Mashable’s Post

When hiring A-players for your startup team, most of the time you can offer them the salary they deserve. 💸 But what if, on top of that, you also offer them some stock options? According to Radu Georgescu, chairman of the board at SeedBlink, "the ESOP encourages employees to go beyond their own specializations, to think beyond what they know how to do." Read Radu's full opinion on the topic below, and let us know if you have already implemented an ESOP in your startup. ⬇ #esop #techfounder #productivity

When hiring A-players for your startup team, most of the time you can offer them the salary they deserve. 💸 But what if, on top of that, you also offer them some stock options? According to Radu Georgescu, chairman of the board at SeedBlink, "the ESOP encourages employees to go beyond their own specializations, to think beyond what they know how to do." Read Radu's full opinion on the topic below, and let us know if you have already implemented an ESOP in your startup. ⬇ #esop #techfounder #productivity

“What happens when startup founders can’t meet payroll?” No 1: Don’t keep paying yourself 😭✋🏾 Watch Seye Bandele and Ifeoma Nwobu answer more questions on navigating startups here. link.grey.co/grey8answers1 #Grey8Answers

Cheers, to our long-time hustler Jaan Jagomägi! 🥂🫡 Jaan has been integral to our journey since 2018 when FleetFox was a super-scrappy startup. Back then we were doing <10K/mo revenue - our “technology” was a drag-and-drop website built on Weebly, a basic 3rd-party plugin for collecting orders, a phone, and a bunch of messy spreadsheets. 🍼 HQ team was squatting in a 10m2 garage back-room, working behind a computer wearing winter coats because there was no heating. We had no idea what our business model was or what “unit economics” meant - we barely even knew how to wash cars professionally. We were unsure whether we were a franchising company, a manufacturer of “car-washing vans”, a subscription business, or something else. We had no clue how to perform expansion, what is a “process”, etc. 🫣 What we did know, is that we wanted to put another #unicorn on the #Estonian map, by building the most scalable car servicing business in the world. 🦄 We had just won 3rd place on the Estonian version of “Shark Tank”, and tried to raise our first serious investment of €280K. We told investors “To become scalable - we need to start building our in-house technology”, to which the investors asked: “So, who from your team knows how to build technology?“. Clearly, we had ZERO competence on that topic in our team. 🫥 Through a referral, we ended up interviewing Jaan for our CTO position. It felt a bit weird even - three 24-year-old rookie founders trying to attract an A+ talent, with 20+ years of experience in the tech world. Despite everything, Jaan saw potential in what we were building and decided to join us ("UpSteam" back then), even postponing his salary until we secured our investment round. #Commitment 💪 For the first time, I learned how to properly build technology. Together with a tech-agency partner, very soon we had the first version of our award-winning Client App + Backend solution. A journey to becoming a tech company had started! It was a total game-changer, allowing us to grow faster, optimize costs, speed up expansion, etc. 🌱 Today, technology is part of our DNA. Jaan played a pivotal role in making that a reality. Throughout 6+ years we’ve made a lot of “oopsies”, but all this has helped us learn, and become the experts we are today. It’s a hard fact that without Jaan’s impact, we wouldn’t be here today, and for that, I am forever grateful to you! 🚀 Thanks to your immaculate and structured architecture skills, our new "heir to the mantle" has no problem continuing where you left off. 🫴 Every ending is a new beginning, and FleetFox will use this as an opportunity to turn the page and continue to innovate and improve. As for Jaan, I’m 100% confident that his next adventure will be just as impactful. There are countless companies out there that would be lucky to have someone of his caliber. Thank you, Jaan Jagomägi, for everything you’ve done for FleetFox. Your impact here will be felt for years to come. Let's Fox it up! 🦊

London-based HR operations platform Zelt has raised $6M in a funding round led by Nauta, with additional participation from Venrex and Episode 1 Ventures. The company, founded by Chris Priebe, plans to use this funding to expand its product offerings, enter new geographies, and improve features as it addresses a $50bn global opportunity in HR tech. Lucy Adams | Tech.eu https://lnkd.in/d-dtykFi #hrtech

One of the best things you can do as a startup? Ship fast. Last Friday afternoon, we shipped an update. One of our customers immediately provided feedback that would enhance their workflow (and) benefit other customers. 70 mins later, we shipped that improvement. When you’re building a startup, your edge over slow-moving incumbents is this: - Talk to customers. - Respond quickly. - Deliver fast. It’s an opportunity to strengthen trust and build deeper connections with your customers. These small, incremental improvements, paired with great customer support, can lay the foundation for something big: Customer Love ❤️ — #ConstructionPayroll #HR #Software #ConTech #PevailingWage #CertifiedPayroll

Closing a company is a difficult call for any entrepreneur. When a startup decides to shut down, all the stakeholders need to be informed in advance and the whole process must be properly and legally planned and executed to make the exit easy for everyone. From a legal standpoint, there are basically three ways to shut down a startup – Fast Track Exit Mode Court or Tribunal Route Voluntary Closure #windingdown #winding #windingup #startupfunding #startup #startuplife #startupbusiness #StartUpSuccess #StartupTips #startups #StartupSupport #startupstory #startupstories #startupshowup #startuplaw #startuplawyer #startupcommunity #startupcompany #startupculture #startupcoach #StartupChallenge #startupconsulting #StartupAwards #startupadvice #startupaccelerator #startupaccounting #startupbusinesses #StartupBranding #startupbusinessowners #startupbusinesstips #startupdreams #startupevent #startupecosystem #StartupExperience #startupessentials #startupfounders #StartupFestival #startupfundraising #startupfashion #startupgrind #startupgrowth #startupguide #startupgoals #StartupGuidance #StartupHub #startuphustle #StartupHiring #startuphacks #startuphelp #startupindia https://lnkd.in/dBBYFEsB

A match made in Hook :) I'm very bullish on our new portfolio company: Stairling. Mimoun (CEO) and Antonin (CTO) met during our co-founder residency last February and are now working on Stairling: An HR platform for ride-hailing service drivers. The legal status of these workers has been a issue for several years and created friction in the industry. Stairling solves that, they register the gig workers under a unique cooperative legal status, helping them get the benefits of an employee with the freedom of an independent entrepreneur. Mimoun, the sector expert, previously founded a car-leasing company for ride-hailing service drivers called Findrive. Antonin, the tech legend, learned how to code at 42 in 2017 (graduating in just one year). He worked as a full stack engineer at Société Générale before launching his tech agency building products for the financial sector. They launched 2 weeks ago and they already have over 1000 drivers waiting to be onboarded. Some very promising early metrics - stay tuned. So happy that this founder couple is getting along very well and is on the road to building a great company. PS: The picture is behind the scenes of when I interviewed them in Station F last week. We'll be releasing the full interview soon. 👉 If you're looking to launch a groundbreaking tech company but are missing a cofounder, guidance, or funding, Hook is the place for you. The application form is in the comments.

Closing a company is a difficult call for any entrepreneur. When a startup decides to shut down, all the stakeholders need to be informed in advance and the whole process must be properly and legally planned and executed to make the exit easy for everyone. From a legal standpoint, there are basically three ways to shut down a startup – Fast Track Exit Mode Court or Tribunal Route Voluntary Closure #windingdown #winding #windingup #startupfunding #startup #startuplife #startupbusiness #StartUpSuccess #StartupTips #startups #StartupSupport #startupstory #startupstories #startupshowup #startuplaw #startuplawyer #startupcommunity #startupcompany #startupculture #startupcoach #StartupChallenge #startupconsulting #StartupAwards #startupadvice #startupaccelerator #startupaccounting #startupbusinesses #StartupBranding #startupbusinessowners #startupbusinesstips #startupdreams #startupevent #startupecosystem #StartupExperience #startupessentials #startupfounders #StartupFestival #startupfundraising #startupfashion #startupgrind #startupgrowth #startupguide #startupgoals #StartupGuidance #StartupHub #startuphustle #StartupHiring #startuphacks #startuphelp #startupindia https://lnkd.in/dBBYFEsB

Closing a company is a difficult call for any entrepreneur. When a startup decides to shut down, all the stakeholders need to be informed in advance and the whole process must be properly and legally planned and executed to make the exit easy for everyone. From a legal standpoint, there are basically three ways to shut down a startup – Fast Track Exit Mode Court or Tribunal Route Voluntary Closure #windingdown #winding #windingup #startupfunding #startup #startuplife #startupbusiness #StartUpSuccess #StartupTips #startups #StartupSupport #startupstory #startupstories #startupshowup #startuplaw #startuplawyer #startupcommunity #startupcompany #startupculture #startupcoach #StartupChallenge #startupconsulting #StartupAwards #startupadvice #startupaccelerator #startupaccounting #startupbusinesses #StartupBranding #startupbusinessowners #startupbusinesstips #startupdreams #startupevent #startupecosystem #StartupExperience #startupessentials #startupfounders #StartupFestival #startupfundraising #startupfashion #startupgrind #startupgrowth #startupguide #startupgoals #StartupGuidance #StartupHub #startuphustle #StartupHiring #startuphacks #startuphelp #startupindia https://lnkd.in/dBBYFEsB