Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

How do you think they’ll feel if your next round is at a $50 million post money valuation and their hard-earned $25,000 is worth 0.05% of your company? Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? Me: More dilution? A down round? Try doing THAT with equity.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

There are of course anomalies, like French AI startup Mistral which raised a “seed” round of $113M in June last year. In smaller funds, ticket sizes tend to be lower, so pre-seed is the only stage where micro funds are able to secure their minimum equity targets.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

How do you think they’ll feel if your next round is at a $50 million post money valuation and their hard-earned $25,000 is worth 0.05% of your company? Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? Me: More dilution? A down round? But lawyers will charge much more for equity.”

Liquidation Preference 153

Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet Stock 153

www.quora.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Type to Add and Search Questions; Search Topics and People Startups Startup Compensation Entrepreneurship Compensation Stock Options Major Internet Companies Silicon Valley Why is there such a large founder to early employee equity drop-off? This ties into this Paul Graham article: [link] /equity. This answer.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40

www.mattbartus.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

If you are a company that is fundraising, keep in mind that there are a few different levers you can pull to change the amount of dilution that the founders will experience. Let’s say you receive a term sheet for a $1 million investment at a $3 million fully diluted pre-money valuation, and you’re kind of disappointed.

Warrant 40

Warrant Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 40

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

All Unicorn participants — founders, company employees, venture investors and their limited partners (LPs) — are seeing their fortunes put at risk from the very nature of the Unicorn phenomenon itself. Their own ego is also a factor – will a down round signal weakness?

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

The reason is that employees are investors too—oftheir time—and they want just as much to be able to cash out. Ifyour competitors offer employees stock options that might make themrich, while you make it clear you plan to stay private, yourcompetitors will get the best people. They just want to invest in this startup.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76