Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2023

Here is a summary of the key stages along the way: Idea and seed stage. In this first stage, a specific idea or passion is solidified into an executable plan. This is the stage where most entrepreneurs exit, get pushed out, or learn to operate as full-time business owners.

Matching 270

Matching Entrepreneur Startup Seed Stage 270

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Over the summer, based on feedback from our portfolio and the broader startup community, NextView created pre-formatted board deck templates for seed-stage startups — part of our Growth Guides series. As Rob Go wrote , board decks and board meetings can waste loads of time at the seed stage.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

Out of hundreds of applications, we selected six pre-seed stage teams building companies shaping a brighter collective future by combining software and creativity to drive change in the lives of everyday people — their businesses include everything from empowering local main street businesses to making automobile insurance more accessible.

Seed Stage 285

Seed Stage Programming Finance B2B 285

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Pre-seed Round of Funding. In the pre-seed stage, a startup is searching for product/market fit. Funding: Startups typically raise anywhere from $100K to $750,000 in pre-seed. Goal/Time: By the end of the pre-seed stage the company ought to have evidence that it has found product/market fit.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Mucker Lab

JULY 11, 2023

This could be any piece of content from the document object model (DOM), such as text, an image, or even a background canvas render. If you are the founder of a seed-stage company interested in learning more about Mucker funding, apply to MuckerLab and/or contact us.

SEO 78

SEO Technical Review HTML Software Review 78

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

If I could persuade you that they’re already in these documents would you consider abandoning this structure? Those terms you fought so hard to get out of “clean term sheets” by using TheFunded, VentureHacks and the like are in your current documents. That’s right. I just want into the hottest deals.

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

View from Seed

APRIL 20, 2020

Starting today, we will begin accepting our first cohort of startups into the program: WHO : Pre-Seed & Seed stage startups located anywhere focused on the U.S. We will leverage the standard YC post-money SAFE document with a valuation cap and no discount. Further capitalizing the company for success.

B2B 436

B2B Seed Stage B2C Programming 436

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Why you should set up a board at the seed round of funding I know these days with SAFE documents and rolling convertible notes many founders prefer not to set up a board early on. As per the chart above, I highly recommend keeping a founder dominated board at the seed stage.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Startup Angel Investor Silicon Valley 236

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

NVV: Let’s talk about the seed stage specifically. With venture debt as a source of low-cost capital to fuel growth or buy time during later stages, should a founder approach their fundraising from VCs any differently today ? NVV: Walk me through the typical process once a startup approaches you.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2020

Here is a summary of the key stages along the way: Idea and seed stage. In this first stage, a specific idea or passion is solidified into an executable plan. This is the stage where most entrepreneurs exit, get pushed out, or learn to operate as full-time business owners.

Matching 317

Matching Seed Stage Angel Investor Business Model 317

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

As an entrepreneur, your goal when raising financing is to get several term sheets — the documents describing the terms and conditions of financing. For example, assume you are a seed-stage company that needs $500,000 but you go out looking for $1 million. Most VCs love demos.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence 100

Austin Startup

JANUARY 25, 2020

So I have embraced it fully, and though we are still in the early stages (seed stage), it’s the hardest thing I have ever done yet it’s the most fulfilling thing to me. To make it official, we used a Y Combinator post-SAFE document with a pro-rata side letter to document it and put it into the company’s minute book.

Delaware 62

Delaware SEC New York City New York 62

techcrunch.com

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Today, AngelList is debuting Docs, which lets seed-stage startups close their round online. It consists of a standard term sheet, automatically generated closing documents, and tools to manage the process including electronic signatures, managing wire information, generating PDFs, and more.

Term Sheet 70

Term Sheet San Francisco Technical Review Seed Stage 70

techcrunch.com

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

There has been no shortage of controversy and criticism around the convertible note, a popular investing vehicle that’s used by seed stage and angel investors. Ressi, Wilson Sonsini and a top-tier accounting firm (which preferred not to be named) have been working on developing this set of documents for some time now, says Ressi.

Equity 87

Equity San Francisco Technical Review Angel Investor 87

David Teten

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

10 Insights That Helped Me Level Up as a Seed Stage VC — Part 1 and Part 2. NVCA Model Documents. VCs eating their own dog food: Using technology and analytics to make better investments in private companies. I’m leaving VC; this is what I didn’t expect to learn. How students can help VC firms. Venture Deals.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Seed Stage 78

Tim Keane

DECEMBER 14, 2009

  He is a partner in a pretty much exclusively software seed stage fund, Y Combinator that you can read more about.    Paul goes on to develop the story of "vanilla" documents prepared by the angel's attorney.    Like VCs, one of the advantages of seed firms is the advice they offer. 

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Angel Groups Seed Stage Startup 60

David Teten

JULY 10, 2019

We want to use our proprietary technology and network to tap the relevant players to take the relevant steps forward; and identify, document, and disseminate best practices. This work is unpaid, as with any other startup at the pre-seed stage. Once we’ve executed all the steps above, we go to VCs and raise seed capital of $1-2m.

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

Startup Company Lawyer

AUGUST 31, 2012

” As a result, Ted introduced the Series Seed preferred stock documents as an alternative to convertible debt for early stage investments. In fact, Paul Graham wrote a letter to Y Combinator companies warning them that the performance of the Facebook IPO may hurt the market for early stage startups. .”

Convertible Security 73

Convertible Security Equity Security Preferred Stock 73

View from Seed

DECEMBER 17, 2015

For instance, maybe everyone on your team writes documentation about what they’ve done and then everyone else reads it — great! How do you position yourself as the latter if you’re a seed-stage startup founder? People learn differently — there are writers, readers, doers, copiers, and so on.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Engineer Software Review Founder 120

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2023

We will leverage the standard YC post-money SAFE document with a valuation cap, no discount , and a pro-rata side letter. Pre-Seed & Seed stage startup teams who could benefit from capital and engaged, hands-on mentorship from the NextView partnership & extended advisor network. Let’s do this! . Who You Are.

Programming 156

Programming Sacramento San Francisco Founder 156

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 6, 2011

Jeff Clavier, Seed stage investor in 90+ consumer internet startups, said: We all have a different approach to non Silicon Valley opportunities. How do you review documents in non-english languages, where structures can be quite different from what we are used to in the US? And what do the investors think?

Silicon Valley 104

Silicon Valley Startup Seed Stage Delaware 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2016

Here is a summary of the key stages along the way: Idea and seed stage. In this first stage, a specific idea or passion is solidified into an executable plan. This is the stage where most entrepreneurs exit, get pushed out, or learn to operate as full-time business owners.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Startup Angel Investor Business Model 120

View from Seed

JANUARY 10, 2022

Pre-seed & seed-stage startup teams who could benefit from capital and engaged, hands-on mentorship from the NextView partnership & extended advisor network. We will leverage the standard YC post-money SAFE document with a valuation cap and no discount. Applications are officially open. Who you are.

San Diego 156

San Diego San Francisco Alabama Valuation 156

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Instead, if you’re a seed-stage startup taking that first step in anything (and at the seed stage, you’re going from zero to one in everything), it’d be great to have a place to go for support, inspiration, and practical resources to make the process easier and clearer.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Seed Capital Syndicate Syndication 120

VC Adventure

MAY 5, 2022

Really more than that, as 10 years is an increasingly outdated vestige that seems for some reason to live on in fund documents, even if it doesn’t in reality. A lot of things change in 10 years. Most funds have a 10-year life. But in any event, the life of a fund is at least 10 years, and increasingly 15 years or more.

IRR 116

IRR Metrics Valuation LP 116

Haystack

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

I have participated in many different types of seed rounds, but based on my experience of participating in over 100 seeds over the last 5+ years, I’d say the majority of those seed rounds (including around YC) were orchestrated by the founder to close on a specific date. It’s hard to know.

Seed Stage 76

Seed Stage Seed Capital Equity Europe 76

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

This is all incorporated into a document called a Cap Table. . The popularity of convertible notes is increasing in the world of startup financing, especially in seed-stage companies. It is attractive for seed-stage companies that have not had time to show much traction in terms of their product or revenue.

Cap Table 112

Cap Table Pre-Money Valuation Stock Options Option Pool 112

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

We also have data points for VC investments in seed/startup companies (but not necessarily pre-revenue companies). The following chart from Dow Jones VentureSource shows very little variation in pre-money valuation of VC seed stage deals over the past decade.

Valuation 146

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Technical Review 146

techcrunch.com

APRIL 26, 2013

That way, startups only have one entity in the cap table, which simplifies documentation and structure. This is just the next phase of AngelList’s evolution into a one-stop shop for seed-stage companies and their backers. Via SecondMarket, AngelList creates an LLC on the fly into which all the new investors go.

SEC 61

SEC Accredited Investor San Diego New York City 61

David Cohen

AUGUST 29, 2013

It is coming from a seed stage VC and suddenly the amount of that investment has a range. I search the document for a mentions of [the mentor mentioned earlier] and other incidents, knowing there is no way she’d include the vile things she said in a public forum. I searched and it didn’t come up. how can i help?

Cofounder 134

Cofounder Technical Review Vertical Programming 134

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2011

Meanwhile, the bubble for “seed stage&# startups began when Ron Conway’s Silicon Valley Angels and DST guaranteed every startup out of a YCombinator $150,000. Silicon Valley startups are falling over each other to file their S-1 documents to go public. The Linked-in IPO valued the company at $8.9

Silicon Valley 327

Silicon Valley Stealth Valuation Mississippi 327

Agile VC

MARCH 13, 2012

You can read the whole complaint in the embedded document here (from AllThingsD’s coverage). I co-founded NextView Ventures , a seed-stage VC firm based in Boston, in 2010. CEO Scott Thompson alluded to their plan a couple weeks ago but the IP lawsuit itself was only official late afternoon yesterday (and now public).

IP 100

IP IPO Social Network Silicon Valley 100

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 10, 2017

So, I took it upon myself as a challenge to put together the definitive “ Pre-Seed FAQ.” This post is intended to be a dynamic document, and I will attempt to update it from time to time with new questions that may arise or as financing trends evolve. In contrast, you *don’t* need much to qualify as a Pre-Seed stage company.

Seed Stage 82

Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2015

Here is a summary of the key stages along the way: Idea and seed stage. In this first stage, a specific idea or passion is solidified into an executable plan. This is the stage where most entrepreneurs exit, get pushed out, or learn to operate as full-time business owners.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Seed Stage Angel Investor Business Model 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2015

For new entrepreneurs looking for seed-stage help, concentrate on investors who know you or organizations with a vested interest. I would recommend a budget of at least $10,000 to prepare documents for pitching, legal fees for term sheets and contracts, travel expenses and assistance fees.

Cost 120

Cost Angel Groups Due Diligence Silicon Valley 120

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

Heck, Satya and I could talk each other out of *any* investment at the seed stage – there’s always something “wrong” with an opportunity – but our job is to invest, not to *not* invest.

Seed Stage 101

Seed Stage Warrant Framework Vertical 101

Gust

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

How to finance a new seed-stage startup? ” Ressi in particular seems to be passionate about removing the “debt” component from convertible debt seed financing transactions. .” For a good summary with links to the documents, see Leena Rao’s post at TechCrunch. Convertible debt?

Finance 134

Finance Convertible Security Equity Seed Stage 134