Forums Search

No one tells Founders "Hey, you know what, it was a good run but you should probably stop killing yourself and just take the mulligan on this one." No one ever actually tells us it's OK to quit.

Instead, we build up this narrative in our head that we've got to burn through all of our savings, exhaust our health, and basically run ourselves into the ground to prove we didn't give up. But here's the problem — everyone else gave up a long, long time ago. They just never told us — and never will.

Investors Have No Incentive to Tell Us What's Up

When we were kids playing sports, and we were obviously winded, our coach would pull us out and tell us to take a breather. If our investors were our coaches, they'd hand us some amphetamines and tell us...

Every business is different yet what makes a successful wholesale distribution business in 2017 is the same no matter what products you sell. Cash flow planning, sales and inventory management and planning are key areas every B2B wholesale distribution business should be focusing on.

Here are 8 tips for running a successful wholesale distribution business in 2017.

1. Be the GURU of your Cash Flow position daily

Money in vs money out is a basic concept of cash flow, the tricky part is when cash is tied up in stock in your warehouse. It gets really complicated to forecast what will be sold, what to purchase and making sure monthly overheads are covered. This is a very delicate balancing act that could make or send any successful business int...

When you see about 50 investor pitch decks a week over 14 years, you see A LOT of repeat mistakes. And when you fix these decks, you see many successes.

People ask me: “How many slides should the startup pitch deck have?” Or they’re sticking to a template that forces them into something that just doesn’t work.

So is there one “right” way to do a pitch deck? I think so! But if everyone uses the same method, won’t they all look the same? The answer is a resounding no!

Buildings are built with the same idea — a foundation, frame, walls, windows, paint, etc. But each building has it’s unique characteristics. Without a proper structure, however, your building might collapse. So too, your pitch!

It’s All About The Story

So what is that elusive s...

People often wonder why they haven’t caught their “break” yet. They’re waiting for that moment when they’ll hit it big and everything will be like they dreamed.

I wanted to give a brief look at why it’s not some random occurrence. Breaks don’t just come along and say, “whelp, I guess it’s Tommy’s turn today!”

I’ll share some of my successes and failures so you can understand more about how the specific roads I chose led to any breaks that I got. I’ll also talk about the other roads I could have chosen, which would have clearly led to different outcomes.

Let’s look back to high school. When I was in high school I didn’t underst...

There's a more implicit social contract at a startup, which says that if our teams are going to kill themselves and take on risk to build something amazing with us, they rightfully expect some rewards for that risk. Let's take money off the table — because anyone can pay money and we all understand that.

What payback do our employees want that wasn't in their offer letter?

We Owe Them Our Attention

Nothing sucks worse than not being heard. We can almost map every major problem back to someone genuinely feeling like what they have to say just never really had an ear. The biggest casualty to startup growth is internal communication, but we're not really just talking about meetings and Slack messages. We're talking about folks no longer having...

Over the past six years, Applico has built over 300 apps, and I’ve learned a lot about how to find the perfect app developer at the right price. The primary driver of price is the cost of labor. For example, hiring offshore developers will be exponentially cheaper than hiring domestic developers, and an established firm will cost you more than a freelance hire.

Because there are so many different variables, the price for a mobile app could range anywhere from $5,000 to $500,000. The average price range will typically be somewhere between $100,000 and $300,000, and the entire development process takes about 12-20 weeks. It’s obviously a hefty investment, both in time and money. So in order to optimize your financial resources, here are the f...

Welcome to Phase Two of a four-part Splitting Equity Series. If you missed it, start your journey here: Introduction - Early Startup Equity — Getting it Right before continuing on if you haven’t already, and go in order from there.

Phase One - Startup Equity - Avoiding Early Mistakes

Phase Two - Part 1 - How Startup Equity Works

• Part 2 - Startup Stock Options

• Part 3 - Startup Stock Vesting ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Part 4 - Startup Stock Valuation

Phase Three - How to Split Equity

Phase Four - Equity Management

Let's continue!

Vesting is a way to allow members to "earn" their stock over some period of time or per specific milestones. A common "4-year vesting schedule" means that a member of the company will earn 25% of their stock or stock options per y...

What's the worst equity holder we could possibly have in our cap table? The one who isn't even here any longer.

We all know this, and yet for generations, we've built cap tables loaded with "absentee landlords" who provide no ongoing value but reap all the benefit of those that continue to drive the ship. Until recently the notion of "dead equity" has been just accepted and rarely challenged, leaving those that still work for the company to carry those that don't.

I'd like to poke a giant, trident-sized hole in this argument once and for all. And for my fellow Founders who are dealing with this issue at present, or soon will be, I want to provide you with some ammunition toward what will invariably be a tough and painful conversation.

Great...

Startups use their elevator pitch to quickly communicate their startup idea and value proposition in one or two sentences.

In our previous idea validation lessons, we focused on the importance of taking your initial idea and defining your problem, particular market, advantages, and customer needs. Now it’s time to refine those learnings into a polished Elevator Pitch and continue our startup idea validation.

The heart of every great Elevator Pitch includes 4 essential components:

ONE Nail The Problem

As we learned, great business ideas start with a well-defined problem and the ability to identify how painful that problem is. Now, we’ll concentrate on how to effectively articulate it in your elevator pitch.

TWO Explain The Solution

You’ve zeroed i...

All startups face the same issue when launched: Each strives to create the best product and achieve market compatibility, but not all startups are created equally. Without a doubt, focusing on product development and market entrance is important, but too much emphasis on these areas tends to eclipse broader foundational issues.

I’ve met hundreds of founding teams over the years. Some were ready for venture capitalist funding while others needed to keep percolating a bit longer. In order for startups to reel in venture capitalist backing, building and scaling a fundable founding team is paramount from the start.

There’s an expression: “Choose the right tool for the team.”

When that idea is flipped, it becomes a more inspired guideline that c...