startup CEO | Tom Nora Startup Community

by tomnora | Aug 3, 2012 | startup CEO

Opens up this market to those below wildfire.

CEO and Senior Executive Compensation in Private Companies

by tomnora | Aug 2, 2012 | startup CEO

The median private company CEO compensation package totaled $362,900 in 2011. To put this number in perspective, it is just 3.8% of the $9.6 million median compensation package given to S&P 500 CEOs in 2011.
Median total compensation for private company CEOs increased only 1.9% from 2010’s $356,133.
80.4% of private company CEOs received a bonus in 2011.
The next most highly compensated positions in private companies by median after the CEO are, in order, President, Chief Operations Officer, and Chief Financial Officer.

Unbalanced Business Models, or “Stick a Fork in #KLOUT

by tomnora | Jul 18, 2012 | Business Development, early stage, startup CEO, venture

Here is a blog I wrote last February, after giving Klout a try then feeling cheated of my time. Here we are 5 months later as I see unfortunate colleagues trying it.

“Stick a Fork in Klout – They Are Done” — Frustrated User, November 2011

One of the reasons that Google and Facebook and Twitter continue to march forward and upward is that they simply work and don’t exploit people very much. Maybe Facebook exploits more than others, but they overcompensate by giving more than they get – balancing their needs (your eyeballs and time on their ads) with providing amazing amount of previously unrealized value to your life – information, sharing, bite sized things that make you feel good or laugh, in Google’s case great tools to run your life or business. In the end they win revenue-wise, your clicks get them revenue, but I can say I’ve gotten so many benefits from these companies (yes, even Facebook). Their value went far beyond even their imagination.

Then you have companies like Klout and a few others. I know, Klout has raised $40 million, has gotten several of the social-rati to testify to it’s greatness, it will soon have more accuracy, more SM metrics, etc. But I’ve “played Klout” twice – about a year ago and then again over the past 2 weeks, and the up/down experience is pretty unsatisfying. Maybe it was a good idea, but in the end a bad product with too many missteps to recover.

Here are some of the problems:

1) It doesn’t work – If you look at the”most influential” in any category it’s pretty far from the actual truth.

2) It is very incomplete. It misses over 50% of my actual Internet/Social activity.

3) It can be easily gamed- I’ve easily manipulated it.

4) People change their behavior – from their real priorities to Klouts priorities to improve their score.

5) The Perks are mostly non-existent –

They fool you into believing that your coolness, i.e. ability to develop your business rep, is controlled by them. Shame.

So don’t waste your time, it’s all over there. It was barely worth my time to write this except maybe it will help others not waste theirs. @tomnora

A Million Failures

by tomnora | Jun 30, 2012 | Angel Investor, audio, Business Development, CEO Succession, early stage, Hawaii, Launch, startup, startup CEO, Tom Nora

About a year ago, during a speech I was giving for a Hacker News group, someone in the audience brought up the notion that “Failure Is Good”, i.e. Fail Fast, Fail Often. This is a major change in thinking from the past, due to many factors, and it makes a lot of sense. Rapid prototyping of web apps and mobile apps now means rapid prototyping of startups.

Since everything in life is becoming an app and MVP is good enough to actually attract revenue and/or funding, you can actually try something and throw it away within a few weeks. The cost for this is from $0 to $5,ooo.

The problem is when someone tries this over and over with the same result – junking it. I see a lot of this in my circles There is a price for doing this; you wer yourself out, lose credibility, waste peoples money and time, lose friends, etc.

A better option is to vastly improve your odds each time by getting smarter, refining, capitalizing on mistakes, getting help in the areas where you’re weak, have less ego and more focus on not accepting failure.

If you add up all the attempts to launch startups over the past 2-3 years by all participants, there are probably at least a million failures. Many of these were stepping stones to better things and/or a quite valuable learning process, maturity, personal growth. But over half were probably unnecessary ego bursts and fleeting ideas where deep down inside the founder knows it ain’t gonna happen but keeps going for many reasons.

Most people are very good at one thing at a time, not five so pick ONE and try that role and let as many others as possible help prevent failure number one million and one. @tomnora