Ask the Wizard

It's time to take up that new year's resolution to post more often and crank out my q1 post.
There's been some discussion in the tech blogosphere about startups and their need to have a clear busin...

I’ve had a few questions recently from folks who have received first round financing term sheets in which the proposed board makeup seems over the top, from my perspective. Here is a composite (sor...

I got a package delivered to me from Moosejaw.com a couple weeks ago, and it reminded me of something I haven’t written about here yet, namely, how important it is for your company to have a specif...

A wizard follower (I call them followers now; this is how one builds one’s own cult) writes to ask: We’re growing the business from four people to twenty, and in our current structure, everybody re...

Let’s pull a question from the MBA bin. I’ve spoken a few times to MBA schools that have mistakenly invited me in to talk about starting and running companies, and the question I always get at thes...

Good question about organizational behavior in startups and office configuration, a topic about which the FeedBurner cofounders have very definite opinions.
“Oh great Wizard, what is the ideal offi...

A brieft post! The first and possibly the last. I and Chicago-based technology entrepreneur and investor Dan Malven got into an email discussion a few months ago after my financing term sheet post ...

To say that the Wizard has not been answering his mail would be a dramatic understatement. Woe betide the person that has mistakenly turned to me for guidance over the past couple months. What can ...

A Wizard reader writes (or I should say "wrote", as this came in almost a month ago):
“My product is almost ready to go, it will make money in the early going as the model is pretty straightforward...

Brad and Jason have a great post up over on Ask The VC regarding the often asked first-time entrepreneur question How many shares should I create for my new company?. This is directly related to a ...