{"id":13024,"date":"2020-04-17T17:43:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T21:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/?p=13024"},"modified":"2020-04-17T18:09:27","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T22:09:27","slug":"joel-franusic-on-signs-your-startup-is-doomed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/joel-franusic-on-signs-your-startup-is-doomed\/","title":{"rendered":"Jo\u00c3\u00abl Franusic on Signs Your Startup Is Doomed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Larry Chiang<\/div>\n
By taking half stock and half cash, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re investing in your startup. You didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t invest capital. But like a vc, you have a vested interest in the common stock. <\/div>\n
When that stock rises, you get rich<\/div>\n
If that stock goes to zero, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just left with the salary they paid you. Much of the compensation at a startup job is via stock compensation and appreciation. <\/div>\n
Knowing about deep underground capital knowledge helps if you see signs your startup is doomed <\/div>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was 17 when I got my first job. I kept seeing signs that the company was doomed, but dismissed them reasoning “I’m just inexperienced”<\/span><\/div>\n
– Jo\u00c3\u00abl Franusic<\/b><\/p>\n
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<\/td>\nJo\u00c3\u00abl Franusic (@jf<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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1\/30\/15, 4:18 PM<\/a><\/div>\n
I was 17 when I got my first job. I kept seeing signs that the company was doomed, but dismissed them reasoning “I’m just inexperienced”<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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<\/span><\/td>\nJo\u00c3\u00abl Franusic (@jf<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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1\/30\/15, 4:42 PM<\/font><\/a><\/div>\n
#signsyourcompanyisdoomed<\/a>: you have 20+ customers, each customer has their own source control repository<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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<\/span><\/td>\nJo\u00c3\u00abl Franusic (@jf<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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1\/30\/15, 4:23 PM<\/font><\/a><\/div>\n
#signsyourcompanyisdoomed<\/a>: Most of your code is written by consultants.<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Most of your code is written by consultants.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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This is bad because you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not agile at all. <\/span><\/div>\n

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<\/span><\/td>\nJo\u00c3\u00abl Franusic (@jf<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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1\/30\/15, 4:21 PM<\/font><\/a><\/div>\n
#signsyourcompanyisdoomed<\/a>: After raising a round of funding from a bank, the founders both buy personal homes, BMWs, and build a new office<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Cash conservation is key<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/span><\/td>\nJo\u00c3\u00abl Franusic (@jf<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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9\/16\/19, 3:12 PM<\/font><\/a><\/div>\n
I don’t know if it’s a sign of a doomed company per-se, but I can’t remember ever interacting with the founders of the startup referenced above. <\/p>\n
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In comparison, I’ve had frequent and meaningful interactions with the founders of subsequent startups, even when they grew large.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Blogged from my personal iPhone, 650-283-8008, number that Steve Jobs texted me on<\/span><\/div>\n
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By Larry Chiang By taking half stock and half cash, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re investing in your startup. You didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t invest capital. But like a vc, you have a vested interest in the common stock.  When that stock rises, you get rich If that stock goes to zero, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just left with the salary they paid you. Much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-underground-capital-knowledge"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}