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Last week I was talking with an angel investor that was lamenting an investment gone bad. The investment, at the time, looked great: big market opportunity, strong (supposedly) sales pipeline, $3 million+ already invested with a pre-money valuation less than invested, and strong investor downside protection for the bridge round. Quickly, after making the investment, the wheels started coming off the pre-revenue company with the sales pipeline proving to be much too optimistic, the burn rate not getting any better, and management not making the hard decisions.

After he recounted the experience, I asked him how much the CEO made at time of investment: $175k. I asked about the CEO’s salary at the time of the major cuts post bridge round: $175k. At that point I mentioned the Peter Thiel opinion:

The lower the CEO salary, the more likely the startup is to succeed.

The angel investor said in retrospect that the CEO salary, especially after lack of progress and being pre-revenue, was a huge red flag. Moving forward he’s not going to make that same mistake twice.

What else? What do you think of CEO salary as the best indicator of startup success?

Earlier today I was talking with an entrepreneur and he was excited that an associate at a well known VC firm kept reaching out to talk with him. As a first time entrepreneur, the siren’s VC call is alluring, regardless of the VC’s job title. Quickly, I reminded the entrepreneur that associates at top VC funds are the best paid Ivy League educated junior cold callers out there.

Here are a few tips on handling calls from associates at VC firms:

• Remember that the associate has much more time than you do
• Consider setting aside one afternoon a month to do any VC calls back-to-back as opposed to handling them whenever
• Clarify before any calls whether it will be the associate or a partner — specifically request a partner on the call to get more info
• Start building a relationship with VCs before you need/want money
• Develop a list of questions in advance to gather industry info and introductions (the best VCs show value well in advance of investing)

Calls from associates at VC firms are part of life in startups. If you’re going to engage with them, make good use of your time.

What else? How do you handle calls from associates at VC firms?

Today I had lunch with an entrepreneur that’s been working on his own self-described lifestyle business for the past six years, making good money facilitating investment deals, and now wants to join a technology startup that’s building a great product with long-term value. He has a desire to be part of something larger than himself. I get introduced to many people that are looking for career and community advice like this but he came more prepared than most people I meet.

Here are some tips for finding the next startup job:

• Seek out warm introductions though mutual friends
• Develop a “hit” list of the top 50 startups in your community that you’re interested in and have this list ready to get introductions and feedback from whomever you meet
• Be specific about the types of roles and responsibilities you want
• Provide social proof that you’re smart and gets things done
• Look to pay it forward and help those you want help from

With all this said, the most important thing is to develop a game plan and execute against it. Work towards finding a great startup to join just like you would to get a startup off the ground — luck happens when opportunity meets preparation.

What else? What other tips do you have for finding a startup job?

A friend of mine is starting an ecommerce company so I asked a fellow EO member that owns an e-tail site for any advice. He mentioned SEO, customer service, and more as important to success along with three critical metrics. The metrics aren’t hard but they are incredibly important.

Here are the three critical metrics for an ecommerce site:

• Unique visitors to the site (web traffic)
• Conversion rate of unique visitors to customer (average is 1.5% – 2.5%)
• Average order per customer (the dollar amount spent by the typical customer)

In fact, with these three metrics you can figure out the revenue of an ecommerce company quickly. The metrics aren’t particularly difficult but they drive the business.

What else? What are some other critical metrics for an ecommerce site?

Recently my brother asked me for advice about evaluating software developer resumes as his successful Spanish dictionary startup is growing and hiring. The market for software developers is extremely competitive right now as startups and established companies are investing more in their web and mobile apps. A software developer should not be evaluated on her resume alone but it should be a good starting point in the hiring process.

Here are some tips for evaluating software developer resumes for a startup:

• Try and use the information provided to determine if they are smart and get things done
• Look for indications they enjoy programming for fun outside of work, like personal projects, open source projects, etc
• Research their cited Github account or open source projects and find out what they’ve contributed
• Absent any or little work experience look at the quality of their college education (e.g. Georgia Tech) as well as their overall GPA and major GPA
• Assess the selectiveness of their current employer as well as length of tenure at past positions (I like to see at least two years at each position, but this is very subjective)

My favorite early indicator of a good software developer is a true passion for coding demonstrated by personal projects outside of work. We still require potential developers to develop custom code during the hiring process, pass a technical assessment, write essays, and, most importantly, fit in our corporate culture. A well done resume gets a software developer in the door, which is only the beginning of the process.

What else? What other things do you look at when evaluating software developer resumes for a startup?

This afternoon I had the opportunity to talk with a young entrepreneur turned VC. After getting his MBA from a prestigious school he moved out west to try his hand at a technology startup. For the first nine months he worked on his own dime before he quickly raised a bit under $1 million from a traditional venture fund that lead the seed round, a couple professors from B-school, an individual angel investor, and some family members.

With 90% of the money spent, one pivot, and three theses proved wrong, he shutdown the startup and returned the remaining money to the investors. I asked about the experience, specifically how the angel investors felt once the startup was shutdown. He said he felt bad but moved on quickly. The VC fund said they’d back him again and the angel investors understood it doesn’t always work out.

The angel investors were sent a nice bottle of wine and life moved on.

A month later he joined a different VC firm and put entrepreneurship behind him.