Denny K Miu › Comments

"For those of us who grew up with auto shops in high schools (in the 70's) and had to fix our own rides knows that our car is more than just a fancy GPS and an iPhone adaptor. We understand that they…" - Denny K Miu

"We were honored to be given a pre-released copy of Nmap 5.0 by the inventor, Fyodor, and wrote a review based on first hand experience. We should all do our part to promote open source tools." - Denny K Miu

"We have just posted the first review of Nmap 5.0, enjoy. http://www.lovemytool.com/blog..." - Denny K Miu

"She is one of my favorite writers, someone who has actually been an entrepreneur, echoing a lot of what I have written recently about struggling entrepreneurs, especially the part about ... "How do you fund an early venture?" The answer is "You don't." http://www.startupforless.org" - Denny K Miu

"http://www.lovemytool.com/blog... 2nd part of the long article. Thanks, @bravura." - Denny K Miu

"I agree. I have written about my own experience which is for an LLC to elect to file tax as a S-Corp (filing a Form 2553). It is the best of both Worlds." - Denny K Miu

"For a bootstrapping entrepreneur, LLC is clearly the way to go. If and when you do receive VC funding (which is difficult if not impossible to do these day), you can do a tax-free transfer from a LLC to a C-Corp. In the meantime, it allows you maximum flexibility. The only big concern with LLC is that any income is taxed as personal income (not investment income) and therefore you would need to pay payroll tax (about 15%, before Federal and State tax). Also, the annual franchise fee is calculated based on "gross" income and not "net". This is an important subject. For those of us who are interested, I have written more on that in the following. http://www.startupforless.org" - Denny K Miu

"I subscribe to TWIT and Macbreak Weekly. I enjoyed the panel members (which are differently for the two shows, both the regular ones and the occasional). But what I enjoy the most is Laporte himself. I like his style and the effort that he puts in day in and day out to understand the technology. But mostly he is a very generous person, never cut off his guests and always let them be the experts. This is the first time that I have seen him standing up for himself and I like it. Good going, Leo." - Denny K Miu

"@apsurd, I am glad that you said it. This is my motto as well, don't explain, don't complain, true for an immigrant, even more so for any aspiring entrepreneur." - Denny K Miu

"@dejb, I was not being condescending and if my comment came across as such, I apologize deeply. I was merely saying that life is short and it is important not to take no for an answer. This is true if you are an immigrant or not. I just happen to be one." - Denny K Miu

"I was fifteen when I came to this country. I didn't speak English. I eventually graduated from high school but since at the time, Chinese was not taught in school, it was not considered a foreign language and therefore could not be used to satisfy the language requirement for getting into University. Instead, I applied to the local city college and spend the first semester taking high school math, physics and chemistry. Then after two more years, my English improved well enough that I was able to transfer to a four-year school, majoring in engineering. I also worked part-time in a laundry at minimum wage to save enough money so that I can move away from home to finish my degree. After my bachelor degree, I worked summer before returning to graduate school. Then after my master, I worked a few years before returning to get my Ph.D. Then I worked again and after a few years, took a teaching job at UCLA. When I was forty years old, I left the comfort of academia to start my first..." - Denny K Miu

"That sounds great. We are ALL on your side. Good luck." - Denny K Miu

"joshhart: If you are still reading the comments, you need to decide if you are a co-founder or an employee. If you believe you are an employee, then structure a better deal that is more fair which basically says that you are getting paid at market value ($3K now and $2K as deferred compensation which is essentially a senior loan to the company that the owner needs to pay you back in the future). Then at the same time, negotiate a stock plan which you can purchase upfront for just a few hundred dollars which the owner can buy back if you do not perform. However, my own advise is that being employee #1, you are essentially a co-founder (because of the current down market, there isn't going to be much upsides for a long long time)." - Denny K Miu

"I think it is a poor deal not because of the money or the tax consequence. I think it is a poor deal because he is being treated as an employee and not as a co-founder. Entrepreneurs often preceive their net worth based on how much effort they have put in and not on how much more it will take to get to the end goal. So it is not the details that made this such a bad deal but the assumption." - Denny K Miu

"But he is not getting $60K. He is getting $36K, or $18 an hour if he works just 40 hours a week. I suspect he works at least twice that which basically says that he will be working below minimum wage. My point is that he is being treated as an employee and as an employee, he is being cheated." - Denny K Miu

"I think everyone is giving you really good advise here so I am going to take a different tact which is to look at this from the owner's perspective (i.e., the founder). My guess is that he believes that he/she has invested quite a bit already and that this is his/her company and not yours. He needs you as an employee and he is treating you as such. But he is not willing to pay you market value so he is deducting $2K from your pay in exchange for a small piece of the company at an inflated price that at the moment only he can justify. What makes this one a brain-dead offer is that he is asking you to pay tax on your monthly gift." - Denny K Miu

"One thing to keep in mind of a LLC is that the annual franchise fee is not limited to $800. If you start to make money, you will need to pay a fee calculated based on the "gross" revenue, not "net" revenue (which is sales minus expenses). Also, you will need to pay self-employment tax on any money leftover. I summarize some of the tradeoffs in the following ... http://www.lovemytool.com/blog..." - Denny K Miu

"Reading -> Starting -> Writing Reading about startups was very important when I was in the learning mode. Then once I started, I stopped reading. Now that I have sold my business, I started writing. http://www.StartupForLess.org" - Denny K Miu

"It is not really a question of authority. I don't try to exert authority over my kids and I certainly did not grow up feeling that my parents have exerted control over me. On the other hand, Asian family (and perhaps true also with other immigrant family) tend to have a tighter social network by comparison so perhaps that could be mis-interpreted. The point of my original comment is that it is really more an issue of communication. Parents have a hard time understanding children as well. It is a two-way mirror." - Denny K Miu

"I wish your title were "Obsessive Parents" or "Obsessive Immigrant Parents". I am Asian. I am an immigrant. I am a parent. I am also a son with Asian parent. But I was also a Professor at UCLA for nine years so I had met quite a few students with Asian parents, immigrant parents or just plain parents. My observation is that your predicament is not unique. Everyone tries to learn from their mistakes or try to compensate for their own limitation. The world is changing too fast for all of us. Parents might act like we know the answers, putting pressure and expectation on our kids. In realty, we are scare of the future just like everyone else." - Denny K Miu

"It sounds like from what you are describing, you are more like the VP of Engineering and less the CTO of the company. VP of Engineering should report directly to the CEO and should be responsible for the entire engineering staff, similar to the VP of Sales who also reports directly to the CEO and should be responsible for the entire sales staff. If the CEO believes that he needs a new VP of Engineering, then essentially he is telling you that he is not happy with your performance and he needs to replace you." - Denny K Miu

"Boxee rocks. As a user, I am excited with the product. As a fellow entrepreneur, I am gratified to see someone else also pursuing a dream and turning it into a game changer. Like many of us who had experienced economic downturns in the past, we are convinced that recovery will come. But when it does, it would have a lot more to do with genesis of the new than reborn of the old. This one is worth watching." - Denny K Miu

"I actually didn't know at first, since I found it on another site. Then a reader points it out to me and I have added the proper reference. It is a great piece of artwork. http://www.patrickmoberg.com/" - Denny K Miu

"It is an online community site for networking professionals who share their first hand experience with both open source and commercial monitoring tools. Most people have gotten the initial bias and seems to like the name. It is memorable, at least." - Denny K Miu

"I hope my article doesn't come across partisan. I am not. I am just a struggling entrepreneur who is un-connected with the bigger community. Last night was a great night, even for technologists." - Denny K Miu

"I agree. However, it is really how I feel. Today is not just about electing a new President, it is also about recognizing that America has changed. The old politics of spiting the electorates among various groups really doesn't work anymore. Anyway, I can go on and on about how emotional and inspired I feel ... a sense of renewal and do-over." - Denny K Miu

I think Paulson/Bernanke would say the same about US now. - Paul Denlinger

good to see some of you still read me / interact on FF. - Loic Le Meur from twhirl

"Tonight I went back to Empero Taste to give them another chance. I have been there for lunch a few times and for dinner once, when it was first open. Last few times, I was disappointed but felt that…" - Denny K Miu

"An excellent post ... a must read for every entrepreneur, especially CEO, who are still trying to figure out the potential impact of the current downturn. In the spirit of sharing experience, the following was own. Thanks again. http://furrier.org/2008......" - Denny K Miu

"I survived the last economic downturn. I left my first startup which didn't survive the telecom bubble and eventually restart my career in 2003. In the first presidential debate, John McCain uttered the words "this is the end of the beginning" as if the $700B bailout signified the worst of the financial ruin and we should start to work on the recovery. This might be true for the general economy (I doubt it) but it is clearly not true for startups. My advise to startup CEO's is that this is just the "beginning of the beginning". Whatever you do, don't be an optimist. This will get a lot worse for a lot longer. If you don't have enough cash to sustain burnrate for at least two years, you will die. Unfortunately, right now your cash is your most valuable asset, not your employees. Cutting headcount is the only way to conserve cash. Don't rely on the VC's to save your company. They are the wrong people to turn to in a downturn. http://www.lovemytool.com/blog..." - Denny K Miu