Tag Archives: startups

3 Ridiculously Slow Systems for Startup Disruption – Idea dump Monday

The world is too damn slow.

  • Product Delivery.
  • Buying a Home.
  • Education.

Product Delivery

Why does it take 5 days for Amazon to deliver my product from their warehouse less than an hour away?  How could a startup step up and make the process better, faster?

Here’s the ultimate ideal: Continue reading

Startup founders equity split

Someone asked on HN how we go about allocating equity with our “auction” system.  So here it is again:

We total up the cash available and our runway, say $60k for 2 founders and 12 months. Total equity is of course 100%.

So at one extreme, one founder gets $60K over the year in wages and 0% equity while the other gets 100% equity and no wage packet. At the other end, its $30K each for 50% equity each. Somewhere inbetween is a sweet spot.

The core concept is get the cash now, or potentially more later.

Start with the equal split, then begin negotiating for the value per equity point. Eventually you’ll reach a point where you both agree on equity/wage split.

The added bonus is you’ve also technically valued your startup in the process (value per equity point*100) and have an indication of how much your relative belief in the success of the startup.

Since I tend to keep my expenses down and as an example of the last one I took 55% equity for a $7k drop in monthly cash. Cofounder gets a 7K bonus over the year (he was starting a family at the time) and was happy with his 45%.

Voting rights are equal. Always. Do not mess with these in the startup phase as they give a sense of ownership and control that founders need to commit.

Why Hackers Need to Get More Sleep: You are Not a Machine

The zone has a certain magic around it.  Once in, we don’t leave until the project is done, even if that means days and sometimes weeks (or 7 YEARS in the case of that guy who built his own 64-bit operating system because Jesus told him too [I wish I was kidding – check Youtube]).  Unfortunately, staying up all night hacking together a masterpiece leads to flexible modification of our natural evolutionary sleep cycles.  And this is bad.  Bad for our health, bad for those around us and bad for productivity in the days that follow.

Here’s why it’s a good idea to get some f’n sleep before you get that SDF keys permanently imprinted on your face:

Affect of lack of sleep on the following day’s productivity:

MIND

  • Procrastination.
  • Poor decision making.
  • Inability to think clearly.
  • Decreased comprehension.
  • More likely to “time-waste” and stare into space.
  • Reduced mental focus.
  • You make more mistakes.

BODY

  • Muscle weakness.
  • Headaches.
  • Lethargy.
  • Increased likelihood of poor food choices (junk food).
  • Weight gain.
  • Poor posture leading to unusual fat deposits.

RELATIONSHIPS

  • Irritability.
  • Mood swings.

Chores

  • Let’ sbe honest, once you exit the zone, you aren’t getting anything done for a few days.

Conclusion

Of course it’s fun, else you wouldn’t stay up all night coding an OCR engine for solitaire using Java.  But be mindful of the costs associated with doing all nighters without sleep for that masterpiece.  Ask yourself regularly if rest and recuperation would lead to better long term productivity, health and wellbeing.

Take regular breaks, breath deep and sleep if you feel you need it.

I’d add to lay off coffee binges, single units, at well timed intervals work best.

Hot tips for dealing with the morning after? Drop a comment.

Startup showoff.io – first impressions and feedback

Today we’re taking a look at a recently announced new tech startup; showoff.io.  It stood out  as a clear example of some early errors start-ups make on the key basics.  These are becoming more frequent as of late as more programmers move into becoming entrepreneurs and are worth highlighting.
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