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Science Fiction Fact

Now, the core technology that was once merely the product of science fiction writers’ imaginations is less science fiction than it is, well, actual science.

Fear not. Unlike their fictional counterparts — which inevitably go haywire and become less prone to “protect and serve” than “attack and sever”— the increasingly-prevalent bots of the real world are mainly concerned with using actionable data in the fight against crime.

Welcome to the dawn of the Age of Security Robots, where a new crop of tech companies are (literally) rolling out fleets of artificially-intelligent crime-fighting machinery and jockeying for position to revolutionize the $500 billion security industry.

While there are several promising entrants in...

Being a Founder is a job that anyone can get and no one is qualified for.

My 9-year-old daughter became a Founder last year within 60 minutes of forming her own company online (she didn't even need my help). I'd argue she's about as qualified as most of the Founders I meet at Startups.com, and that's not a knock. It's to say that none of us are "qualified" to be a Founder, not because we're not smart enough, or capable enough, or experienced enough — it's because fundamentally it's impossible to be qualified for this job.

We Can't Be An Expert At Everything

The difference between a Founder leading a startup and a CEO leading an established business is that the Founder has to be there from the start when no one else is there. That means the...

Everyone loves to glamorize the Founder who risked it all — until they are the Founder who lost it all.

Recently I was watching the History Channel series "The Toys that Made Us" with my kids, where they documented the inventors of toys from Barbie Dolls to Trivial Pursuit. Within the documentary are conveniently scripted scenes where actors dramatize key moments where the Founders "risked everything" to bet on their big dream, which of course, went on to become a huge hit.

When my daughter turned to me and asked if that's what it's really like - to risk everything to become successful — I turned to her and said, "Yes, if you're lazy." I said "lazy" because I didn't want to say "stupid" but when she's an adult, I'll be sure to add that part...

When you’re figuring out how much a startup CEO's salary should be, there are a lot of factors to consider.

How much can the company afford to pay? What stage are you in? How much runway do you have? If you already have investors, what are their thoughts on the issue? How much do you need to support yourself and your family?

Those are just some of the questions that are probably rolling around in your head, whether you’re trying to figure out your salary as the CEO, you’re trying to figure out your co-founder’s salary as they take on the CEO position, or you’re thinking of bringing in an outside hire. Add on location, marital status, age, savings… and the list goes on and on and on.

So how do you determine what an average startup CEO salary sh...

Sometimes the biggest financial startup success comes one paycheck at a time.

In our startup ecosystem, we've become infatuated with the concept that in order to be a successful startup we've got to have some massive IPO or sale. We sometimes forget that 99% of startups actually don't have that outcome and those people are buying Ferraris just the same.

The way most startups get rich isn't by that fairy tale exit (those are awesome BTW!) but by chipping away at growth and financial outcome over a longer period of time that gets them to the same outcome.

Digging a Hole vs. Building a Ladder

Imagine we've got two different paths toward creating our financial success. We're all pretty familiar with the first one, which is "digging a hole" beca...

As Startups.com and Fundable founder Wil Schroter likes to says, “There’s not a lot of ‘fun’ in funding.”

Raising equity funding for your startup is a long, difficult, and often demoralizing process. However, if you’re successful, you walk away with money that will help your startup grow and become everything you hope it could become.

But despite these challenges, thousands of startups raise funding every year, implying that the potential rewards outweigh the guaranteed strife and risk. Here’s an outline of what a startup founder can expect at each startup funding stage.

Pre-Seed Funding

Pre-seed funding is the earliest startup funding stage, so early that many people don’t include it in the cycle of equity funding.

At this stage, founders...

As leaders, many of us regularly fall into a revolving-door trap when it comes to telling versus asking. And it’s most evident in meetings.

How many times do we march into a conference room with a list of things to say? Yet it’s far more prudent, productive, and profitable to shift from having all the answers to asking all the questions.

In fact, it’s so important that it might just be the core differentiator between a company’s culture and that of its competitors.

Stuck in an Always-Telling Rut

Why do we so quickly fall into the routine of telling instead of asking? Honestly, the reaction has roots in science.

Put simply, having all the ideas is a rush. Providing a quick solution that gets a group from point A to point B rapidly leads to ...

When a startup is bootstrapping, every last penny counts. Those early days of no or minimal funding are fraught for founders watching the number in the bank account get smaller and smaller but, unfortunately, most things that startups need cost money.

But what if they didn’t? What if, instead, you were able to trade your services for the services you so desperately need to get your startup off the ground?

Bringing Bartering Into The 21st Century

That’s the idea behind Currency, a new site that takes a very old concept — bartering — and make it totally 21st century. The site lets companies trade their “currency,” which they can define themselves, for other things that they need. So, for example, maybe you have a company that does stationary...

Starting a startup isn’t just about opening your doors or launching your website. Long before that happens, it’s about planning to launch.

There’s a real art form in the planning, and those who have launched a lot of startups — as we have — approach launching a new idea very differently from someone who’s just taking on their first startup.

Simply put — we emphasize spending as little time as possible on chasing ideas that may not work. We’re nuts about efficiency.

We know that time is both our friend and our greatest enemy. And we do everything we can to protect our time so it’s spent in the most efficient way possible.

So what does that actually look like? Here are 10 steps to launching a startup, from someone who’s been there (a few time...

It was recently reported that the co-Founder of WeWork Adam Neumann took over $700 million off the table from investors long before the company had gone public.

How do these Founders go about getting cash out of their startups long before the startups ever cash out themselves?

Why would investors let me take money off the table?

Investors will often dangle the option of providing some Founder liquidity only when the deal they are trying to get into feels incredibly competitive.

This happens only rarely, and only amongst investors who are open to providing some Founder liquidity (some are very against it!).

Generally speaking, it only helps the investor by allowing them to get into the deal but provides very little upside to the company a...