2. S
Michael Jones S
• Founded 3 Companies, Sold 3
• Raised $3M, Lost most of it for my S
investors.
• Sit on 3 Startup Boards, 3 Mature
Company Boards (30M+)
• Sold 3, Assisted 2, Bought 3
• Invested in 4 Startups
• CEO of Tsavo
3. You
• First Time Entrepreneurs?
• Second Time Entrepreneurs?
• Current Company Funded?
• Angel?
• VC?
4. Getting Started
• Sole CEO
• How Democracy often fails in Capitalism
• Partners & Founders & Roles
• Key Staff
• Buy/Sell Agreements & General Legal Setup
• Aim for success, prepare for failure
5. Founder Lessons
• Demise of PBJ & Lack of Buy/Sell Agreement
• Exiting Founder in Userplane with Buy/Sell
Agreement
6. Consulting your way to
Product
• Consulting & Development
Services
• Flickr, Blogger, Userplane &
Many Others
7.
8. Userplane, Early Years
• 3 Founders (Tech, Product, Business)
• Consulting Jobs to Pay Bills
• Clients: Studios, Red Bull, etc.
• Introduction of AmIHot & Development of
Product
• 6 Months of Market/Sales Before Traction
9. Pros / Cons
PRO CON
Pay Bills Massive Distraction
Takes forever to launch
Learn new industries
internal project
Can leverage consulting Doing crappy websites,
engagement to build license draining your creativity and
of software (presell) burning your staff
Might be your only option : )
10. Getting $$
• Friends & Family
• Angel
• Formalized Angel Group
• VC
• Strategic Investor (?)
11. Breakdown On Raise
Amount Option
<200k Friends & Family
200<500k Angel
Formalized Angel
500<1M
(TCA)
1M+ VC
12. Raising Friends & Family
• Chances are you will lose their money, will
you lose their friendship?
• Your responsibility to your seed investors.
• How much do they get?
• Lesson: Investing.com and Alan!
13. Spend Management
Always question where you and your team are
spending their time, don’t be ridiculously cheap
(Don’t build your own PC’s)
Item Option
Staff How to pay?
Servers Trade/Branding
Legal Firm Selection
Contractors Design/Tech
Rent Shared Spaces
14. Recommended Startup
Vendors
Service Vendor
Legal Greg Gilman
Accounting David Chaskis
PR Edge Communications
Hosting Media Temple
Payroll Paychex
15. The Board
• The Role of your Board
• Difference between Advisors and Directors
• Who goes on the board and why?
• All Founders, CEO? CTO?
• What is the board good for?
• How much do I give / pay to my board?
• How do I communicate to my Board?
