BeyondVC

SEPTEMBER 13, 2006

As an entrepreneur, you are most likely spending most of your time building your product and getting it to market. Example #1: Your company is about to be sold and as the acquirer is doing due diligence it wants to make sure that there are no outstanding claims to the intellectual property of your company.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Due Diligence 60

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 2, 2010

But there’s no reason for an angel investor – especially an individual one – to drag the entrepreneur through a long, protracted due diligence process. Don’t torture entrepreneurs: Remember, you are supposed to be an “angel investor”, not a “devil investor.” Be a force for good in the universe.

Angel Investor 167

Angel Investor Boston Due Diligence Cofounder 167

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

. × At Greylock , my partners and I are driven by one guiding mission: always help entrepreneurs. It doesn’t matter whether an entrepreneur is in our portfolio, whether we’re considering an investment, or whether we’re casually meeting for the first time. Entrepreneurs often ask me for help with their pitch decks.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

It means that if an investor can prove you lied to them about anything during the pitch and due-diligence stage – they’re entitled to 100% of that money back. The best way to not get caught lying to an investor…surprise, surprise…don’t lie at all.

Kansas City 69

Kansas City Due Diligence Arizona Kansas 69

Rob Go

JULY 17, 2014

As former operators and product-oriented entrepreneurs, Dave, Lee, and I tend to think of our firm as a startup company and our approach to investing as our product. We’ve often explained to entrepreneurs that the second fund of a venture firm is very much like the series A for an early stage company. This leads to the second factor.

Seed Stage 69

Seed Stage Early Stage Due Diligence Liquidity Event 69

David Teten

JULY 12, 2017

The challenge with most such independent investors is that they, quite reasonably, all have their own independent decision-making and due diligence process. Hence, if Sequoia is the lead and the valuation is reasonable, it’s near 100% chance.

Syndicate 60

Syndicate Syndication Institutional Investors LP 60

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2012

It sounds obvious, but the majority of entrepreneurs who pitch me have obviously never thought through many of the major issues surrounding their companies. With #1 – #3 under your belt, you should start preparing the components you will use to support your pitch to outside investors. Understand your business.

Software Review 164

Software Review Term Sheet Technical Review Angel Investor 164

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

What’s interesting is that this entrepreneur has raised $30M+ in venture capital before and knows the VC process intimately, but remarked to me midway through “this process is completely different from every other fundraise I’ve been a part of.”. This is kind of the equivalent of “I’m in as long as you have a lead” but sounds a lot better.

Term Sheet 73

Term Sheet Due Diligence Valuation Seed Stage 73

Rob Go

MARCH 5, 2012

It can be a little puzzling for entrepreneurs to make sense of this, especially since the landscape of seed investors is emerging and different seed investors act quite differently from one another. Understand the difference between and a lead and a follower.

Syndicate 49

Syndicate Syndication Lead Investor Due Diligence 49

Rob Go

AUGUST 9, 2016

When VC’s evaluate a founder or team, they rely heavily on references in their due diligence. I’m often surprised that entrepreneurs don’t do the same with anywhere near the same intensity and diligence. Entrepreneurs are typically only choosing one lead investor and board member per round.

Term Sheet 28

Term Sheet Due Diligence Lead Investor Portfolio 28

David Teten

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Detailed due diligence. At ffVC, our primary origination strategy is to provide a high level of services to entrepreneurs, and then let word of mouth spread. They’re the entrepreneurs on the cutting edge of their respective disciplines. We just need to assess each entrepreneur against our decision criteria.

Private Equity 114

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Equity 114

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

Of course, the most important funding statistic to an entrepreneur relates to one specific company, and whether there is sufficient capital available to build and scale his business. This brought in a new set of prospective investors and required a lower investment from the lead investor as our existing investors were committed and on board.

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Good VCs try to pass as quickly as possible once they decide on that outcome, in order to be respectful of an entrepreneur’s time. A commitment typically only comes after a full partnership pitch and meaningful business diligence completed. Work on securing a lead investor who can then help in forming a syndicate.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Due Diligence Seed Stage Seed Capital 120

Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 26, 2013

The individual is likely to be the lead investor in the venture and may join the Board of Directors. The entrepreneur will need to be ready and able to respond to due diligence information requests. Conditions, such as: Satisfactory completion of due diligence and references. Amount to be invested.

Angel Investor 51

Angel Investor Due Diligence Pre-Money Valuation Angel Groups 51

Professor VC

JULY 7, 2015

From an investors position, you have a number of individuals with a wealth of experience to source, vet, and co-invest in deals. From an entrepreneurs standpoint, you can get a much larger investment than with individual angels, have potential follow-on support and leverage skills and network of a large investor base.

Angel Groups 28

Angel Groups Due Diligence Lead Investor Finance 28

Venture Chronicles

JULY 16, 2010

I do want to devote some of this post to defending the VC business on one important point, there are times when a company is not deserving of continued funding and/or should be shut down to preserve investor capital. In normal times the term sheet and due diligence process all but guaranteed the investment as far as the startup was concerned.

Due Diligence 28

Due Diligence Term Sheet Limited Partner LP 28

Professor VC

OCTOBER 20, 2009

I have been following the rallying cry of entrepreneurs with some amusement over the past couple of weeks in response to a blog post by Jason Calacanis, " Why Start-ups Shouldnt have to pay to pitch angel investors." In how many of those were you a lead investor? Labels: angel groups , Angel Investors , fundraising.

Angel Investor 35

Angel Investor Due Diligence San Jose Silicon Valley 35