was hired to run a company by its board of directors.”. VMware—Diane Greene. (*) While not technically cofounders, Andy Grove and Thomas Watson, Sr.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 78

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

It was a stock option incentive related “expense” but I bet you didn’t know that because in an era where we only read the headlines — they must be a train wreck losing billions. If you don’t have a strong balance sheet and can’t hire more people that’s fine — but understand this may lead to slower growth. Two-f **g-billion!

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

There is such a thing as a “diamond in the rough” and let’s face it – if the company was totally rocking would they be hiring you? the standard 4-6% for a hired-gun CEO). And there’s always a but. You – who hasn’t been CEO before? Here’s why I think it might be perfect for you: 1.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley IP 150

www.drowningamerican.com

JUNE 22, 2012

Next → How we Hire for Sweat Equity (Part 2)… Posted on April 7, 2011 by Travis Biziorek. The first time we hired partners for Kibin was way back in late 2009. I’ve heard people say it’s impossible to hire good developers right now. I want to hire before I have the ability to pay anyone.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Hiring Technical Review 40

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

How many employees would a medium-sized business have in your definition? Jason: If I’m managing my whole business with this tool, I don’t have 100 employees. you can’t have one employee because meetings are just too easy and you don’t really have them formally. You can’t have 5,000 employees.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2020

I was shocked to read an old Gallup study that indicates only 13 percent of employees worldwide are actively engaged at work, and more recent data shows only a small change in the right direction. Good hiring, training, and mentoring are the best motivators. Investors have long agreed that you invest in the team, more than the product.

Product 322

Product Stock Options Salary Leadership 322

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

The number of employees grows. Once created, it is logical to follow the standard practice in the creation of two standing committees composed of outside board members (not employees or executives) – the compensation committee and the audit committee. Bank loans with restrictive covenants are taken on. Email readers continue here.]

Covenant 59

Covenant Software Review Stock Options Vesting 59

www.quora.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Type to Add and Search Questions; Search Topics and People Startups Startup Compensation Entrepreneurship Compensation Stock Options Major Internet Companies Silicon Valley Why is there such a large founder to early employee equity drop-off? This answer. Please specify the necessary improvements.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

So the tech team departed en masse to find the next great stock option scheme to make their big bucks. An employee walks up to me and says, “Mark, I’m thinking about buying a house. Most employees want cruising altitude, most founders live in take off mode. But we departed on good terms. Runway of cash.

Startup 417

Startup Dilution San Diego Stock Options 417

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2014

It’s why I wrote a post outlining why the job of a CEO is often “chief psychologist” – especially if the company grows beyond 20 employees. Zynga not only had many hirings & firings but ultimately it led to Mark Pincus stepping aside as CE O. is a very important part of being a leader. Foursquare?

Startup 385

Startup Stock Options Cofounder Campaign 385

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2013

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. You need to know this as a future employee, since it probably gates how long your new job will last. How much “skin” is already in the game? Now you know.

Due Diligence 253

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Burn Rate 253

Berkonomics

APRIL 4, 2024

The number of employees grows. And then company grows… Once the company hits high growth or larger size, it is logical to follow the standard practice in the creation of two standing committees composed of outside board members (not employees or executives) – the compensation committee and the audit committee.

Covenant 48

Covenant Software Review Stock Options Vesting 48

Hearpreneur

DECEMBER 31, 2017

I have spent a great deal of time studying the fundamentals of stocks, option trades, goal-setting, and public speaking. I’ve got to trust the team I’ve hired to do their job, so I can do the things that only I can do and not get caught up in minutiae. All my studying and hard work has resulted in a breakthrough.

Entrepreneur 86

Entrepreneur Stock Options Programming Washington 86

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2018

One of the lessons I have learned over the years as a business executive, and now as a mentor to entrepreneurs, is that if you really want employees who enthusiastically take ownership of their work, you have to start treating them like owners, not renters. Employees can’t be owners if they don’t understand the business targets and realities.

Employee 180

Employee Stock Options Leadership Stock 180