What tools do you use to build your startup at various stages?
I use FounderSuite, DropBox, CapLinked, EC2 & Trello, and we’re in pre-seed stage.
Financing: the next step question?
You have a great coffee meeting with an investor but it isn’t quite a pitch. How do you phrase the ask? Or will they ask if they are interested? How do…
Founder’s equity vs ownership vs salary
I’m a bit confused on the topic of founder’s equity and how this translates into ownership and eventual salary. There are two founders. Founder 1 = 20%…
What if I don’t have an exit strategy?
My startup will eventually need funding. Whether it’s being funded by angels or vc’s — they’re funding with the goal of getting a return on their…
What is your diet/supplement regiment like to run your company at an optimal level?
Running a company is difficult, especially at the early stages when it’s just you or just you and a few other employees, which means that your workload is…
Do all service based startups need an initial investment?
A friends & family round …
Any tips for a Friends & Family round? I’m working on figuring out my valuation and have been bootstrapped up until now, but I know I’m going to need to…
Should I get a cofounder for my startup?
I am working on building a web-based project management software application. I am really bootstrapping to start off with, and really want to try and take…
Startup founder must find a day job
Hey all. I’m a non-tech founder of a physical tech startup. I’ve been building the business for about a year. We’ve got traction in a whole bunch of areas…
What have you done to drive traffic?
We have no money to spend on advertising. We’ve gotten some press and been featured on other sites. Aside from that, we’ve been relying on social sharing…
Are acqui-hires really making failed team members rich?
Everytime I read about an aqui-hire on Techcrunch or Pando, there’s an implication that Yahoo! or Google bought the failed startup at a valuation of 1M+…
How do you deal with paranoia about competition?
I’m working on a company that’s the first of its kind. It’s a great idea and has the potential to become a multi-billion dollar idea. However, I’m still…
Should I provide equity to my content developer?
I am a single founder and my startup is having a good traction. Currently planning to have an content developer for my product, who will be take care of…
Enterprise or Consumer?
We’ve built an enterprise platform and API to serve data that helps carriers, OEMs etc. to add a layer of security to their devices. To demonstrate how…
How do I know if I need funding?
I previously co-founded a startup that failed mostly due to an unfit market. We were in college with relatively low costs of living. We always assumed…
CEO Salary = Zero?
I’ve been invited to be the CEO of a startup. They’ve been around for a while and still have zero funding. So, their proposal is zero salary and a…
Looking for advice from successful entrepreneurs – how do you manage networking events for entrepreneurs?
I am looking for some advice on time management. Should I be going to startup events and networking or is my time best spent working on my product? I’m…
My majority stake partners are discussing a business affiliation without sharing details with me. Fair?
I am a co-founder of a small but growing digital ad agency that’s grown from about $400k to $1.2m turnover in 3 years. Despite only receiving about $18.5k…
How much do you pay yourself as a founder?
I have a company that raised a $500k seed round and my cofounder and I pay ourselves $75,000/yr. I’d like to know what others have chosen to do.
Founder equity vs first employees
I started working on my startup product 5 months ago solo and just found a cofounder. We may bring on a programmer and also want to reward / incentivize…
How do you get a services business to the point of hiring people to scale?
I own a project services business meaning we provide project services on a “one off” basis to our clients. We are slowly getting more business, but my…
What do you do when your launch gets no traction?
When your press releases don’t get replies, your social media posts aren’t seen and you’re almost out of investment – what would you do?
What I want to know is exactly how do websites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube make money?
I’m an undergrad who recently became in interested in entrepreneurship and the startup world. I’m participating in a business competition to help me learn…
How did you pay your bills when you started/joined your company?
It’s been my dream to start my own company but I can never imagine myself being able to pay my dues without a steady job. (I currently work in…
What is the significance of being publicly traded like what recently happened to Twitter? Yes, I know there are ads and investors, but where does it go from there?
I’m an undergrad who recently became in interested in entrepreneurship and the startup world. I’m participating in a business competition to help me learn…
How do I protect my idea while finding potential investors/partners?
Have read enough about patent protection, public disclosure, provisional patents, investor dislike of NDA’s/necessity of an NDA, to be wholly dead-ended…
How does one manage working with an employee who is very talkative and distracting?
While the employee is quite smart and good at what they do, they create a lot of distractions and miss obvious social signals that others are not…