Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

But delaying or avoiding the conversation often results in it being more awkward than it needs to be. And lastly, a chunk of our CEO Reid Hoffman’s equity was attributed to the fact that he provided the initial ~$750K in seed capital for the company.

Cofounder 255

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 255

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

In reality the “private capital market” now really consists of three distinct markets: Seed capital (the start), Venture capital (scale or bust) and Growth Capital (private IPOs). That is why you’ve seen so many VC firms that only 20 years ago have $150 million funds raise $ billion growth vehicle.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 15, 2013

Provide some sort of seed capital to their founders. Not every accelerator is/could be/would be a member in GAN, nor is it designed that way. To become a member, each accelerator must meet the following strict criteria: Operate a 3-6 month long program. Take no less than 5 and no more than 12 companies at a time.

Global 179

Global Networking United States Seed Money 179

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

As the seed-stage startup fundraise process has received more transparency in recent years, ranging from published advice on how to raise seed capital to increased availability through AngelList, Funders Club, and various accelerator programs, I’ve noticed another trend emerging.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

Genuine VC

AUGUST 14, 2012

For entrepreneurs, seeking seed capital means meeting with numerous VC firms and sometimes dozens of angels… fun? Introductions to customers, long-term advisors, business development partners can result from the fundraising process, as those early conversations turn into real relationships. Those three letters.

Seed Capital 163

Seed Capital Customer Development Partner Developer 163

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

But delaying or avoiding the conversation often results in it being more awkward than it needs to be. And lastly, a chunk of our CEO Reid Hoffman’s equity was attributed to the fact that he provided the initial ~$750K in seed capital for the company.

Cofounder 173

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 173

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

Raising Seed Capital. Most startup founders do not have enough capital to launch their companies and need to raise money at some point. Among the most common methods of funding used by startups when raising seed capital is “Convertible Debt Financing.” Bridge notes/loans are an example of convertible debt.

Finance 93

Finance Accredited Investor Angel Investor Seed Capital 93

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2012

This clause attempts to protect the conversion price of stock of Angel investors, prior to additional financing, from being reduced to a price equal to the price per share paid in a later “down” round. Investors may provide money in stages or tranches, based on defined milestones, to decrease investment risk. Anti-dilution protection.

Term Sheet 223

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Post-Money Valuation 223

Gust

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

Another use of convertible note bridge financing is to make a quick injection of seed capital into a new startup when the investor and entrepreneur already know and trust each other; it’s better than a handshake, but far quicker and easier to complete than a real Series A round.

Finance 178

Finance Term Sheet Preferred Stock Bridge Financing 178

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This clause attempts to protect the conversion price of stock of angel investors, prior to additional financing, from being reduced to a price equal to the price per share paid in a later “down” round. Investors may provide money in stages or tranches, based on defined milestones, to decrease investment risk. Anti-dilution protection.

Term Sheet 227

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Post-Money Valuation 227

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Today, NextView Ventures is excited to release a pillar project in our Growth Guides series: pitch deck templates for raising seed capital. For context, last year, based on questions from our existing portfolio, we launched two board deck templates for seed-stage startups. Usually, a more human interaction works better.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Startup Seed Capital Audience 120

Gust

OCTOBER 17, 2011

This clause attempts to protect the conversion price of stock of angel investors, prior to additional financing, from being reduced to a price equal to the price per share paid in a later “down” round. Investors may provide money in stages or tranches, based on defined milestones, to decrease investment risk. Anti-dilution protection.

Term Sheet 158

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Post-Money Valuation 158

Up and Running

MAY 2, 2014

I learned this lesson when I raised the first round of seed capital for my startup PopInShop , an online platform that connects brands and boutiques to facilitate short-term, cross-promotional shopping events. Instead, people want to get to know you, the entrepreneur, and to see your progress, even if over a short time period.

Angel Investor 146

Angel Investor Seed Capital Venture Capital Early Stage 146

Reid Hoffman

DECEMBER 6, 2019

This is just one of the many insights that Wences and I covered during the conversations we’ve had down here. But, just as every strength has a weakness, diverse entrepreneurial ecosystems like Argentina can teach Silicon Valley (and others) important lessons about global entrepreneurship. My quintessential teacher here is Wences.

Argentina 36

Argentina Global Silicon Valley South America 36

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 28, 2017

Instead I will make a few observations about how an investor might think about the impact of ICOs / token launches on the venture capital industry, in particular, and some of the downstream ramifications that need to wrestled with. Need for growth capital.

Early Stage 20

Early Stage Equity Venture Capital Government 20

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 28, 2017

Instead I will make a few observations about how an investor might think about the impact of ICOs / token launches on the venture capital industry, in particular, and some of the downstream ramifications that need to wrestled with. Need for growth capital.

Early Stage 20

Early Stage Equity Venture Capital Government 20

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital. You help them on stories, act as a source, develop real relationships, read their stories and eventually when you have news they’re more willing to have a conversation.

PR 319

PR Venture Capital Hiring Seed Capital 319

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 2, 2016

Venture Capital and entrepreneurship was dramatically out of favor. Early stage and seed capital was extremely difficult to find. At the time, talking about this stuff was a conversation stopper of the sort that Michael Burry (played brilliantly by Christian Bale) seems to generate every time he talks to someone.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital Seed Capital Early Stage Partner 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

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 12, 2018

Take an inside look: [link] VP of Product at Optimizely Claire Vo kicked off the first discussion of the day “Leading the Team: Being the Boss” which was followed by “How to Raise Seed Capital” led by Investment Director at Shell Ventures Kirk Coburn, “Advocating for Yourself” lead by health care executive, board member and innovator Cindy Kent , and (..)

Cofounder 48

Cofounder Texas Dallas Seed Capital 48

Gust

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Angel investors don’t expect to get repaid, nor do they really want to get repaid; the return on their investment, if the startup proves a success, will come in conversion to equity followed by an eventual liquidity event (sale or IPO of the company), with a return of at least 5x or 10x the initial investment if all goes well.

Finance 134

Finance Convertible Security Equity Seed Stage 134

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

It was a great conversation and I thought it would be a good idea to do some visible networking with Aaron to get to know him better. A few years ago “venture capital” was a revenue model. Instead of a handshake and “so what do you do” the conversation evolves over time and each person's unique strengths come through.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Southern California Startup SEO 150

Scott Edward Walker

JUNE 13, 2011

” - @alexanderljung [link] (at 27:02) Walker Blog-Related In case you missed it, here’s my post regarding conversion rights of investors in a Series A term sheet: [link] How Do I Raise Seed Capital If I Don’t Know Any Investors? [link]. Less is more.”

Term Sheet 45

Term Sheet Seed Capital Conversion Rights RSS 45

Gust

OCTOBER 5, 2011

In case it isn’t clear by now, angel investors aren’t in the business of making risky early stage investments in order to earn 6% interest on their money, or even 10%— the upside is all in conversion to equity—so the interest rate isn’t a major point of negotiation. These deal terms are simple but significant.

Finance 79

Finance Preferred Stock Term Sheet Early Stage 79

Austin Startup

APRIL 28, 2019

I put that in quotations, because, as I’ll expound, there is a start-up industrial complex that is designed to fleece novice founders from their seed capital with predatory fees, terms, etc. Also, I’m going to start just writing accelerator, because writing accelerator/incubator over and over just reads poorly.

Incubator 50

Incubator Equity Programming Cloud 50

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

So I recently re-shared a 2019 blog post where I’d basically advised founders who’ve raised seed capital to worry less about “how will I raise the next round” and more about “how will I execute my plan?” I tried early on to engage him with data and conversation, but got nowhere. It caused a huge amount of stress.

Founder 124

Founder Cofounder Metrics Technical Review 124

The Startup Lawyer

OCTOBER 28, 2010

Whenever a startup considers paying a “finder&# for successful investor introductions, I have the same type of conversation with the founders that goes something like this: – Startup : “Finder&# knows a lot of investors and he’ll introduce us if we pay him [6]% of all capital raised through the introductions.

Finder 72

Finder Private Placement SEC Seed Capital 72

Austin Startup

JANUARY 24, 2018

If you follow the writings regarding the Austin ecosystem you’ve probably read debates about the absence of capital. Some founders argue that Austin lacks seed capital, most participants agree that there is a lack of later stage capital. I have identified the missing piece of the puzzle and you may not like the answer.

San Francisco 48

San Francisco Austin Sweden Germany 48

Steve Blank

JULY 20, 2015

Today he is the founder of M34 Capital , a seed capital fund that focuses on early-stage projects being spun out of academic and corporate research labs. It’s evidence-based, it’s the scientific method and when the company has that on Day Zero, the conversations that we have are just that more meaningful. …

Government 120

Government Channel Southern California Lean 120

Software By Rob

JANUARY 8, 2019

We are happy to speak with you at any revenue level, but somewhere in the $150k-range is when founders may start to look for seed capital. I’m excited to continue the conversations I’ve been having with talented startup founders interested in the TinySeed approach to startup funding.

Early Stage 46

Early Stage Valuation Seed Capital Revenue 46

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

has demonstrated both high user engagement and better than average conversion rates of 1%-3.5% (versus 0.05% for traditional display advertising) for February 2010. Advertising clients include: Sony, Microsoft, NBC, and Clicker. Following several completed advertising campaigns, Ad.ly currently has 70,000 publishers reaching 45mm readers.

Stealth 285

Stealth SEC Advertising Accredited Investor 285

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

Raising Seed Capital – crowdspring.co/MX18CE. don’t return investors’ capital” – crowdspring.co/1dhuwIO. Simplifying the UX of Your Sales-Driven Website to Increase Conversions – crowdspring.co/1fdzKta. What’s up with the Series A? – crowdspring.co/1fkwYB1. 1fdB7Z4.

Social Media 95

Social Media Small Business Design Media 95

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015

“I’ve had a few conversations recently about how individual seed investors are getting kind of tapped out – for a variety of reasons, but in general it’s not that easy to find people who are still actively investing. There is also a huge amount of seed capital available from seed funds.

Angel Investor 70

Angel Investor Seed Capital Valuation Demand 70

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

At the end of the conversation, ask them if they’d be willing to make an introduction. 1 page website w/ simple checkout, then add things as you feel it’ll help increase conversions. What’s the best way to START a conversation about funding with a potential investor assuming that I either know this person or can get an intro.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Passion was certainly a recurring topic of conversation amongst the investors we interviewed. Business teams can share an address book and track contacts and conversations, track prospects and sales pipelines, and organize projects and tasks to get work done. Seedups Hi Jeremy.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 25, 2021

In this conversation Eren and I talked about his journey from a small town in Turkey to founding the education startup Udemy, also quite successful, to Carbon Health and eventually Carbon Health's vaccination efforts. Here's my conversation with Eren Bali. We had to raise some seed capital. It's beaten.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Turkey Los Angeles California 60