Datanyze founder Ilya Semin discusses founder equity split philosophy with Nathan Latka.
Insight
Semin: Salaries make up 95% to 98% of any startup's costs
“Well, there's not, well, obviously, salaries it's nine, 95, 98% of any startup costs, right?”
Insight
Founders should avoid splitting startup equity evenly, says Semin
“No, I don't think it's a good idea to split it evenly, to be honest.”
Insight
Semin: Enterprise buyers avoid signing multi-year contracts with garage startups
“The problem when you start selling to enterprise customers is that they don't, Really like to deal with small companies, you know, two guys in the garage, like they don't like it. So they're like, well, well, we're going to sign this three-year contract. How d…”
Insight
Enterprise buyers avoid unbacked startups over continuity fears
“The problem when you start selling to enterprise customers is that they don't, Really like to deal with small companies, you know, two guys in the garage, like they don't like it. So they're like, well, well, we're going to sign this three-year contract. How d…”
Disclosure
Datanyze tripled its ARR from $2M to $6M in 2015
“In 2015, we went from about two million dollars at the beginning of the year to about six million at the end of the year.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Datanyze is cash flow positive in most operating months
“No, we're cashflow positive, right? So some months, of course, especially if it's a big event, you know, like dream force, we'll spend more money. And in this case, we'll probably be cashflow negative, but in most cases we're cashflow positive.”