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Questions·Apr 18, 20211

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

I’ve been the tech co-founder (CTO) of a startup for a year now. I wanted to develop an MVP of the non-tech cofounder’s (CEO) idea and get it into the…

Questions·Jul 28, 2020

The ‘Could Be’ Co-founder Compensation

Details: I joined a side hustle and within a year helped it evolve into a bootstrapped, profitable service company with a whole team and client portfolio.…

Questions·Jul 19, 20202

As the only tech cofounder, should I quit my startup?

I’m 23, “CTO” and I joined the startup almost one year ago in September 2019. I moved to an other country and left my friends and family for this project.…

Questions·Jun 29, 2020

Should I consider VAT tax [uk 20%] in my subscription price?

Launching a subscription service, &hope to make over the VAT threshold eventually, so ill need to register when that is the case.Should I inflate my…

Questions·Jun 25, 20201

Can i dilute my cofounders equity

so me and a couple of friends started this company. nothing is official yet but we have a verbal agreement for 58% me 10% for our CTO,2% advisor and 30%…

Questions·Jun 15, 20202

Co-founders want me out

HI all, Started my startup a few years ago with another co-founder. Put the money in with him ,bootstraped MVP, found the engineers tetc. Then we brought…

Questions·Jun 15, 20201

Is it reasonable to reconsider equity split if the founder is underperforming?

2.5 years ago, I started a company. Progress has been difficult, so was finding the right team. Turns out I’m somewhat difficult to work with, which I’ve…

Questions·Jun 15, 20201

We are a team of three co founders. What can you do if you are the only one committing 10 hours + and the rest is doing 9-5?

We are a team of three co founders. What can you do if you are the only one committing 10 hours + and the rest is doing 9-5?

Questions·Jun 15, 2020

I plan on leaving a small startup in 7 weeks, should I give notice?

I am planning to return to school soon. Our CEO is under the gun to meet some deadlines before the next board meeting, so I don’t want to stress him out…

Questions·Jun 15, 20201

Where do I find a trusted advisor and how do I protect my idea?

This may come off as very naive, but I have what I think is a very solid concept for a healthcare platform. I’ve vetted it with people I trust in this…

Questions·Sep 23, 20192

Sometimes although I know I have a lot to do, I just procrastinate. What about you?

My company is doing fine, we had a nice growth compared to last year and everything is fine in my personal life. It’s just I get these “fed up” moments…

Questions·Sep 11, 20192

What Direction Should I Take My Startup?

I run a very successful law practice. I have a ton of clients and I am successful with a solid reputation. I got very inspired and motivated to start a…

Questions·Jul 20, 20192

Scaling back just after launch?

We’ve just launched our company and the offering is really broad. I’m finding that my co-founder is very much taking it in a direction that I don’t agree…

Questions·Jun 24, 20192

How much should early employees receive in a acqui-hires?

I understand money is paid back to the investors – but how much money are early employees supposed to get in the pool that is left over – say they owned…

Questions·Jun 24, 20191

What to do about co-founders?

I have two senior managers in my company. (Hesitant to say co-founders as I started the business and have since brought them onboard). One who is a great…

Questions·May 21, 20196

How to calculate pre-revenue partner buy-in and impact from unequal partner cash investment?

I have a start-up with 2 partners. One year in. All 3 of us have been full-time on development. Pre-revenue. One more person has planned to join us since…

Questions·May 20, 20195

How do you become an entrepreneur if you’re older, have family, loans, etc?

My wife and I are thinking of starting the entrepreneurship journey. We have a great idea (SaaS in LegalTech), we’ve done market research, we’ve talked to…

Questions·May 9, 20197

Should my investor be paid wages from day one of his investment?

The investment he has put in to the company has gone in to his directors loan to be paid back to him through the company but he also requested he was paid…

Questions·Apr 29, 2019

How do I (the CTO) Find Alignment with the CEO?

Not sure how to phrase things (or maybe I’m asking the wrong questions), but I’ll ask it anyway to at least get the conversation started. On Feb 2, I…

Questions·Apr 29, 20191

Why would a programmer in SV start a startup these days?

So I just noticed the insane amount of “total compensation” of programmers these days. From 200K for fresh grads to 500K at Facebook for Sr Software…

Questions·Apr 15, 20194

How do you handle a multi-year employment gap as a developer?

This question is for software devs who have had multi-year employment gap & returned back to employment after the gap. I am wondering if you had to pad…

Questions·Apr 15, 20193

How do I get hired at a startup as an older person?

I have an extensive background in Sales / Sales Mgmt / Management / Bus. Dev. / Operations and want to work for a startup. I’m not a 20-something, but…

Questions·Apr 15, 20192

How do I get my business partner to get on board?

In the process of launching a retail business. So far, I have done all the paperwork, research, marketing, accounting, social media/account setup and paid…

Questions·Feb 18, 20191

How to develop brand & business skills as a CTO?

We’re 2 years old with a team of 10(3 co-founders and the rest 7 engineers). Being a CTO, the majority of my time goes into dealing with tech projects and…

Questions·Feb 18, 20192

What do you do when a business that is very interested in partnering with your startup ghosts you?

I had five businesses that were very interested in partnering with my startup they just needed to see more on pricing … I sent them it and then no…

Questions·Feb 14, 20194

Wife of Startup Founder: Do Startups need to have timelines, projections and financial plans?

My husband started an AI tech startup a year ago and over this period I’ve had little visibility into how it’s all going. He has been building an app…

Questions·Feb 14, 20191

How can I raise money to launch?

I have a great product but I don’t have to financial ability to launch or run a pilot project. I don’t know whether to approach investors because I feel…

Questions·Jan 7, 2019

Can one startup provide management service contract to a close-ish competitor?

I’m the CEO of a startup and have been approached by a near competitor, also a startup, to join their team. The competitor seems to need my skills and…

Questions·Dec 26, 20181

What is an ex-cofounder entitled to?

First of all, my organization is really informal and there are no legal material or formal agreements and no one has money invested in it. It probably…

Questions·Dec 26, 20181

How to Handle Partners Afraid of Leveling Up?

I’m CTO of a small fintech startup. We raised a decent amount of seed funding, enough runway for most of next year, and the product launches next month.…