Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

Trying to save money by recruiting family members, or hiring only interns, is a bad risk. Great team members may take more time to find, and cost you stock options, but a qualified and highly motivated team that stretches your budget is a good calculated risk. Recruit the best team members and provide incentives.

Forecast 304

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 304

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners. I’m not suggesting that you need all six of these as cofounders initially, but I always recommend a minimum of two founders with different perspectives.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners. I’m not suggesting that you need all six of these as cofounders initially, but I always recommend a minimum of two founders with different perspectives.

Technical Cofounder 308

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 308

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2014

Trying to save money by recruiting family members, or hiring only interns, is a bad risk. Great team members may take more time to find, and cost you stock options, but a qualified and highly motivated team that stretches your budget is a good calculated risk. Recruit the best team members and provide incentives.

Startup 283

Startup Forecast Stock Options Technical Review 283

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

o Early on they hired 3 people from ACT software at once (more team hiring) on staff and supplement it with Agency (in LA worked with First Communications – good). Mark: 10% warrant coverage is like stock options. o CPM model gave him control over the information in the acquisition cycle so he focused on that. -

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2014

The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners. I’m not suggesting that you need all six of these as cofounders initially, but I always recommend a minimum of two founders with different perspectives.

Technical Cofounder 245

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 245

The Next Web

JUNE 15, 2012

Any decision to hand out stock or stock options should be made within the big picture context of your company’s valuation and the total number of shares you’ll be granting. Many young tech startups reserve 15%-20% for employee stock options. Imagine if you grant stock options to a handful of consultants.

Equity 116

Equity Stock Options Vesting Stock 116

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

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. Any outside advisors or board members available for discussion?

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 23, 2023

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. They can vote to hire and fire the CEO. A Board of Directors has a formal and legal role. They need you.

Government 241

Government Advisory Board Salary Sales Cycle 241

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2018

Trying to save money by recruiting family members, or hiring only interns, is a bad risk. Great team members may take more time to find, and cost you stock options, but a qualified and highly motivated team that stretches your budget is a good calculated risk. Recruit the best team members and provide incentives.

Forecast 161

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 161

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 22, 2010

I never hire job hoppers. 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. And he has already vested 75% of his stock options at your company.

Hiring 392

Hiring Employee Vesting Silicon Valley 392

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

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners. I’m not suggesting that you need all six of these as cofounders initially, but I always recommend a minimum of two founders with different perspectives.

Technical Cofounder 144

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 144

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. React – crowdspring.co/1yHa1WB.

Social Media 97

Social Media Small Business Design Media 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

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. Any outside advisors or board members available for discussion?

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

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. Any outside advisors or board members available for discussion?

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

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

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

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Trying to save money by recruiting family members, or hiring only interns, is a bad risk. Great team members may take more time to find, and cost you stock options, but a qualified and highly motivated team that stretches your budget is a good calculated risk. Recruit the best team members and provide incentives.

Startup 120

Startup Forecast Stock Options Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners. I’m not suggesting that you need all six of these as cofounders initially, but I always recommend a minimum of two founders with different perspectives.

Technical Cofounder 120

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 120

The Next Web

AUGUST 12, 2013

Finding co-founders is hard, and I would never recommend to hire a co-founder – usually you start a business with people you know for years (as there is already an existing level of trust there and you also know they are capable of fulfilling their duties). They should be able to hire great designers to help build a better product.

Cofounder 119

Cofounder CTO Hire Startup Europe 119

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. Meet the Team.

Hiring 56

Hiring LLC Intellectual Property Private Equity 56

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

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

I was originally hired as a contractor, developing a SaaS app from scratch, including DB design and coding. Along the way, I was hired full time (I believe about 8 months after I started), a coder from India was hired and another contractor was added to the team. You’d have to look at your stock options contract.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

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. If we hire people in other cities, we will simply use industry-standard COLA adjustments to set salaries in other cities.

Software Review 48

Software Review Stock Options Salary Technical Review 48

Ben's Blog

OCTOBER 6, 2011

From hire to retire, how good is your company? Some of the questions that they will help you answer: Recruiting and hiring. How do your salary and stock option packages compare to the companies that you compete with for talent? Is your management team world-class in all phases? How do you know? Training and Integration.

Management 64

Management Development Team Review Stock Options Technical Review 64

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2015

If however you are giving a “normal employee” an incentive stock option plan (more on that later), that’s entirely different. Make sure you understand all of your options before making any decisions. When business owners decide to go down the route of equity compensation, there are two primary options to choose between.

Equity 60

Equity Employee Stock Options Vesting 60

Up and Running

JANUARY 4, 2017

Hiring the right employees. See Also: How to Hire Your First Employee. Stock options, increased pay over time, a flexible schedule, and use of work resources are all great incentives for snagging yourself a talented new employee. Overall, just focus on hiring the right people—the people with potential.

Small Business 122

Small Business Social Media Stock Options Employee 122

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

Up and Running

OCTOBER 19, 2021

As a startup looking to hire your dream team, this news can be exciting. Stock options, restricted stock, or performance shares can make your offer more attractive to the right candidate. After all, the fate of your company largely depends on your ability to assemble the best possible talent.

Startup 127

Startup Salary Stock Options Employee 127

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

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

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2022

Thus if you want to change the world with your new business, you need to follow the example of startups like Zappos , which hires according to cultural fit first. 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

Up and Running

MARCH 7, 2018

Aside from the time-consuming tasks of screening potential employees, interviewing, and re-hiring , losing and replacing employees is expensive. Hire the right people. This may seem obvious, but it’s worth mentioning: the best way to ensure that employees don’t leave your new company is to hire the right people to begin with.

Employee 91

Employee Startup Salary Hiring 91