Topics Archives • Page 2 of 3 • ROCK CENTER STARTUP GUIDE

Isolated woman sitting on stairs staring at ocean, seeming depressed

Entrepreneurs, Stress & Depression

Two entrepreneurs share their experiences with varying levels of stress and depression as twenty-somethings at early-stage startups.

Thinking about Firing Someone? CEOs Share Advice for Framing Your Decision

What do you do when your instinct tells you that someone has the potential to drag your company down? Deciding to let someone go is costly, complicated, and emotionally draining for everyone involved. Five entrepreneurs share tips on deciding to fire an employee—and how to do it in the least disruptive way possible.

Portrait of AlleyCorp's founder and CEO, Kevin Ryan, discussing traits of great business leaders

AlleyCorp’s Kevin Ryan on Traits of Great Business Leaders

Kevin P. Ryan, founder of several multiple billion-dollar tech companies spanning industries from mobile gift registry to news shares his process for building a business and hiring an outside CEO.

3-tiered layer cake with white frosting, upside to illustrate layering value when structuring founder equity

Layering Value—A Different Way of Dividing Founder Equity

Lara Hodgson, co-founder and CEO of NOW Corporation, shares how she and her partners assign value to founder contributions as they change over time and allocate founder equity iteratively.

Two entrepreneurs seated, discussing co-founder compatibility

Sunil Nagaraj of Ubiquity Ventures on Co-Founder Compatibility

Many founders start ventures with a friend, assuming their values and goals for the startup will align. But friendship doesn’t guarantee compatibility in business. Sunil Nagaraj, founding partner of Ubiquity Ventures shares what he learned about the importance of long-term co-founder compatibility.

Searching for a Co-Founder? Lara O’Connor Hodgson on Why Perspective Matters More than Skills

Choosing a partner who can bring a different perspective to the table help you balance the business. Lara O’Connor Hodgson reviews why good co-founder fit rests more on compatible values than complementary skills.

Dinesh Moorjani on Finding the Right Co-Founder

Finding the right co-founder for your venture is one of the biggest early challenges founders face. Dinesh Moorjani shares why co-founder compatibility and chemistry matter as much as skills.

Graphic of blackboard showing handwritten words related to how to think about co-founder equity splits

Co-Founder Equity Splits—Ways to Approach Allocations

How you divide equity reflects your values, directly impacts your co-founder relationship, and influences how your team and investors perceive your startup. Read more to learn methods for dividing equity that align with your values and can minimize conflict between founders.

graphic of 3 people seated around a table, discussing topics before coming to an agreement

3 Topics to Discuss before Writing a Founders’ Agreement

You found a great co-founder. When should you formalize your relationship? You may be tempted to draft a founders’ agreement to demonstrate trust in the partnership, but before you make a legal commitment, make sure you’re aligned with your co-founder in 3 critical areas.

graphic of silohuette of two heads illustrating different ways of thinking: growth mindset and skill sets

How Hiring for Growth Mindsets Can Help Your Startup Scale

As co-founder, CEO and President of her latest venture, Lara Hodgson doubled the company’s growth twice in four years. As she prepares her team to double in size again, she shares her insights on team building and why focusing on mindset is so important.

people seated at different sides of a conference table, person closest to camera is observing two people across the table, suggesting he is evaluating them for qualities VCs look for in startups

What Qualities Do VCs Look for in Founders? Investor Nick Grouf Shares Insights

In this short, focused interview with Shikhar Ghosh, Nick Grouf identifies the qualities and competencies that signal future success for many investors. He offers insightful takeaways about the importance of your business model, team composition, clarity of thought, and attitude towards risk that can help entrepreneurs understand what VCs want.

Scaling Your Startup? Focus More on People

What sets apart a founder who scales successfully? Many say it’s shifting your focus away from executing to building and managing your team. HBS professor Shikhar Ghosh talked with serial entrepreneur and investor Nick Grouf. In this quick exchange, Grouf shares core insights on why founders need to focus more on people, especially as their business scales.

Key Terms to Include in a Founders’ Agreement

A poorly-constructed agreement often leads to founder conflict which can kill your startups. We can’t promise that your founders’ agreement will prevent all founder conflict. But we can provide a framework that will help you avoid common mistakes and equip you to handle conflict.

Graphic image showing circle divided in half, indicating common mistake in structuring equity splits among co-founders.

Structuring Equity Splits to Mitigate Co-Founder Conflict

Before you begin discussing how to divide equity, the smartest thing you can do is to build in mechanisms to make your agreement dynamic. Learn the benefits and drawbacks of common methods.

How Culture Helped Careem’s CEO Scale a Startup into a Unicorn

Reflecting on Careem’s meteoric growth from 2012-2014, Careem’s co-founders Mudassir Sheikha, Magnus Olsson, and Abdulla Elyas share why creating a company culture was the key to scaling Careem.