2 days agoMember-onlyToday Is The Best Time Ever To Be A Startup CEOI love the idea that something has changed in the world of startups. That somehow, today, you actually have to worry about arcane ideas like profitability, gross margins, and financial management. Oh, the horror! Even more to the point, I just don’t get why so many people are acting like…Venture Capital4 min readVenture Capital4 min read
Mar 21Member-onlyWhat Do You Do When Your New Hire Gets A Counter Offer?“How do you think Maxim (Integrated Products) will react when you resign?” I asked Jeroen. …Startup5 min readStartup5 min read
Published in Startup Stash·Mar 14Member-onlyWho is The Right Person to be The CEO of Your Startup?“I’d like you to be the CEO of my company,” “Ray” said to me. We were meeting for the first time outside of a Starbucks in Los Altos. Ray had spent the previous thirty minutes explaining what his company was going to do. In fact, there wasn’t even a company…Startup4 min readStartup4 min read
Mar 7Member-onlyHow Much Money Should You Raise?“We should be raising a $6 million round, not $12 million,” “Randy”, my co-founder, said to me. In fact, Randy was so angry about the terms of our funding that he was threatening to quit. “Let’s meet, so I can walk you through why we are better off with the…Venture Capital4 min readVenture Capital4 min read
Feb 27Member-onlyHow Can You Succeed Hiring B & C Level Talent?“The talent level here is really high,” I said to the engineering candidate I was interviewing. “So, if you want to work with the best of the best, you should join us.” I was the last person to interview Melind, the closer, so to speak. Jeroen, my co-founder and VP…Venture Capital4 min readVenture Capital4 min read
Feb 21Member-onlyThe Five Advantages Older Entrepreneurs Have“Nothing seems to faze you,” “Raul”, one of my investors, said to me during our 1:1 meeting in his office. He’d been an investor in our company for one year. Raul was pretty crusty, so I considered what he said to be a compliment. More importantly, Raul was right. I’d…Entrepreneurship4 min readEntrepreneurship4 min read
Feb 14Member-onlyThe Behavior Investors Can’t Stand In A CEO“I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” “Serge”, the CEO of a struggling startup, said to me. “I think I’m going to give up.” “What?” I responded. Serge’s capitulation said didn’t register on me. It was foreign to my way of thinking. Worse yet, Serge’s company wasn’t doomed…Entrepreneurship4 min readEntrepreneurship4 min read
Feb 7Member-onlyWhen Should You Start Planning Your Exit Strategy?If there’s one thing I hate, it’s when I meet an early stage startup CEO who’s focused on selling their company. Inevitably, I’ll ask the CEO, “Why are you focused on a sale now?” Inevitably, the answer, more times than not, comes back as, “I’m thinking we’ll be selling the…Entrepreneurship5 min readEntrepreneurship5 min read
Jan 30Member-onlyWhat Shouldn’t You Say During An Investor Pitch Meeting?“You need to sign an NDA,” my co-founder, “John”, said to David, the investor we were presenting to. It was our second meeting with David, and John’s comment took me totally by surprise, but David’s response didn’t take me by surprise. David looked at our VP Engineering and said, “We…Venture Capital6 min readVenture Capital6 min read
Jan 23Member-onlyDo You Need A CTO To Get Funding?“I like you, Brett. And I really like what you’re (company is) doing,” Jack, the Venture Capitalist, said to me. “However, I think I’ll wait until you have a VP Engineering before I invest.” In my pitch I had been upfront with Jack that we were looking for a VP…Entrepreneurship3 min readEntrepreneurship3 min read