Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Tags: Startup Advice This Week in Venture Capital. It was accept the terms or go into bankruptcy so we took the money.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

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SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

When I was raising money in late 1999 I had an investment team in Germany (I was in the UK) suggest that they should get a lower valuation than others because they were ex McKinsey guys and had better access to industry. Tags: Raising Venture Capital Startup Advice Tech Market Analysis Term Sheets.

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

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APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. I saw it myself in 1999-2002 when it was hard to charge for my product because all of my competitors raised large rounds of capital and were giving away their products free fueled by large VC rounds.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Early Stage Software Review 269

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Greycroft is Alan’s venture capital firm that recently raised its second fund ($130 million) with offices in both New York and LA. I’m typing this from the lawn of Alan Patricof’s “Greycroft” home in East Hampton – my first time in the Hamptons. We learned this weekend that it was named after his East Hampton home.

PR 279

PR Technical Review Portfolio Customer Development 279

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SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

by Michael Woolf that is worth any startup founder reading to get a sense of perspective on the reality warp that is startup world during a frothy market such as 1997-1999, 2005-2007 or 2012-2014. On the other hand, exits at lower prices are easier with these providers of capital.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

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FEBRUARY 14, 2010

In 1999 I was in Japan doing a strategy project for the board of directors of Sony. It’s strange to me to think that customers with years of experience would ever listen to twenty-something smarties from great MBA’s who have never worked in your industry before – but that’s a different story. Numbers are important.

Investment Bankers 415

Investment Bankers Mobile Software Review Japan 415

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

I kept pointing to the artificial gains in the Nasdaq in 1999 and said, “just because you bought in Feb ’99 and sold in Sept ’99 for a large gain doesn’t meant the asset was correctly priced.&# My message to everybody at the time, “Sell! At dinner parties I was wrong for several years but I stuck to my guns.

Florida 299

Florida Technical Review San Antonio Los Angeles 299

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JULY 25, 2011

When I first started as a startup CEO in 1999 there were no guides on raising venture capital. This article originally ran on TechCrunch. tl;dr version: If you’re an entrepreneur or VC or will be working in this industry - buy this. There were no explanations for all of the confusing details outlined in a term sheet.

Liquidation Preference 304

Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Cap Table Participating Preferred 304

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

I recently appeared on Fox Business News covering the topic of raising Venture Capital. I’m guessing it’s easier to get a meeting these days from Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures than from Evan Williams at Twitter. Social networks - When I raised capital in 1999 it was hard to know who knew the VCs.

Dividend 210

Dividend Venture Capital Social Network Portfolio 210

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MAY 19, 2019

It was 1999 and I had valuable Internet skills. After just 4 years I become managing partner of what is now the largest venture capital fund in Los Angeles. It is better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission After 5 years in Europe I decided I really wanted to work in Japan. That was 12 years ago. Develop your voice.

Japan 253

Japan Chicago Europe South America 253

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NOVEMBER 4, 2010

The framework of his book has profoundly altered how I think about the technology market and affects how I thought about building my businesses and how I think about investing in venture capital. In 1999-2000 they weren’t doing enterprise-wide installations at Merrill Lynch, Dell and Cisco. Enter Salesforce.com.

Vesting 376

Vesting Framework Revenue Technology 376

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FEBRUARY 25, 2010

When I was raising money for my first company we had closed a seed round in 1999 and were working on our A round. We had many term sheets (it was 1999 and we had a pulse) and we were deciding which one to take. It was December 1999. It quickly became impossible to raise venture capital. Let me start with a story.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

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NOVEMBER 4, 2009

If you never raise another round of venture capital (a big if) and if your company is sold for the normal venture exit ($50 million on average for 200 or so annually that get sold) then what is your stake? It was 1999. Ventro was trading at $8 billion on sub $2 million of revenue. It was easy to do these calcs.

Stock Options 418

Stock Options Stock Liquidation Preference Option Pool 418

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OCTOBER 15, 2009

This is a story of one of the risks of venture capital. But some companies have entrepreneurs that seem talented on paper, are in a space that seems interesting to investors and are able to raise venture capital early in the company’s existence. True story.)

Founder 299

Founder Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 299

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SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

I’m not going to cover in this post the obvious post-show marketing tasks such as following up on all those business cards you grabbed, communicating with all those people who registered at your site and leveraging your new found fame to score venture capital. million … yes that was seed in 1999!)

South Africa 310

South Africa Europe Disintermediation Poland 310

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APRIL 27, 2010

My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming. I was paid less in salary in 2004 than I was paid at the job I quit in 1999 (a job I had held 8+ years). So how did I come to work in the world of venture capital? We built a long-term relationship.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

Coupled with my participating preferred from 1999 and 2000 I had more than $55 million of liquidation preferences. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice VC Industry startup technology vc venture capital. In my first company I had to raise money in April 2001 or die. Tweet This Post Facebook.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

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JANUARY 16, 2012

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. So why would raising venture capital be any different. I’ve raised in boom markets and when everybody thought the Internet was a fraud. I’ve raised seed rounds and A-D rounds.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

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JANUARY 31, 2010

Mine started this way … I started my first company in the “go-go years&# of the Internet: 1999. We raised a seed round of capital in 1999 and our first venture capital round was the first week of March 2000 (e.g. We found a way to get a round of venture capital closed after all of this.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley San Diego Non-Compete 308

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FEBRUARY 22, 2011

You may feel as I did in 1999 that the more smart people around the table the more intros you’ll have, the more sage advice you’ll receive and the more impressive you’ll seem to outsiders. The Perils of Many. I understand the appeal of having many VC firms on your cap table.

Dilution 314

Dilution Cap Table Due Diligence Option Pool 314

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AUGUST 9, 2011

2010 was the year of the “super angel&# and 2011 has to date been the year of unbelievably highly priced B,C & D rounds of venture capital. Don’t spend like it’s 1999. Venture capital is an industry best served up from 7-year aged casks. We did not. Fundings boomed. It’s too early.

Stock 305

Stock Technical Review Marketing Greece 305

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AUGUST 30, 2010

While not 1999 all over again but I am observing first-hand the signs of funding frenzy. I’m a venture capital investor so I will still be looking to make investments. VCs have also gone back to writing checks because as an industry we can’t be seen as “sitting on the sidelines” for years at a time. In the end.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Technical Review Balance Sheet Government 298

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SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

Ask yourself this — how did it go when a bunch of Internet companies when public in 1998–1999 with limited revenues or oversight? So however populist the idea of cutting out people from the process may be, I strongly doubt it will replace the role of the existing venture capital ecosystem. Regulation will come.

Government 280

Government Distribution Stock United States 280