Follow on from previous post on Staff compensation

An Interesting post from the two guys at Pure VC ,it explains better than my thoughts were on culture etc...


"PureVC"
How many founders do you need for a startup?
Brad has posted today about the topic of founders and how many are needed for a startup. Interestingly, there is a table showing some famous startups and the number of founders. Apparently, two founders seems about average. I personally don't believe there is a magic number. There must be enough of a core nucleus to sustain the vision if someone decides to bail. There must be few enough so that the founding group does not get bogged down by size. The reason I think the topic is interesting is not because there is a "good" number of founders, but more because it touches on the topic of founder ownership.
In working with entrepreneurs, I think there is an obsessive concern with dilution among founders of a startup. Too often I find that when people form a startup they are very weary of sharing the idea with others or bringing others on board. All they want is the funding - they fear that taking on additional founders or employees during the formative stages will dilute their equity.
My response is always that if you are worried about equity, then being greedy is going to be what prevents your equity from being worth anything. Do you want to own 100% of something worthless? or 25% of something extremely valuable?
Sometimes it is better to bring in more people to have more energy, enthusiasm, and ideas. If you are obsessed with equity and people jumping ship prematurely, then feel free to make clauses that allow buyback of founder's stock if they leave within a certain period of time. Feel free to have noncompete clauses. Do whatever you need to do to allay those fears that other people will dilute your ownership. Think of the founding group as being the core nucleus of the operation. You want a strong group with a similar vision. You want individuals that complement each other. You don't want people overextending themselves and doing too much. You don't want people who will clash. You want everyone bringing something to the table.
Let me once again say that the most valuable thing in a startup should be its equity - do whatever you can to increase this value, even if it means giving some away to bring in talent. By seeing this big picture your entrepreneurial experience will be more rewarding and you will be able to share this success with those early founders - these relationships will be something that you will cherish and that you will likely continue to enjoy as you start your next endeavor.

What do you compensate your employees with ?

So what do you pay your employees and why should they work for you ?


I had a think about this last night, what would attract me to a company, or what am I looking for in my next job with regards to package....it is a question that needs to be asked in a start up, how do you attract and retain the best ? Pay market rate or better, Stock options, Pension, Private health care ...these are all good...even get a discounted gym membership for the company...but the key think for attraction and retention is word of mouth ? what is your companies reputation out in the market, is it a sought after place for people to work....I looked at a job local to me, good role, working in a related field, but I knew one of the founders and he is a real piece of work..he had been instrumental in killing his first company he started....(also they have had real difficulty in raising funding wonder why ?) So in answer to my question there is no simple answer, but to start with I suggest build your founding team with respected folk, both in academia and in personal relations, if the guy was a nightmare in the Lab, then he will be a nightmare with your employees.....really think about who you are going to be commiting a big part of your life to when you start a company....it will have a big impact on your future wealth and health....



From the list above of what do you pay..there are some hidden benefits to your company, easy to use PHC, this means you will have staff back to work faster if they are seriously ill and require to be hospitalized. If you have guys on the road a lot think about one the personal valet companies, takes the hassle out of travelling with luggage....and the gym membership will give you a return as well...healthy and motiviated staff if they use it...so look at the benefits and be smart about what you offer think out side the box....


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And to something completely different have a read at this post I found on naming your company / product


Check out this blog article called “10 Company Name Types on TechCrunch: Pros and Cons.” The author of the blog, Chris Johnson, provides an analysis of these types of names:
Real words
Compounds
Phrases
Blends
Tweaked words
Affixed words
Made up or obscure origin
Puns
People’s names (real or fictitious)
Initials and Acronyms

This article provides a very good conceptual framework for the process of naming a company or product.