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Questions

Ask anything. Founders answer honestly, because nobody knows who they are.

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Questions·Aug 1, 20148

If you were me, what would you do with your startup assets?

I had a startup that was 'something' not too long ago. Had investors, a ton of press, built a sizeable social media following and a registered database of…

Questions·Jul 30, 20141

How do you find out what technology an acquirer might not need?

In most cases when an acquirer is looking at a company there’s still some if not a lot of overlap in terms of the technology that they have already in…

Questions·Jul 30, 20145

How to get an equal partner to make an effort?

One of the people on our team comes in late, only does the tasks they enjoy and then leaves early. How can I motivate them to make an effort?

Questions·Jul 28, 20146

Do all startups knowingly break California employment laws?

Lots of startups hire employees for equity only or for less than minimum wage. According to an HR/employment attorney I know, it’s illegal under…

Questions·Jul 27, 20144

How do you handle investor pressure?

We have an investor that is constantly giving us ideas and suggestions. At first, we were pursing the ideas to both appease him and give new things a…

Questions·Jul 25, 20146

Do pro-rata rights mean that pre-existing investors get to re-invest at lower price even in new round at higher valuation?

I’ve read that pro-rata rights mean that an investor gets to keep the same ownership percentage by investing in future funding rounds. Does it mean if a…

Questions·Jul 24, 20149

What does calling your startup “Uber for [something]” actually mean?

Questions·Jul 23, 201414

Why aren’t there more documentaries that follow startups around from the beginning stages?

Questions·Jul 23, 20144

Fundraising enough for profitability or keep it within a more reasonable seed round range?

Will investors look down on us asking for $1M seed round (convertible note) and then telling them we’ll be raising another $500K bridge round to reach…

Questions·Jul 21, 20143

Anyone dealt with Middle Eastern Soverign Funds?

Was at an event and this guy from a Middle Eastern Soverign Fund seemed interested in investing. I felt a bit iffy since he didn’t seem to really…

Questions·Jul 21, 201425

If you fire your first employee (5% equity) before any vesting, where does the equity go?

Considering those assumptions, and any other further examples you might provide, where does the equity go when you fire someone before they’ve vested? If…

Questions·Jul 21, 201410

Do you feel like you’re one step away from going crazy due to stress?

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that I’m going to be in a straitjacket anytime soon. However, I think if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m a young guy in…

Questions·Jul 21, 20146

Are direct-to-camera shots essential in founder videos?

We have to get our founder video done for an accelerator application and i’m the face of our startup, thing is I have a facial disfigurement and i’m not…

Questions·Jul 19, 20141

How do job titles rank at a startup?

Is this ranking correct? How does it match tech vs non-tech roles? How does it change from Series A to Series D? (CXO, VP, Director, Head of, Manager,…

Questions·Jul 19, 20143

What secret negotiation tactic is the article on buying socialrank domain referring to?

From the BI article on how these dudes bought the domain name: http://read.bi/1mpHlW8 “we still wanted to negotiate on getting the price lower. We used a…

Questions·Jul 17, 20145

Why do early stage investors and accelerators make founders sign clauses which forbid them from having outside work?

When given an early stage investment a founder has to either use that money to pay for their life or invest it in their product. Making people devote…

Questions·Jul 17, 201423

Reading the posts on this site, I am a bit worried. Can I get funded as a female, minority founder, and how?

I am a black Caribbean female founder who is launching a high-tech healthcare start up. We will need millions of $$$$$ to build the product, before we…

Questions·Jul 16, 20146

How do I resolve the conundrum of promoting my new venture via social media while I still need my full-time job?

My venture, built over the past year-plus, is at the point of needing a serious social media (and hopefully, regular media) push to get going. And to add…

Questions·Jul 16, 201412

I have an App in the iTunes Store. VC tells me I’m still at the Idea Stage.

As Startups we have it hammered into us that ideas are useless (and unfundable) without execution. Now the carrot has been moved again. I have executed. I…

Questions·Jul 15, 20146

How to handle inbound interest from VCs?

I’ve been getting inbound emails from VC associates who want to learn more about my company. We haven’t raised any outside capital, but we’re doing well…

Questions·Jul 14, 20148

Startup is raising their series B, HR lady said they have to wait until after they close to give me an offer.

Have they been wasting my time or does this make sense? Process has taken ~3 months already.

Questions·Jul 12, 20145

Whisper is killing Secret in vanity metrics and funds raised, but is Secret winning in growth rate?

Questions·Jul 12, 20148

Whats the best way to end a web-app based startup?

I am a single non-tech founder who taught himself to code to put together a minimal viable product to test the market. The web app is functional but was…

Questions·Jul 9, 20146

Have any founders experienced StartEngine accelerator in LA?

They say you don’t need to have traction to be accepted and they use YC SAFE documents. They claim they have the best terms, which seems ridiculous as…

Questions·Jul 8, 20143

VC is telling us what to do but he’s dead wrong. Should I ignore him?

Our startup is coming against its second pivot. The VC is telling us to primarily market by posting our RSS feed onto all of these directory sites. We…

Questions·Jul 8, 201410

I think my startup is a dud but I raised funds 6 months ago. What should I do?

I raised a round 6 months ago and my startup just is not picking up. The New York Fucking Times wrote favorably about it and users are still only…

Questions·Jul 8, 201422

Joined my first startup. Am I naive or being played?

I just joined my first startup. The contract I signed said X number of days at X amount. When I submitted my invoice, the owner freaked. I was told I was…

Questions·Jul 7, 201412

Offered a startup job, they want me to sign consent to check my credit with background check.

In California, my credit score is pretty abysmal because of some hard times a few years ago. I don’t want to have to explain it to them nor do I want to…

Questions·Jul 7, 201410

If we’re early early stage with no product/POC should we hold off relationship building with VC’s?

We’re considering going to an open hours session with a partner at a well known firm, we submitted a slide deck to get a slot, just not sure what the…

Questions·Jul 7, 20142

Is getting funded = to bureaucracy hassles?

Considering a startup gets funded and money is not the issue (at least for some time), does that mean that we will focus primarily on the bureaucracy –…