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Everybody has a blog these days and there is much advice to be had. Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless. What is a founder to do?
This is part of my ongoing series StartupAdvice. When you’re an early-stage startup that hasn’t raised any institutional money you end up doing almost every job function of the company yourself. When I founded my first company along with Brian Moran (whose idea it was) I had no real experience running startups.
I recently read Brad Feld’s thought provoking piece encouraging founders to sit on the board of another startup company. I found it thought provoking because I’ve always believed startupfounders need extreme focus on only their company to succeed. So I’m going to follow Brad’s advice.
But not everybody has the right skills to build a highly successful and valuable startup from scratch. For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First StartupFounder You Need to Invest in Is You.”
As we tell our founders at 1000 Angels , the private investor network that connects startups with investors, time management is an important component of any business, but when it comes to launching a startup it is even more critical. Without that, your startup is a rudderless ship from the outset.
I have never been more optimistic about the impact that the tech startup community is having on cities in America or about the role that cities outside of San Francisco / Silicon Valley can play in our future. Changes in the Startup Ecosystem. So the startup work moves to where the startupfounders live and not vice versa.
If you’re interested in recruiting sales people, I wrote on the topic of startup sales people: who to hire & when – understanding the roles of Journeymen, Mavericks & Superstars. Evangelical sales – Understanding startup sales people and process. Tags: StartupAdvice. You learn by asking.
This is part of my ongoing posts on StartupAdvice. There are people who tell startups that they should hire the most senior people that they can find. My advice: don’t. Bringing in a senior person who’s “done it all before&# is often a mistake in a startup. I’m not one of those.
14 Leadership Lessons From Successful StartupFounders To gain a deeper understanding of effective leadership, we asked startupfounders and CEOs to share the most valuable lessons they’ve learned from successful entrepreneurs. This was great advice received from the CEO of a multi-million-dollar start-up.
I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. ” I highly recommend reading it. Valuation.
So as a startup CEO you constantly have to suspend disbelief. ” A startup CEO’s job is to absorb stress so the team doesn’t have to. Startups have to be optimists because no rational person would actually believe you could build Uber into the amazing company that it is today. We just need your $500,000!!”
One of my favorite events last year was attending Startup Grind where I got to interview Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma. And of course we talked about many of my views of building startups. You didn’t join startups then. You joined a startup if you couldn’t get a real job.
Tracy DiNunzio isn’t your typical Silicon Valley startupfounder. She did her first tech startup after the age of 30. Tracy was an artist throughout her 20′s but she watched her then husband found a tech startup. Tracy isn’t your quintessential Silicon Valley startup story.
This is part of my startupadvice series. It’s still important advice for startupfounders and something that I’m passionate about. Yes, if you were a startup CEO I would probably cut you some slack. If they are Google, Facebook and then a startup – you’re fine. Not at all.
You’ll receive the best practical startupadvice straight to your inbox every week. In this week’s edition, we discuss: Why you shouldn’t always trust billionaire’s advice. The founder lessons found in Uno (yes, the game). Should you trust billionaires for startupadvice? Whose advice should you follow?
By Michael Whitehouse Investment rounds are an essential part of the startup investment journey. You will encounter them progressively as you negotiate a deal either with a startupfounder, or as an investor looking to attract further capital to an existing organization. Photo credit: [link].
When a startupfounder is trying to raise money, they know they should use referrals to get introduced to investors. Contact them and ask for advice. Can I get some of your advice on our next few steps?” But those referrals are hard to get! Investors ignore cold-calls. They’ve probably all raised money.
Under no circumstances should any of the below content be construed as legal, tax or investment advice from 500 Startups or any of its affiliates. Alluva at 500 Startups: What it was really like being a part of Batch 25 In March of 2019, Alluva was accepted into Batch 25 of 500 Startups. What Alluva is.
When someone asks me for the best way to fund a startup, I always say bootstrap it, meaning fund it yourself and grow organically. Despite all the focus you hear on external investors, over 90% of startups today are self-funded. Most startupfounders already do this, rather than take a salary, to improve their offering.
For the past 5 years or so Google, Facebook and a handful of tech industry giants have been quietly buying scores of early-stage startups for their talent. I’m supposed to believe that my best innovation can only come from scores of startupfounders who just made millions and have now become CVOs at my company?
I will even take to emailing people I don’t know offering small bits of advice. The same kind of tasks that a startup team has. I met for coffee with one of my favorite “startup advisors” in LA. I like to meet people like this because in an hour I get catch up on everything going on in the startup community.
If you’ve read anything about pitching your company, you’ve probably come across advice that says that you need a warm introduction to an investor. Without a doubt, a good, friendly introduction — ideally from a founder they’ve already invested in — is the best way to get on the radar of an investor.
I wrote a blog post about being hands on where I argued that startupfounders need to be hands-on or in my words, “you can’t run a burger chain if you’ve never flipped burgers.&#. I once had a startup team pitch me for an investment where the President of the company led the first call with me on his own.
What could you learn from looking at your competitors or other tech startups in a different way? Or you think their startup is a passing fad and yours is the real deal? I was at a dinner about a year ago with a few VCs and startupfounders. I hear views like this all the time. The topic of FourSquare came up.
Launching a startup is exciting, particularly given New Zealand’s thriving and innovative startup ecosystem. However, the journey can be a steep learning curve and present numerous challenges, especially for first-time founders. They can, however, be a good option for founders as a vehicle to hold shares in their company.
I’m inspired by the enthusiasm of the young, emerging startup ecosystem that is here. And I think about the “Seattle issue&# as a metaphor for startups and business in general. I was meeting with a first-time CEO of a very promising young startup recently and offering my advice on what his priorities should be.
By Michael Whitehouse If you are considering investing in a startup company offline or online with platforms like 1000 Angels , a private investor network that connects startups with investors, the sheer number of what’s available can be both daunting and comforting. Does the startup offer something people genuinely want?
Thoughts on startups by investors that fund them & entrepreneurs that run them. Investment and startups problem : we all want disruptive and game-changing businesses. Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. A large percentage of startups never apply to either. Subscribe by email.
I think that’s one of the reasons that many of the most interesting bay area startups are choosing to locate themselves in the city. In driving down the costs of building businesses it’s driving down the age of startupfounders and thus they’re starting companies where young people want to live – in urban environments.
Having re-read it, I believe his real premise instead is, “Fixed-size, multi-investor angel rounds are such a bad idea for startups that one wonders why things were ever done that way.&#. Either would be fine with startups, so long as they can easily change their valuation. When I’m in, I’m in. rings true to me.
My internal compass has always steered me strongly toward the belief that founders who can scale with their startup companies are better to back that founders who eventually need to hire a CEO. Very few founder CEOs go into the job ever expecting to give up their seat. StartupAdvice' I saw it first hand.
Among them, VCs and startups are forced to interact remotely and make deals without ever shaking hands. We hear startups pitch everyday and far too often founders end up joining the meeting late. To be fair, investor opinions on this vary and we’ve all seen the proverbial hoodie or casual attire of startupfounders.
A while back, when a startupfounder mentioned to me that he wasn’t sure he had the personality to be an entrepreneur, I realized how important that insight was. My first thought is that if you are more annoyed than energized by expert advice, team suggestions, and customer input, then you should probably avoid this line of work.
Startups are hard. If you’re a startupfounder you already know these statistics and yet you are irrationally proceeding forward. This may seem like a gross generalization, especially since you probably just quit a job to launch your startup based on an idea you think is very good.
Advice for non-technical founders for finding a serious CTO for your startup Finding a co-founder is hard work. Finding a technical co-founder is even harder. Yet, the benefits of having a technical co-founder make it all worthwhile. A good co-founder will serve as a powerful force multiplier.
I believe entrepreneurs should, in David’s words, “build big businesses on the outskirts” but I don’t believe that Silicon Valley tech giants will outmaneuver startups. That’s why I say, “ It’s Morning in VC & the Startup World. It simply hasn’t played out in history. Laughable now.
I hold true to form and follow my own advice. And we’re here with Dan Martell , who like any great startupfounder is wearing his company t-shirt for Flowtown. It was a bunch of members of the Austin Startup Factory mixed with some out-of-towners like myself. Wendy Tan White, the founder of Moonfruit.
If women can get funded to run startups at 22-25 then they can get well into their experiences as entrepreneurs before having to navigate the tricky years of balancing being a mommy with running a company. If your first chance at being a startupfounder coincides with your first child it’s really difficult for either gender.
We’re excited to announce that Startup School (SUS) is relaunching today as a continuous program. This change will allow us to serve many more founders than the traditional annual course we’ve been running since 2017 and better support startupfounders year-round. Curriculum. Sign up now to get access to these features!
You’ll receive the best practical startupadvice straight to your inbox every week. In this week’s edition, we share: Why your pitch deck has one minute to sell investors on your startup The 7 types of startupfounder, and why it matters to you Let’s do this. Twitter" Founders: passion is a requirement.
. + This post unpacks offers an insiders’ view of some of the key strategic decisions that led to Techstars’ decline. ————– Techstars is – or was – one of the world’s best startup accelerator programs. Not coincidentally, they also serve as training grounds for some of the world’s most successful startupfounders.
At some point, almost every early-stage startup will use paid search ads to connect with customers and throw down the gauntlet with their competitors. Can your startup support a research-based workflow? But can your humble startup attract and retain users while it conducts research and product development? In the U.S.
It was his mobile productivity startup Acompli (later acquired by Microsoft) which first caught my attention. HW: I’m sure you get hit up for career advice all the time. HW: You’ve been a startupfounder as well as an executive at larger tech companies. Do they ever really know what they’re getting into?
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