Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Board meeting gets scheduled Nobody thinks too much about it until a week or two before Management team has a last-minute scramble to pull materials together Management is super focused on its daily work of … winning customers, signing biz dev, shipping product … so this prep is a last minute “fire drill” and is seen as a slight distraction.

Stock Options 226

Stock Options Metrics Stock Valuation 226

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 29, 2015

Thus, options don’t “pay the mortgage” today, so to speak. Unless you have a sizable nest egg, or a working spouse with an income to support you, I would recommend that you consider any stock options as a “potential bonus,” rather than a key part of your compensation for joining a startup. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

Stock Options 120

Stock Options Stock Advisory Board Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2022

Thus, options don’t “pay the mortgage” today, so to speak. Unless you have a sizable nest egg, or a working spouse with an income to support you, I would recommend that you consider any stock options as a “potential bonus,” rather than a key part of your compensation for joining a startup. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

Stock Options 343

Stock Options Advisory Board Stock Startup 343

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. These people also have the credibility to attract investors. The operations superstar.

Technical Cofounder 144

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2014

The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. These people also have the credibility to attract investors. The operations superstar.

Technical Cofounder 245

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 245

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 20, 2020

Here are 8 business management strategies to consider this year. Our aim with this post is to share a handful of management strategies that you can lean on to not only help you through this recession but also to assist you in thriving at any time. That might entail calling an EDI managed services provider to liquidate stock options.

Small Business 183

Small Business Management Non-Compete B2C 183

Up and Running

DECEMBER 16, 2021

Some reasons why include needing a more detailed picture of your company’s value, submitting taxes, outlining employee stock option plans, or presenting to investors or creditors. The following formulas are used to calculate the various aspects of the business valuation: Sales Multiples. Rules of thumb in business valuation.

Valuation 86

Valuation .Net Metrics Balance Sheet 86

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

Thus, options don’t “pay the mortgage” today, so to speak. Unless you have a sizable nest egg, or a working spouse with an income to support you, I would recommend that you consider any stock options as a “potential bonus,” rather than a key part of your compensation for joining a startup. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

Equity 237

Equity Stock Options Advisory Board Stock 237

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

He wrote a post this long weekend on how he manages the board of DataSift. In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. Rob Bailey is the CEO of DataSift. You should read it. Always seek input.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board Fractional CTO CTO Hire Los Angeles 365

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

Formal option plans for some. Some companies, especially those financed by angel or VC investors, have good, formal stock option plans with properly priced options set to reward all employees and managers in the event of a corporate sale. And a lack of plans for others.

Stock Options 192

Stock Options Stock Distribution Programming 192

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. These people also have the credibility to attract investors. The operations superstar.

Technical Cofounder 120

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 120

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

My original post was directed at hiring managers. My view still stands – for many hiring managers a large factor in looking through resumes of somebody who is 30+ and has never worked somewhere for more than 18 months will be the job hopping element. I learned how to better run a product management process.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

Women Entrepreneurs Can

FEBRUARY 8, 2023

This could include tools such as automated customer relationship management systems (CRM), artificial intelligence (AI) for predictive analytics and market insights, or cloud-based solutions for data security and scalability. Additionally, consider offering incentives such as bonuses or stock options to reward employee performance.

Artificial Inteligence 52

Artificial Inteligence Guerilla Technical Review Stock Options 52

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

Later you need specialists and managers. Offer low cash early, with bonuses or stock options for milestones, to people in your personal network. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback.

Founder 325

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

The document should also contain clear buy-sell clauses, forcing any sale of shares to first be offered to the corporate treasury, then to the other founders in proportion to their holdings, and then if there is no interest, to outside investors. How about multiple classes of stock? The post Be careful about equity and options!

Equity 62

Equity Stock Options Vesting Early Stage 62

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

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. The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you. Two-f **g-billion!

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

As the company goes from searching for a business model to growth , only then will they bring in a new “professional” management team to scale the company (along with a business development executive to search for an acquirer) or prepare for an IPO. Do you wait 7 years until you’ve built enough revenue for a billion-dollar sale?

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Private Equity 120

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

I’m a mom, a full-time sales manager, and recruiter. Entrepreneurs need to find a way to get traction (sales) without funding. Taking a campaign online and encouraging non-accredited investors to use a crowdfunding platform is a great way to show their support, manage the volume, and market your business. Stock Option.

Angel Investor 159

Angel Investor Technical Review Software Review Accredited Investor 159

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

Forget to get around to setting up that Employee Stock Option Plan and want to be able to give the early guys their options at a low strike price? Consider it a sales & marketing expense for them. They usually ask for warrants (basically like a stock option) in exchange for taking a deferred fee.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Hunter Walker

MAY 1, 2022

Since it was announced that Twitter’s Board of Directors and Elon Musk had reached an agreement to pursue a sale of the company there’s been a lot of speculation about how the service could change under his ownership. Oh, and Twitter management should offer something like Tall Poppy as a benefit. Yes friends, TwikiLeaks is looming.

Email 142

Email Stock Options Naming Stock 142

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2017

Thus, options don’t “pay the mortgage” today, so to speak. Unless you have a sizable nest egg, or a working spouse with an income to support you, I would recommend that you consider any stock options as a “potential bonus,” rather than a key part of your compensation for joining a startup. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

Stock 140

Stock Stock Options Advisory Board Startup 140

Up and Running

JANUARY 4, 2017

This could look like changing the amount of ownership you’re willing to give to your investors, or establishing a way to deliver a faster return on their investment by increasing production, upping your products price point, or investing in a better sales team. Struggling with effective time management. Attracting the right customers.

Small Business 122

Small Business Social Media Stock Options Employee 122

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

He’d wasted a year of his life and had a pile of stock options that weren’t very interesting. Through advertising or direct sales, these sites harvest intent. Instead of making a few dollars per sale and hoping for thousands of sales, you sell to only a few customers, and charge much higher rates. Tesla is not.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 26, 2018

When a small business startup manages to secure external investment magical things happen. The first is making sure that there is a good understanding of the management structure and hierarchy in place. The best exit from a business is through a trade sale for cash. When trading options get in on the investment bandwagon.

Stock 166

Stock Stock Options Startup Security 166

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. It freed up Ophir to grow out our sales organization, to work more closely with agencies, to innovate on product and to raise capital. Here’s the dilemma. You created the damn product!

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

Later you need specialists and managers. Offer low cash early, with bonuses or stock options for milestones, to people in your personal network. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

Berkonomics

JANUARY 7, 2021

How many of them, particularly in technology, were able to start a company, supply all the funding, and share no management tasks or equity with others, and still grow the company to any significant size, worthy of a multi-million-dollar opportunity to cash out at exit? Two: Co-management.

Liquidity Event 96

Liquidity Event Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder Initial Public Offering 96

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

The document should also contain clear buy-sell clauses, forcing any sale of shares to first be offered to the corporate treasury, then to the other founders in proportion to their holdings, and then if no interest, to outside investors. In other words, you cannot create bargain options at below “market rates.” There are some rules.

Early Stage 102

Early Stage Equity Stock Options Vesting 102

The Next Web

AUGUST 12, 2013

It’s important you understand the risks, and start managing them. I managed that by simply being completely transparent about our financials (I still am). However, there is a way to help manage risks and to deal better with day-to-day challenges – and that is by having great co-founders. A marketing/sales machine.

Cofounder 119

Cofounder CTO Hire Startup Europe 119

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

So it could be that a sale would yield you seven figures and you could move on to your next role but the CEO wants to “go big or go home” and sometimes go home is the outcome. In many cases a company could or should be sold early and this can reap great rewards for the executive team and early investors.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley IP 150

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

Be honest with yourself VCs are now going to be looking closer at margins, cost structures and true sales, and product market fit. If you hire a person in HR or sales, are they willing to dabble in other departments or take on roles that they haven’t done previously? Can you produce venture returns in this new economic reality?

Early Stage 111

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 111

Up and Running

JUNE 21, 2011

Key managers who are not the sole shareholders of the business can create a huge conflict of interest during a sale and hold shareholders hostage during sale negotiations. Make sure to put in place incentives (like a sale bonus or stock options program) today to avoid eleventh-hour power plays.

Sales 86

Sales Investment Bankers CPA Stock Options 86

Gust

APRIL 9, 2014

Over time, other people receive pieces of equity in exchange for work (employee stock options), money (seed, angel and venture investors), services (attorneys, directors, etc.). The Founder of a company starts by owning all the shares representing ownership of the company.

Dilution 150

Dilution Equity Vesting Stock Options 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2011

Thus, stock doesn’t “pay the mortgage” today, so to speak. Unless you have a sizable nest egg, or a working spouse with an income to support you, I would recommend that you consider any stock options as a “bonus,” rather than a key part of your compensation for joining a startup. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3%

Equity 234

Equity Stock Options Advisory Board Stock 234

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2010

Thus, stock doesn’t “pay the mortgage” today, so to speak. Unless you have a sizable nest egg, or a working spouse with an income to support you, I would recommend that you consider any stock options as a “bonus,” rather than a key part of your compensation for joining a startup. 7% Product Manager,2 -.3% Marty Zwilling.

Stock 144

Stock Stock Options Advisory Board Startup 144

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Later you need specialists and managers. Offer low cash early, with bonuses or stock options for milestones, to people in your personal network. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268