I generally am working as an acting CTO for about 3-4 start-ups or other companies at any one time. I also found this interesting graphic of the changing needs around the CTO role in different size/type companies that somewhat echoes my experience. ( Roger Smith ) This helps explain where I normally play. Most often I'm being brought in the early stage, Start-up or Expansion (as the company looks at new product lines). I was just talking with someone who asked me to define how that could work and what they meant. Great question.

This is part of my ongoing posts on  Startup Advice .  There are people who tell startups that they should hire the most senior people that they can find.  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.  Only Hire A+ People Who Punch Above Their Weight Class I’m not one of those. 

A post by Fred Wilson pointed me to Dave McClure's Startup Metrics presentation. This is a great presentation and one that I'm going to point out to startup / early stage company CEOs. Normally, when I am talking to the founder of any startup trying to figure out what they need to do, one of the things I always try to do is understand their business at its core. This kind of a simple model also helps: Define the early proof points for the company. In many cases, I can break it down into: Customer Acquisition Cost – how will you reach prospects, how will you convert them and how much will it cost to convert them Customer Lifetime Value – how much will you make off of each converted customer This very simple model works for a surprising number of business models.

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice .  When you’re an early-stage startup that hasn’t raised any institutional money you end up doing almost every job function of the company yourself.  But some companies have entrepreneurs that seem talented on paper, are in a space that seems interesting to investors and are able to raise venture capital early in the company’s existence.  This is a story of one of the risks of venture capital. This can often happen when there is a good product built but no real customer adoption yet. 

started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur :  Tenacity .  I 8230; my last start-up was seed funded by a mega-successful angel … [but] they would not be investing in the third tranche … I had already burned the little savings I had to get the business going and with the story of this investor pulling out hanging around us, it was going to be very difficult to raise from somewhere else. But This is part of my new series on  what makes an entrepreneur successful .  I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of

started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur :  Tenacity .  I agree with every part of the article, but I was hoping for some discussion about inspiration in the idealism/activism sense, and less the charisma sense. If I’m up super late trying to crank out work I often get IM messages from Jason at 1am.  This is part of my new series on  what makes an entrepreneur successful .  I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs.

This is part of my ongoing series with Startup Advice .  With With the LeWeb conference about to start in Paris I thought the timing of this post would be appropriate. But don’t assume that I have a Minority Report like machine that can invisibly and instantly gin up my memory.  The It should start something like Business Etiquette Tips for dealing with VCs and Corporates at Conferences Right after Techcrunch50 Michael Arrington wrote this great post on how to interact at business events and conferences .  If

also recently wrote a post about a company that came in for a presentation and never even got the slides out or presented a demo.  I Can you just show up without one?  Short You’re goal in starting the meeting is to establish rapport.  You photo courtesy of Atlanta Braves This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC .”

started with a Top 10 list for Nivi (at VentureHacks), but I couldn’t cram it into 10 so it became a Top 11 list.  I If your last company was Apple, Blackberry, AdMob or JAMDAT and you have some experience in the sector then I know that your product will have your experiences baked into it.  When He’s built two ad network companies – he knows what he’s doing.  I’ve This is the final part of my series on Entrepreneurial DNA that was originally published on  VentureHacks .  OK, OK, it’s not really my final part.

This is part of my series on Startup Advice. I love working with Aussies because their outlook on life seems very similar to what I grew up with in California.  Pretty Trust me – your chances of selling are much lower if you’re talking rather than actively listening. Let’s assume you run a Customer Support software company. When I worked in London there were a ton of Aussies.  I Pretty laid back and non-hierarchic.  I