Home › Insights › Startups

Startups: Founders, the First Board and the Next Round

For founders and startup CEOs, seed to Series C, venture-backed or bootstrapped: the co-founder relationship, the first board, the next round, the first executive hires, and the exit, to private equity or the next investor. Each essay gives you the question investors and boards actually ask and the number to answer it with.

For founders, by email: the first board, the next round, the first executive hires and the exit.

Featured · September 23, 2026

How to Pick the Best Startup CEO Coach: Seven Tests

How to pick the best startup CEO coach: what founders face, what the evidence says coaching can do, and seven tests for one call. From a Nasdaq IPO founder.

Read the essay →
Most read
September 23, 2026

How to Find the Best B2B SaaS Coach: Seven Tests for CEOs

How to find the best B2B SaaS coach: the seat by the numbers, what coaching can and cannot fix, and seven tests for one call. From a Nasdaq IPO founder-CEO.

Get the startup essays by email.

The first board, the next round, the first executive hires and the exit. Already subscribed? Change your topics from the link in any issue.

Other subjects are on the Insights page. Confirm your email to subscribe. Unsubscribe anytime.