6 days agoMember-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
Jan 16Member-onlyThe 9 Warning Signs You Have The Wrong Co-Founder?If there’s one thing I am an expert in, it’s bad co-founders. After all, the first two teams of co-founders I tried to start my company with didn’t work out. There were “Jim” and “John”, my first two co-founders. We worked together for about five months before they quit, stole…Entrepreneurship6 min readEntrepreneurship6 min read
Published in Venture·Jan 9Member-onlyWhat Do You Do When A VP Quits During Fundraising“You can’t tell the new investors that ‘Tommy’ quit!” “Raul”, one of my existing investors, said to me when I told him our new VP Sales had resigned that morning. “Your job now is to get him (Tommy) to change his mind,” Raul said. I called Gill, our other investor…Venture Capital8 min readVenture Capital8 min read
Published in Startup Stash·Jan 2Member-onlyHow Much Responsibility Should You Take as a Startup CEO?“You screwed up,” “Bob”, the CEO, said to his executive team during our weekly operations meeting. “How am I going to explain this to ‘the street’?” Bob was upset because the company had missed its promised numbers to Wall Street, again. And now Bob would have to explain the miss…Venture Capital3 min readVenture Capital3 min read
Published in Startup Stash·Dec 26, 2022Member-only9 Hard Lessons You Need To Learn For Startup Success“It’s the suckiest thing about being a startup CEO,” I said to “Bill”. I could see the sadness written all over his face. “I can totally relate because I went through the same thing,” I said. …Startup7 min readStartup7 min read
Dec 19, 2022Member-onlyThe Most Important Thing You Can Control As A Startup CEOThere’s only one thing you have complete control over when you start a company. Only one. Everything else, to some degree or other, is out of your control. What is this one thing that’s in your control? It’s your cash. As I said at the beginning, everything else isn’t completely in your control. Let me give you an example. The first product…Venture Capital4 min readVenture Capital4 min read
Dec 13, 2022Member-onlyThe Simple Steps To Improving Your Startup’s Revenue Forecast“You’re not going to hit your numbers,” I said to “Josh”. “You’re way too optimistic. I’d much rather you underpromise and overdeliver, especially right now. Josh is in the middle of a sale process for his company. He’s working with an investment banker to manage the sale process. The sale…Venture Capital4 min readVenture Capital4 min read
Dec 5, 2022Member-onlyHow Do You Reduce The Risk Of Your Startup Failing?I don’t why, but years ago, when I was in high school, my Dad got involved in a business building replicas of old classic cars. As I remember it, the company bought old VW? engines, put a classic car chassis around them and sold the cars at a profit. The…Entrepreneurship3 min readEntrepreneurship3 min read
Nov 28, 2022Member-onlyHow Do You Reduce Risk As A Startup CEO?I don’t why, but years ago, when I was in high school, my Dad got involved in a business building replicas of old classic cars. As I remember it, the company bought old VW? engines, put a classic car chassis around them and sold the cars at a profit. The…Entrepreneurship3 min readEntrepreneurship3 min read