Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2020

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. Angels will likely agree to simpler term sheets, better valuations, and less restrictive terms on potential dilution, voting rights, exit options, and executive roles.

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Entrepreneur IRR Valuation 314

Gust

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. This is the dreaded “due diligence” process. Sustainable competitive advantage.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 152

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

You’ll never have the staying power to commit when things get tough or to get really good and build real differentiation if you just keep jumping to the next new thing. You can’t just start chasing the shiny new thing every moment something new arises.

IRR 206

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 206

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

You’ll never have the staying power to commit when things get tough or to get really good and build real differentiation if you just keep jumping to the next new thing. You can’t just start chasing the shiny new thing every moment something new arises.

IRR 156

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 156

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 28, 2021

Over the last two and a half months in the hospital, I’ve actually been fairly productive—no doubt setting the record for VC term sheets offered literally from inside the NICU (three). A lot of smaller startups are complaining that it’s super difficult to recruit talent right now, but few are differentiating their offering.

Hiring 192

Hiring Early Stage Marketing Term Sheet 192

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

We do this not just because it’s the right thing to do but also we believe it will help drive large and differentiated returns. If you’re an entrepreneur who would like to see this clause in more startups please ask your VC to include it in future term sheets and link to it from their home page. “We

Term Sheet 284

Term Sheet Los Angeles Open Source Portfolio 284

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

You’ll never have the staying power to commit when things get tough or to get really good and build real differentiation if you just keep jumping to the next new thing. You can’t just start chasing the shiny new thing every moment something new arises.

IRR 136

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 136

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2014

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited Angel investors. Angels will likely agree to simpler term sheets, better valuations, and less restrictive terms on potential dilution, voting rights, exit options, and executive roles.

Angel Investor 266

Angel Investor Entrepreneur Venture Capital IRR 266

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). This post assumes that you have a basic understanding of Series A financing terms. Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). Why is it called Series Seed?

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2016

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited Angel investors. Angels will likely agree to simpler term sheets, better valuations, and less restrictive terms on potential dilution, voting rights, exit options, and executive roles.

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor IRR Valuation Startup 120

www.bothsidesofthetable.com

MAY 13, 2012

new features need to go into the sale people’s slides so that they know the latest and greatest about how to differentiate from the competition. Term Sheets (1). . - new features need to be rolled into PR strategies and competitor analyses. - Pitching VCs (35). Raising Venture Capital (12). Random (1). SoCal Stuff (4).

Fractional VPE 89

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Fractional CTO CTO Hire 89

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 26, 2022

They’ll obviously see the value of what you built and will be compelled to offer a term sheet on the spot. So how can founders differentiate? That’s just not how it works. There are so many companies out there and the reality is, many of them kind of look like each other. They’re not buying your past history.

Founder 103

Founder .Net Term Sheet Aggregator 103

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

What’s your differential business strategy? Your differential growth strategy? Your differential product? Since David and the partnership at Greylock knew I had an offer, they gave me a term sheet the day after I pitched them. And Greylock knew I had gotten a term sheet to accelerate their decision process.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

View from Seed

MAY 12, 2015

ultimately, a term sheet) when pitching any given firm? But the fashion of VC titles changes over time, as there is a constant tug between conveying influence to the outside world for every team member while differentiating among rank. How do you optimize your chance of success (i.e.

Partner 120

Partner Term Sheet Reputation Deal Flow 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 4, 2010

Staring at us in the board meeting were three term-sheets from brand name VC’s and an unexpected buy-out offer from Google. 6 initial conditions differentiate a scalable startup from a small business; Breadth of an entrepreneurs’ vision. The question was: what did the founders want to do? That’s just plain wrong.

Hockey Stick 299

Hockey Stick Venture Capital Startup Cofounder 299

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

When we talk about cloud computing we have to be careful to differentiate between open cloud (services the are provided solely to for the economic purpose of building a cloud business) and the “platform cloud&# where certain service providers offer cloud services wrapped around their core product.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software PHP Open Source 334

mashable.com

JUNE 11, 2013

We spent six months fundraising only to walk away once we had a term sheet in hand because we realized we were making enough money to sustain and grow the business on our own terms. Others can help provide feedback on your differentiation or competition. It also helps validate the demand for your product.

Cofounder 111

Cofounder Technical Review Startup Software Review 111

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

We had many term sheets (it was 1999 and we had a pulse) and we were deciding which one to take. We were trying to optimize around a few criteria: price, size of round, number of syndicate partners and, of course, terms. We ended up agreeing a term sheet for $16.5 6 weeks’ later he didn’t have other term sheets.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2014

You can view the steps of the certification process here, but a general overview is that you file an impact assessment and receive a rating from B lab, make sure you are fulfilling the appropriate legal requirements (which vary by state, country and—if you’re not a startup—existing structure), and sign a declaration and term sheet.

Rhode Island 110

Rhode Island South Carolina Delaware Arkansas 110

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

If they see you when you’ve already got your first term sheet and they’ve got 3 weeks to decide then by definition they have no relationship with you. Well if the “why buy anything” is testing whether you’re even compatible with a VC, the “why buy me” has got to be extreme differentiation.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2011

Within 48 hours of meeting him we had a term sheet agreeing to fund $1.6 When I was an entrepreneur I had a term sheet with True Ventures (my second company) and thought highly of them. might have been a lot less differentiated. million (his seed / A round money) and a commitment to take the entire round.

Term Sheet 303

Term Sheet Mobile Cofounder Early Stage 303