Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

At an accelerator … Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago. Truthfully.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

Garcetti worked with LegalZoom, ShopZilla, Hulu and others to try and change the tax ordinance to support the emergence of our biggest tech companies in LA city only to be stymied by the head of the office of finance, Antoinette Christovale as outlined in this article. As does the mayor of Austin.

Los Angeles 325

Los Angeles San Francisco LP Austin 325

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000. When venture capitalists scale back investing activities it can be very swift and leave many companies that are in the process of fund raising hung out to dry.

Burn Rate 263

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Private Equity 263

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. We will hopefully close on a $2-3 million financing round at some point in January and I can get back to the full time work of running my business. I am very grateful to my friend Zoli Erdos for finding this retro posting for me at web.archive.org.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

This lasted from about 2001-2004. Venture Financings we Discussed. Founded in Sunnyvale, CA in 2001. When he entered the industry he caught the tail end of the dot com bubble and then was immediately thrust into a 3-year period of “triage&# where VC’s had to deal with problems in portfolio companies.

San Francisco 230

San Francisco Los Angeles Cofounder SMS 230

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

They made great introductions, they helped you get financed, the put in more money themselves, they helped you strategically and they helped you with your exit. My chips were down in late 2000 / early 2001. For some reason most entrepreneurs do. Don’t let that be you. It’s an effen love fest.&#. My story briefly.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Term Sheet Cofounder Partner 288

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

But there are also problems / risks: - the funding environment might change dramatically – there may never be a next round (see: March 2000, September 11, 2001 and September 2008). - Let’s assume that the $2 million buys 25% of your company, which is the norm in an equity financing. .&# If it works you’re a hero.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Startup Silicon Valley Warrant 319

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

What micro VCs need to consider is what happens when several of your companies want to grow and require VC financing? Or when the economy turns downward and they all need financing extensions? You have to be careful about “getting ahead of yourself&# or you make the next financing more difficult.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Silicon Valley Seed Stage Finance 308

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2010

Within a year, by late 2000 / early 2001 consulting firms were firing people en masse. On July 27th, 2001 Accenture IPO’s and many of the partners grew fabulously wealthy. Don’t be psyched out by your competitors big financing round, latest product release or business development deal.

Turkey 302

Turkey Differentiation IP Technical Review 302

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 18, 2009

This was soon after the bursting of the dot com bubble – in early 2001. We got their commitment and our existing investors bridged us until the new financing round could close. The agreement was that both sets of investors would fund the combined entity, we would reduce overlapped costs and become a healthier company.

Germany 298

Germany Entrepreneur Merger Los Angeles 298

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. These include building products, recruiting, managing your finances, marketing, selling, getting feedback from customers and … fund raising. I’ve raised seed rounds and A-D rounds. Call it your functional pie chart.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

There’s a big business in Finance working with Excel, but that’s an outlier. Lesson: Joel had been building a community of readers since 2001. Even though it has been wildly successful, the number of businesses built on Excel never exploded the way that building applications for Windows did.

Software Review 285

Software Review Software St. Louis API 285