David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As an early-stage VC I love this phase. Sam also had a vision as early as 2012 about how MakeSpace would be a large employer of middle-income jobs: The company would hire employees rather than just have contractors and he would lead the effort to ensure they had opportunities for growth and benefits for their families.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

blog.nahurst.com

JULY 19, 2010

The graphic below balances the risks cofounders take with their relative contributions to help answer this question. This covers one of the most common situations I encounter: For a pre-funding web startup whose team includes only a non-technical cofounder, how much equity should an incoming technical cofounder get?

Technical Cofounder 43

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Equity Salary 43

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

What is it, and how should founders think about it? note: We’d like to be extra clear that founders should not take on venture debt if they don’t have 100% visibility into repaying the loan, as banks that need to recoup their loan my force the company or you as the guarantor into liquidation or bankruptcy.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. But we weren’t optimizing for dilution – we were building a $1 billion+ company and we wanted the runway to succeed. My co-founder and other management team members wanted us to hold off and see whether we could get the deal done at a higher price. Yes, this was stupid.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

In the old days VCs funded off of a “pre-money” valuation. If you add the pre-money valuation (let’s say $8 million) to the amount of money you’re raising (let’s say $2 million) you get the post-money valuation. So how DOES a VC think about financings at early stages? Size of my check.

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Post-Money Valuation Dilution 150

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR – disclaimer, I represent the Founders Institute and was involved in drafting this document). If new investors get better rights in a future equity financings (such as registration rights, price-based anti-dilution, redemption rights, etc.), under $500K). Board seat.

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Seed investors are aplenty and of course they need downstream money to fuel their early-stage bets. Co-founder discontent. Reference checking is to confirm or disprove a strong, positive intuition you already have about founders that could lead to an investment or a pass. You have to deal with CEOs who resign.

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

Did raising money at a $500 million valuation help secure the $1 billion deal? “it’s smart to use an impending investment valuation to drive a higher acquisition valuation” I would like to amend her statement slightly to read, “it’s smart to use an impending investment valuation to drive an higher acquisition.”

Valuation 316

Valuation Balance Sheet Dilution Term Sheet 316

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

With that in mind, let’s look at an illustration of these trends below, which demonstrates what’s been happening to early-stage financing rounds over the last 15 years or so. Series A investors invested quite early, often before product/market fit. FWIW, that is not how we operate.).

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

David Teten

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

I’ve often found it helpful to have on hand a simple model showing the impact of each financing stages on all team members, suitable for sharing with everyone in the company. Download the Startup Options Valuation model here. Such a model is particularly helpful for those founders looking for a co-founder or key employee.

Employee 155

Employee IRR Startup Mexico 155

Feld Thoughts

JULY 14, 2015

Assuming equity is raised at or above that cap, the total dilution, before the new money, is 16.6% (equivalent to an equity financing of $1m at a $6m post money valuation. The term sheet converts all the convertible debt into a post-money valuation of $100, essentially making the convertible debt worthless.

Recapitalization 70

Recapitalization Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Angel Investor 70

Feld Thoughts

JULY 29, 2011

Finance Friday’s gets off the ground with today’s post by introducing you to an imaginary startup, the entrepreneurs that we’ll being following throughout the series, and their first challenges: splitting up the founders’ equity and addressing the case where one of the founders provides the initial seed capital for the business.

Equity 137

Equity Finance Pre-Money Valuation Denver 137

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 28, 2013

Every time he opens his mouth about founder diversity, he seems completely out of his league to address the topic. The biggest question I think VC''s face right now is whether or not, in the future, the best founders will look and act like the best founders of the past. That''s less than 10%. That''s 25%.

Venture Capital 152

Venture Capital Cofounder IRR Dilution 152

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

Second, more damning is the “signaling problem.&# This means that if a VC invests in your seed round and does not participate in a future round the next round investor will think to himself, “well, if Big VC Co. They said that they didn’t want the extra money or dilution. I’m sure this happens, too.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Term Sheet Early Stage Silicon Valley 265

Berkonomics

AUGUST 27, 2015

He has served as advisor to and member of numerous financial exchanges, and was the founder and CEO of Arthur Lipper Corporation and co-founder and Chairman of New York & Foreign Securities Corporation. Today he serves as Chairman of British Far East Holdings Ltd.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Balance Sheet Stock Options Valuation 48

The Startup Lawyer

FEBRUARY 4, 2011

But before your startup signs up and cashes that $[XX,000] check, your startup’s co-founders should sit down and evaluate the incubator’s offer. The following are some issues to consider and actions to take before accepting an incubator’s offer: (1) Calculate Valuation and Determine Value.

Incubator 105

Incubator Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Advisory Board 105

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

And since a startup thatsucceeds ordinarily makes its founders rich, that implies gettingrich is doable too. A lot ofwould-be startup founders think the key to the whole process is theinitial idea, and from that point all you have to do is execute.Venture capitalists know better. Ideally you want between two and four founders.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

The Next Web

DECEMBER 3, 2013

Be realistic with your valuation. If you’re asked to give a valuation for your startup, be honest. The person reading your application form will have a wealth of experience in this area and know if you’re applying the infamous ‘reality distortion field’ pioneered by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. ”So Be honest.

Startup 153

Startup Cofounder Valuation Dilution 153

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

My founders and I started the company about three years ago. The way that I leverage that is when I’m faced with a decision before I go to make the decision and let’s say my executive team and I or my co-founder and I or just myself I get an idea and I think what if we were to do X, Y and Z. Bates: It sure is.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

venturehacks.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Offers from top-tier firms increase your valuation. When you evaluate a candidate, ask yourself whether she is likely to increase the next round’s share price (include the dilution of her market rate options). Offers from top-tier firms increase your valuation. We previously posted a table of market rates for employees.

Equity 40

Equity Cap Table Valuation RSS 40

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

Since the iControl system chronicles all meetings, I was able to find the automatic picture snapped from my first meeting with the founders, Reza Raji and Chris Stevens on April 22, 2004. At this time, we had secured a term sheet from a co-investor from one of my other angel investments (Thanks, Graeme!)

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28