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Importance Of Being Connected To The Right Lawyer 19b40253621670f0ad1f91895285a6afc9f3c0bb0c10c2164765c28ef5aa885d

Get a mentor, not a critic.

The dictionary definition of a mentor is “an experienced and trusted advisor,” or “leader, tutor or coach.” The definition of a critic sounds similar, “a person who offers reasoned judgment or analysis.” The big difference, of course, is that a mentor looks ahead to help you, while a critic looks backward to tell you what […]
Martin Zwilling
Martin Zwilling , Founder and CEO , Startup Professionals
3 Jan 2012
Startups Need Option Plan To Hire Employees A22ae849e242af5b43b604e1ece450ef528cfd82a66946aa35f256c030709f7d

3 Good Reasons to Recheck Your Profitability Projections

One of my pet peeves in pitches is the triple whammy of absurdly high profitability projections. I’ve seen entrepreneurs promising 30, 40, even 50 percent profitability in their projections. Why triple whammy? Projecting excess profits, at rates way beyond the normal, are bad for at least three reasons: Kills credibility regarding industry knowledge and realistic […]
Tim Berry
Tim Berry , Founder , Palo Alto Software
28 Dec 2011
What Are Contracts 445793d0c238315dfbb0ef2084ad3e07d48488b1f03a8df2f6092f7f229c495d

IPOs, M&As, Liquidity, & You. (the entrepreneur)

In the “good old days,” angels invested in seed-stage startups and teed up promising companies for subsequent venture capital financing. If the company was successful, this quickly led to an IPO – a very happy ending for the entrepreneur, the angels, and the venture capitalists. My, my…how the world has changed. The two major differences in […]
Bill Payne
Bill Payne , Angel Investor , Frontier Angel Fund
28 Dec 2011
Does Your Startup Need To Hire A Cto Or Contractor 4b0ad4399e944f467266a5265b3eb6a70a992ae777ccfdaf6ac24ae2acd49bec

Entrepreneurs: Due Diligence on Investors is Smart

Due diligence should always be a two-way street. A while back, I published an article on “Startup Due Diligence Is Not a Mysterious Black Art,” describing what investors do to validate your startup before they invest. Here is the inverse, sometimes called reverse due diligence, describing what you should do to validate your investor before […]
Martin Zwilling
Martin Zwilling , Founder and CEO , Startup Professionals
27 Dec 2011
What Are Accounting Bookkeeping Hero 3fc2ef93a70383bfc8fd75fda91163b395c032954080efc94be668a3e17fee0d

Outside capital: do or die?

A gigantic percentage of startup literature concerns how to raise capital.  But before you start on that PowerPoint, let’s ask this: do you really have to? Or is it still possible to bootstrap and build a company organically? Strategically, the advantage outside capital provides is obvious: you can go faster.  And since speed of iteration is often the […]
Bob Rice
Bob Rice , MANAGING PARTNER , Tangent Capital
23 Dec 2011
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