Legal costs of early stage financing should be cheap – this is one of the final remaining arguments for convertible debt but even Paul acknowledges that this is no longer necessarily the case: “Different terms for different investors is clearly the way of the future. Photo credit: D. Story/J. Blanchard/O’Reilly Media. MORE >>

Terms and term sheets are a necessary evil of the venture business but most venture returns don't come from terms. Any multiple of liquidation or participation should be avoided at all costs by both sides. Go read it. It's complicated stuff but you should try to wrap your head around it. MORE >>

Its thinking about how we can serve your long-term interests, and not just the problem of the moment. New "Plain Preferred" Term Sheet 08/24/2009: by Adeo Ressi Public: TheFunded Founder Institute has just released a new "Plain Preferred" term sheet with support of the blogosphere, including top-rated venture capitalist, Fred Wilson. MORE >>

Andreessen and Horowitz propose that while Series Seed documents offer equity stakes for investors, they offer several advantages: Costs  – should be roughly the same (if not cheaper) than using industry standard debt documents. Seed Term Sheet                                          Series Seed Term Sheet (v 2.0). MORE >>

Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR – disclaimer, I represent the Founders Institute and was involved in drafting this document). This post assumes that you have a basic understanding of Series A financing terms.  TheFunded released their “Plain Preferred&# term sheet in August 2009.  MORE >>