had a picture in the office of my first company with the logo above and the capital letters JFDI.  spent nearly a decade building software for large companies and then advising companies on the same.  used to sit on the board of a company (for which I DID NOT invest) with a very smart and very likable CEO.  Not you. MORE >>

Many entrepreneurs who start technology companies are product people, technologists or savvy business people who worked previously for a larger company.  Even businesses that attempt to sign up customers directly on a website need to answer this question for people albeit programmatically and through good website copy.  MORE >>

Ajax was the new buzzword and many companies went overboard.  and the subsequent acquisition sprees of companies like Google, Yahoo!, Many of these businesses were what First Round Capital called FNACs (features, not companies – this acronym has always stuck with me). Ditto for enterprise software companies. craze.  MORE >>

In the Beginning … This is a very important post to me because I find myself giving this advice all the time and if you don’t follow the basic advice here you can cause yourself much heartache down the line – even if your company ultimately becomes über successful. It’s hard enough to build a successful company. MORE >>

It is tempting because you not only see that they were VP Sales at 3 other startups but also that they have great access (according to their resume) to senior executives at companies you’re trying to target.  More likely this person who wants to work at your fledgling company is a decent performer but not a superstar.  million.  MORE >>