“Mom, I want to become an entrepreneur just like you.” How would these words make you feel? Or maybe you’ve already heard them. If so, how did you react? At first, you probably felt proud. Not only does your child look up to you, but he or she is also eager to learn about business at a young age. While typical kids are playing video games, yours is planning for the future — and that’s impressive.
But then, the nerves probably kicked in. What if, after pouring tons of time, effort, and emotion into building a company, things just don’t work out? The disappointment could be devastating to your child.
I was in fourth grade when I told my entrepreneurial parents that I, too, wanted to become an entrepreneur. First, they said, “Are you up for al...
In December of 2013, serial entrepreneur Jason Nazar woke up, rolled out of bed, grabbed his iPhone and with bleary eyes read the headline:
“Document-sharing platform Docstoc acquired by Intuit for $50 million.”
This wasn’t just any headline – it was his headline. Today was the day Jason would announce to the world that he had just sold the company he had worked on for 8 long years for a reported $50 million to Fortune 500 powerhouse Intuit.
Do you think he was smiling?
We wanted to know the answer, so we spent some time with Jason to dig into the process.
The problem with understanding startup acquisitions and how Founders manage them is that people rarely talk about the process – they just talk about the out...
What you’ve heard is true: The robots are coming to take our jobs. But instead of fearing our machine counterparts, should we be thanking them?
In the future, artificial intelligence and automation technology will begin to take over in a big way, transforming the entire way we do business. In fact, that future is closer than we think — automation is already beginning to take over in areas many wouldn’t have thought possible even a few years ago.
It’s taking over mundane tasks, such as in the case of X.ai, which has created automated assistants that can schedule meetings and conduct basic email correspondence without the aid of human beings. It’s also taking over more complex duties, like writing news articles, coding new software, and even ...
Welcome to our four-part Splitting Equity Series. This is our Introductory piece and will continue to be split up into four phases:
Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)
Phase One - Startup Equity - Avoiding Early Mistakes
Phase Two - How Startup Equity Works
Phase Three - How to Split Equity
Phase Four - Equity Management
We are excited to guide you through your equity-splitting experience. Let's dive in!
We’re going to identify and isolate each of the key issues in splitting startup equity in a young company. Then one by one we will lay out which options are available, how most startups address this problem, and what key decisions the team will need to make to split the founder equity fairly and manage a plan...
Sometimes our startup IS our social life.
When we put it like that, it almost sounds kind of sad. We're told by others (heretics!) that we need a life inside and outside of our startup. We're supposed to have families, loved ones, and friends who we create amazing experiences with that have absolutely nothing to do with work. And of course, that's important.
But our startups aren't just about work — they are also a very important part of our social fabric whether we want to believe they are or not. In fact, if we were to sell our startup and have nothing to do with it, many of us would miss the very real social connection we took for granted.
As Founders, we get to enjoy a very special kind of opportunity to build and expand our social live...
When I started my company 12 Labs, I initially struggled. But once I learned how to be productive, I was able to grow my app to 450K+ downloads, a 4.5-star rating and a place in the top 100 Health and Fitness apps in the app store. In this post, I reveal my secrets for getting things done.
I used to perpetually procrastinate—even to the point of missing bills. I needed inspiration before I could be productive, but it never came. The first two winters of building my business I also struggled with depression, until figuring out how to master things. The core reason for my startup depression was stress.
Quitting a nice-paying job is stressful, though it wasn’t obvious right away. I only recognized it as guilt for not getting things done. A few...
Today isn’t just about our new site launch – it’s about why we launched it. For those of you that have been following our story for the past few years, you know that we’ve grown our startup platform quite a bit, helping over a million startups get from idea to launch.
Most of what you’ve seen has focused on our products, whether it’s Fundable for raising capital, Clarity.fm for finding mentors, or Launchrock for acquiring customers.
But behind the scenes, we’ve been working on something far bigger: our community.
Bringing the startup community together has always been our greatest goal. This site launch has given us the opportunity to make it happen, and offer our vision for a new voice and a fresh narrative to the startup journey.
More imp...
Continuing in Phase One of a four-part Funding Series:
Phase One - Structuring a Fundraise
Part 1 - Startup Bootstrapping
Part 2 - Debt as Startup Capital
Part 3 - Equity Funding for Startups
Part 4 - Convertible Debt ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)
Phase Two - Investor Selection
Phase Three - The Pitch
Phase Four - Investor Outreach
Let's dive in!
Convertible Debt (or a “Convertible Note”) is often used as a method for making an equity financing investment. Unlike regular equity financing investments, though, Convertible Debt includes terms like an Interest Rate, Maturity Date, and Valuation Cap - which we’ll explain here as to how they play a role in a Convertible note.
Convertible Debt is essentially a mash-up of debt financing and eq...
Paul Teshima, Co-Founder & CEO at Nudge Software, sat down with us to give some great advice on scaling business, based on his own personal journey as an entrepreneur.
You never know what customers really want until they purchase a product and see its value. As a startup, you’ll want to attract a type of luck referred to as Motion Luck.
Motion Luck happens when you’re out there doing things. The more you get out into your industry and try to sell products, the greater the chance (or luck) of selling your product becomes.
That is why it’s important as a startup to harness motion luck – to sell your product and scale your business.
You won’t be able to execute your str...
You’re a startup founder. An idea machine. But it doesn’t matter how many ideas you have; those are a dime a dozen. What matters more is how you’re going to turn ideas into reality. So there’s a fork in the road: Pursue your side project (e.g. your passion), or keep your full-time job?
Delaying your side project could save time and money. Then again, going through with it could add color to your life and massive value to your company.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be an either/or scenario. You can make room for passion projects without ditching your post. Almost all the companies I’m running today started as side projects.
A few years ago, I was working as a hedge fund manager and a CTO of a Hollywood church. I was doing a little side con...