Anyone that has taken an accounting class or learned basic business financials knows the interaction between key elements of a P&L (revenue, cost, expense) and a balance sheet (assets, liabilities,…

Regardless of a company’s size and stage, maintaining focus is often a critical success factor.  This doesn’t suggest nimbleness and flexibility are bad.  Quite the opposite, as focus and flexibility…

In the spirit of keeping a sales commission plan simple, many sales executives choose to use a simple straight-line methodology.  In other words, 88% achievement of the sales goal equates…

Compensating a sales team is a tricky and sensitive endeavor that requires a lot of advanced planning.  I previously wrote about my 5 Golden Rules of Sales Compensation.  But even if…

Certain roles in the company call for a bonus as part of the total compensation plan.  But what criteria should be used for determining the bonus payout?  Common choices include…

You’ve just completed a great investor pitch with heads nodding and good interaction.  You’re about to ask “Does this opportunity interest you enough to explore an investment?” when instead you get…

Market leaders almost never compare themselves to competitors publicly because it gives their competitors legitimacy and potentially shows nervousness about them.  But what if you’re #3, #5 or lower in…

Similar to the “So What” rule, every time you make a claim, prediction or forecast, imagine your audience is thinking to themselves “yeah, right!” in skeptical fashion immediately after seeing/hearing your…

Initially made available by Y Combinator (YC) in 2013 and subsequently updated in late 2018, the SAFE investment instrument was intended to improve on the highly popular convertible note used…

Are you a SaaS company that has an icon like this on your website to promote a free trial offer to interested prospects?  If so, once they start the free trial do…

Once you have a product in the market with an increasing number of paying customers, your valuation will increasingly be driven based on financial and operational metrics.  Don’t get me…

When an interested acquirer approaches you, they will naturally ask for as much information as you are willing to give them.  But how much and what type of information should…

It’s not innovation or company culture or a determination to win.  Those are all important but successful big companies have at least some of those things too.  Startups often have…

The title of this article suggests you’ve already decided that you need one or more advisors.  But spend time with your co-founders discussing this to make sure you agree it…

How much equity should you give to compensate an advisor?  Should the shares carry any special provisions like anti-dilution or change-of-control acceleration?  What about giving the advisor cash compensation?  Tough…

Startups commonly give 0.5% equity or more to attract an experienced advisor (see related article titled “Compensating an Advisor”).  Sometimes after a few months they find themselves wondering if they…

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” – Leonardo da Vinci

There’s a reason it’s referred to as an “elevator pitch” – it must be expressed in a few sentences and no more than 15-20 seconds.  And that might even be…

"Measure twice, cut once" - Unknown (English proverb) - H. Ross Perot (US Presidential debate, Oct 1992) - C. Gordon Daugherty III, M.D.

Each individual investor and venture fund is different in the way they like to interact during their investment evaluation. This difference is pronounced amongst angel investors and less so for…

Wow has the world of marketing changed with the introduction of social media, marketing automation and other digital capabilities.  Not only is the way we “do” marketing different but the…

The courtship almost always starts with the small company approaching the HQ of the big company they desire as a strategic partner.  Usually, the big company is too distracted or…

"A turn in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn."

Business prospects are now accustomed to taking themselves through 60% of the sales journey (see related article titled “Prospects Take Themselves Through 60% of the Sales Journey“) but at some point…

Here’s the scenario.  You’ve got people asking you to express your strategy as a set of milestones extending through a certain amount of time.  This puts you in the mindset…

It finally happened.  You’ve been trying to get the attention of a huge prospective strategic partner and finally they gave you a chance to explain the value you can bring…

In a previous article I explained what convertible notes are and when they are commonly used (see article titled Convertible Note Basics).  Now I’d like to dive into one of…

Hopefully you are reading this before you decide how much to raise.  I’m referring less to the earliest funding raised (perhaps from friends and family) just to get your minimum…

In a previous article I suggested the proper flow and order of topics for your pitch deck (see article here).  Now I’d like to dive into the Problem section with…

Your pitch deck will become the single most valuable communication tool to use with external audiences of all types and you will use it for multiple purposes. You’ll definitely use…

You have a product that is ideally suited for a channel-based distribution strategy.  But every time you approach a prospective channel partner, they expect you to already have landed some…

I’m afraid the current “don’t waste time creating a business plan” mantra is doing unintended damage.  It’s leaving the impression on first-time entrepreneurs that they don’t need a plan of…

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" - Seneca (1st century Roman philosopher) - Abraham Lincoln - Darryl Royal (former UT football head coach) - Oprah Winfrey

I often hear startup founders say things like “We want to scale” or “We scaled a lot in the past six months.” In most cases, they should have used the…

Thanks to HubSpot for this valuable explanation of what co-marketing is and what some of the common forms are (article here).  One of my blog categories is devoted to business development (BD).  BD…

Are you scratching your head trying to figure out how convertible notes work?  They are form of convertible security that is so commonly used for pre-seed and seed rounds of…

If you’ve seen my bio or LinkedIn profile, you’ll know I’ve served three stints as a CMO and roughly half of my professional career has been spent in a marketing…

The PR industry that is focused on high tech has been going through a continual transformation since the early 2000’s when the Internet started taking center stage for publicity.  I find a…

Effective pricing strategy involves part art and part science.  But it’s not a “set it and forget it” aspect of your business plan.  Once you start getting some traction for…

If you're fundraising during the very early formation of your company, your ability to predict the future will be very difficult.  Of course, you can imagine and dream what might...

"You miss 100% of the shots you never take." - Wayne Gretzky

I’m a firm believer that business development activities should be focused and with a stated purpose/objective and expected return.  But what most companies do is hire one or more BD…

I recently heard Dr. Robert Wiltbank from Willamette University use this analogy and loved it so much I had to share it with others.  Entrepreneurs are, by nature, very optimistic. …

I guess the corollary to this could be “don’t use a compass when the precision of a GPS is needed”.  In fact, the main point is to use the best…

I don’t have anything against a traditional SWOT analysis but recently found myself helping a couple of startups figure out how they are progressing against their business plan and vision. …

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.  Of all the wonders that I yet have heard it seems to me most strange...

Some investors want to be the last one to commit and few want to be the first.  It’s mostly a safety and survival technique.  Think about it from their perspective. …

Fundraising is rarely easy and is usually a far underestimated undertaking by entrepreneurs that haven’t done it before.  In the fundraising section of this blog, I describe ways of approaching…

Too many startups discover they’ve got an acquisition-blocking or acquisition-inhibiting issue after a price tag has already been agreed with the acquirer.  It comes out during due diligence and the…

It’s unbelievable how many startups get into trouble not because they aren’t finding product-market fit or because their customer acquisition model is inefficient but rather because the co-founders have some…