[EVENT] Red Rocket Office Hours With George Deeb: Tomorrow Monday April 21st 2-5pm.

If anyone has any pressing questions about your business, Red Rocket's George Deeb will be downtown Chicago tomorrow, Monday April 21st from 2-5pm with some time to kill between other meetings.  If interested, George will be holding a last minute office hours session at the food court on the 2nd floor of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. 

To express your interest in meeting with George, please send an email to us via the contact form on our website.  In such email, summarize your business, size, stage, needs, budgets or other relevant information about yourself, your business and your challenges.  If George can add you to his schedule, he will reply with a good time to meet in the above range.  Based on the volume of leads, George may not be able to meet with all of you, and apologizes ahead of time, if he can't fit you into his schedule.  If you do not hear back from George, assume he was unable to meet with you.

For future posts, please follow Red Rocket on Twitter:  @RedRocketVC.

5 Pitfalls to Avoid When Joining Someone Else's Startup

Typically, entrepreneurs start their own business. But, from time to time, they will see a unique opportunity to join somebody else’s startup, either as investing CEO or as a new member of the executive team.
Here are five things you need to assess before making the leap

Read the rest of this post in The Next Web, which I guest authored this week.

For future posts, please follow me on Twitter at:  @georgedeeb.

Nominations Now Open for Moxie Awards in Chicago-- Vote @Freebie_App, @EnsembleHQ and @GeorgeDeeb

Nominations are now open for the third annual Moxie Awards, celebrating the best entrepreneurs and companies in Chicago's digital startup/tech ecosystem.  Voting is open through through April 30th, after which time the finalists will be announced.  You can vote once a day at this link: http://moxieawards.builtinchicago.org/nominate.

If you are needing inspiration of who to vote for, consider Red Rocket's portfolio company, Freebie, for best consumer startup, Ensemble for best service provider and our own George Deeb for best mentor (assuming you are enjoying the valuable startup lessons shared in Red Rocket's Blog).  Thank you for your votes and shoutouts in social media here.

And, if there are any other startups or entrepreneurs in Chicago who deserve some love here, be sure to call them out in the comments section below.

For future posts, please follow Red Rocket on Twitter at:  @RedRocketVC.

Consider Sharing Part-Time Executives Between Startups--The Same Brain at 20% Cost

The cost of a proven C-Level executive inside a startup can be around $150,000 to 250,000 per person. When adding together a CEO, CMO, COO, CFO and CTO, that could total $1,000,000 a year in salary alone, just for your five person senior team. Most startups cannot afford this kind of spend, until after they have raised a material round of venture capital or are driving material revenues. Instead, they opt to go without that role filled, merge mutiple roles into one body or downgrade the talent level to a VP position to make it more affordable.

But, what is the most important driver of success for a startup? The team!! Exactly the thing startups should not be cutting back on. So, how can a startup attract the high-power talent they need, at a budget they can afford? How about sharing executives between startups. You get the same brain involved with your company, on an affordable part-time basis.

Read the rest of this post in Forbes, which I guest authored this week.

For future posts, please follow me on Twitter at:  @georgedeeb.

What the Evolving VC Market Means to Startups Raising Capital

Boy, how times have changed for the venture capital market over the last decade. Here are a few of the overriding trends (according to data collected by the National Venture Capital Association over the years):

• The number of VC firms has materially reduced
• The mix of VC firms has polarized away from the middle, and towards early stage or late stage
• The amount of venture capital dollars raised by funds is materially lower than historical levels
• The capital raised is dominated by the monster size-funds focusing on later-stage investments, creating any early-stage gap

What are driving these trends?

Read the rest of this post in Forbes, which I guest authored this week.

For future posts, please follow me on Twitter at:  @georgedeeb.