This is part of my ongoing series Startup Lessons Building companies is hard work.  I I started my first company in 1999 in London at the height of the dot com craze.  We We also had facilities in Dublin, Ireland where our company was initially founded. We went through the euphoria of massive exposure at the time of our launch due to an article that ran in the Financial Times.  We We were unprepared.  Our

If you’re a startup and you don’t have a close relationship with a few law firms you’re really missing one of the most important relationships that any entrepreneur can have. When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company.  I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers ” written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). 

We started with our financial statements.  We Then competition.  I So I changed things up and became much happier with my results.  Here 1.        Set two strategic topics per board meeting and start with them – I bet most of you feel that you have pretty talented people around the table but you get stuck talking about the minutiae of your business.  You Like many of you I’ve sat through my fair share of Board Meetings over the past decade.  For For the most part I’d call them Bored Meetings.

I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up . I used an image from Roger Smith that describes the varying roles of a CTO as the company matures. However, I’ve now begun questioning how and what an early-stage / startup CTO should Most often at the earliest point in the life of a startup, the dominant need is certainly to produce product to get something in the market, get funding, etc.

Recently I’ve been debating with a number of young startup companies that are raising money in the next few months, “what is the right about of capital to raise at a startup?” It places undue pressure early in the company’s history to “do big things” when sometimes what is warranted is more prudence.  It there may be major This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital . 8221;

The one where they HAD BETTER say good things about you because if they don’t then you’re really messed up for not suggesting the right people and calling them in advance to control the process and make sure that they say good things.  Good when you missed your targets, when your co-founder quit, when the competition chose your competitor or when the other investors around the table lost confidence?  Don’t This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital . I

started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute:  Tenacity .  I Yes, there is the mythical company you all heard about that walked into Sequoia and had a term sheet 24 hours later.  Every entrepreneur starts with an idea that they believe makes sense.  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.

of  all statistics are made up.  I started my life as a consultant.  Fortunately One of our core tasks was “market analysis,” which consistent of: market sizing, market forecasts, competitive analysis and then instructing customers on which direction to take. I had to read each report, synthesis it and then come up with our best estimate of the markets going forward.  In How to Interpret Analyst Reports The headlines in the media are filled with that latest stats.  Stats

started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute:  Tenacity .  I You’ve got to be able to come out of unsuccessful VC meetings, pull your socks up, and go into the next pitch.  You’ve got to hear all of the doubters, and the world is FILLED with doubters, and still not give up.  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.

The promised to follow up with: calls, using your product, talking to customers or “noodle on things.” Despite best intentions they probably won’t follow up on their actions. Why don’t VC’s follow up? The partner you saw is probably This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC .” 8221;  Getting a meeting with a prominent angel or VC is difficult enough.  Some