Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 7, 2012

Week three’s breakdown covered topics like how hard momentum is to turn around, and how participating preferred stock works. The entrepreneur launched Zomm in late 2010 and did $700k in sales that year. I’ve been writing up reviews of this season’s Shark Tank pitches from a silicon valley VCs perspective.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 110

ConversionXL

MARCH 19, 2012

A 2010 study by The Nielsen Company confirmed what we already knew – people read reviews and decide by them. A 2010 study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies found that consumers are 67% more likely to buy from the brands they follow on Twitter, and 51% more likely to buy from a brand they follow on Facebook.

Social Media 129

Social Media Technical Review Arlington Clickthrough 129

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

The primary rights in these documents, ranked in order of importance in my opinion are: Non-participating preferred liquidation preference. TheFunded released their “Plain Preferred&# term sheet in August 2009. The Series Seed documents were released in March 2010. What rights does the Series Seed have?

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

It is 2010. That means that they likely raised money at a particularly high price relative to 2010 prices. If you want to raise venture capital more easily the advice could be quite practical and counter-intuitive. Many companies that are raising B or C venture capital rounds right now raised their initial money in 2005-2008.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Common Stock Dividend 289

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

We could do more in 2010 with more VC investment; the doubling assumes only ratable increase in marketing spend to achieve profitability. I took money with a 3x participating preferred liquidation preference with 8% compounded interest annually. But more spend = more viral opps = more revenue down the road.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

Altgate

DECEMBER 18, 2008

Let’s recap how expensive a 3x liquidation preference really is. Say you raise $8MM at $17MM pre-money ($25MM post) with a 3x participating preferred. Even companies that have countercyclical businesses are finding cash more expensive. Bookmark the permalink.

Liquidation Preference 31

Liquidation Preference Venture Capital Post-Money Valuation Participating Preferred 31

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

Is the preference structure for preferred shareholders at the startup you work at Standard Preferred or Participating Preferred? 2009 2010 2011. Should your startup be acquired, do you have legal control over what role, title and responsibilities you’ll have post-acquisition?

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62