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From Flamemobiles to the beaches of Hawaii: My Professional Odyssey

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Me (on the left) and my brother, Cliff with our new servers at CapitalStream. I blame the 1979 Ford Pinto. In my final year at Washington State, I was contemplating law school, student loans, and a car with a peculiar talent for catching fire when rear-ended—the only source of my transportation. My brother, Cliff, convinced me that a better option was to join him and make millions as a tech entrepreneur. While I was studying in Japan and traveling around the world on my way home, he had given up his aspirations for medical school and launched a POS systems integration business. The prospect of riches won out over debt and the flamemobile. As a systems integrator, we found a few challenges we needed to continually overcome. First, because we didn’t own the software, the ISV could make or break our business. We also noticed financing created a barrier. Most of our systems were leased, and the lease approval process would take two weeks. We thought it would be a clever idea to build a sof
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How to Avoid Red Flags When Preparing Your Startup for Investor Due Diligence

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  You worked to hard to mess things up Fundraising is hard. It's not like the movies or shark tank where a fancy pitch and 20 minutes will have investors showering you with cash. There is a myth that raising funds can be easy - it's not. So many factors outside your control combine to make the process frustrating. As a startup founder you want to focus on your product and team. You want to sell to customers. Talking to investors can feel like a distraction from your core vision. It's not. It's your job. You wanted to be a startup founder, raising money is a key part of the job description. Once you finally get an investor interested you need to prepare yourself for the questions they will ask during their due diligence. Putting yourself in their shoes and understanding why they will ask for certain information will help. Don’t get frustrated. It may seem like you are being asked for unimportant information. I can’t tell you how many startup CEOs have complained about th
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Benefits and Risks of Using Node.js for Web Development: The impact of ADMs on performance

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Crafted using ChatGPT with a cheezy free graphic Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine. It was created in 2009 by Ryan Dahl and has gained widespread popularity among developers for its ability to build scalable network applications. In this white paper, we will discuss the reasons for the creation of Node.js, its importance in the development community, and its popularity with developers.  We will also address the limitations and risks that developers should be aware of when working with Node.js, including issues with security, performance, and reliability. The primary reason for the creation of Node.js was to provide a way for developers to build fast, scalable network applications using JavaScript. Prior to the creation of Node.js, JavaScript was primarily used for client-side development, meaning that it was executed in the browser and could not access server resources. This made it difficult for developers to build full-stack applications using
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Why Don't More Startups Advertise to Angel Investors?

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In the Fall of 2013, updates to the JOBS Act introduced significant changes to how startups can solicit funding from investors. In particular the changes to  rule 506  allowed, for the first time, the ability to make an offer across virtually all forms of media. This advertisement is known as general solicitation. Why then do so few startups take advantage of this rule change when raising funds? I believe there are three big reasons the new rules haven’t spurred significant changes in the fundraising habits of startups: New Players, Old Rules Lawyers and advisors are used to the old rules. Old habits are hard to change and lawyers are nothing if not conservative. The potential negative impacts on both the startup and the lawyer from misdirected advice is enough to make many lawyers hesitant to delve into new territory until a status quo has been established. Who Can Play the Game? The second reason has to do with accredited versus non-accredited investors. To be an acc
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The Go-To-Market Self Assessment Reberic

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My firm, Ramp Equity Partners, is hired to create transformative growth. We work with strong leaders and bright minds in innovative companies. They aim to create disruptive and industry-changing products. Even the best executives in the world can benefit from sober self-assessment. We created a go-to-market assessment rubric comprised of 24 questions in five key areas where execution is key to creating transformative growth. We do this at the start of our engagement. Start by asking each team member to independently score the company through this rubric. Compare your scores. Does your team feel the same about your strengths and weaknesses? Average your scores in each of the five subjects. We suggest that scores under four would require a plan of action. Beyond highlighting your strengths and weaknesses, this may also shine a light on areas where the executive team is disconnected from each other – areas where the team’s plans can be better developed and communicated. _____
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The Five Pillar Go-To-Market Strategy

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A look at the last thirty years will show you time and again how innovative products - built by smart and talented people have failed, or fallen far short of their potential. You may recall a favorite program, service or startup that seemed destined for successes before something went wrong along the way. Too often we see great products die shortly after they get to market. We celebrate the brilliant technical minds of our engineering teams for good reasons; they find creative solutions to challenging problems. In truth, selling technology - bringing new programs and services to market – may be even more difficult than building the product in the first place. My firm, Ramp Equity Partners, is hired to address the unique challenges early stage technology companies face when taking new services to market. The executives and board members for the firms that hire us, see Ramp as rainmakers. We built a track record of working with small teams to do great things, but we lear
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