Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

A reminder that it is important for all entrepreneurs is to remember to be careful about “deal drift.” We were trying to optimize around a few criteria: price, size of round, number of syndicate partners and, of course, terms. million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. We ended up agreeing a term sheet for $16.5

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

thebarefootvc

MAY 8, 2012

As an entrepreneur at heart, I often innately grasp the potential of entrepreneurs and ideas that I meet with. These days, I am seeing a large number of first time entrepreneurs with great ideas, which is fantastic to see. There is inherent risk taking when you haven’t done it before, which often leads to true innovation.

Venture Capital 78

Venture Capital Syndicate Syndication Bandwidth 78

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

From a company milestones perspective, entrepreneurs who take on venture debt are almost always thinking about raising that next round of capital from other institutions. GM: The model is more about the relationship with the entrepreneurs, the investors, and us as the bank, as opposed to cash flow or fixed assets to lend on.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

I also joke with Reid Hoffman that this was back in the days before he was “Reid” Reid’s an incredible entrepreneur, startup investor, and human being. It’s truly a privilege to have known him for more than a decade as my mentor, boss, and friend going back to the early PayPal days. It was a $4.7M

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Gust

OCTOBER 12, 2011

During the summer of 2010, I developed a workshop, A New ACEF Valuation Workshop for Angels and Entrepreneurs. To provide some reference points, I surveyed thirteen angels groups in North American to determine their recent experience in negotiating the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue companies. Current Average. up slightly.

Angel Groups 125

Angel Groups Valuation Pre-Money Valuation St. Louis 125

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

In venture capital in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. The Pocket Negotiator is very early-stage attempt to aid in the negotiating process itself. . 3) Originate investments.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

View from Seed

JUNE 10, 2020

As we’ve shared, we intentionally wanted to flip the traditional Accelerator model on its head and offer a unique offering for entrepreneurs at the earliest of stages. We proactively look to build friendly syndicates for our Seed investments, and welcome collaborating to build together.

Cofounder 177

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Alabama 177

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Seed investors are aplenty and of course they need downstream money to fuel their early-stage bets. Of course these are great places to network with other investors, meet great entrepreneurs and keep your connections strong with senior execs at larger companies like Yahoo!, And there’s conferences. Oh, the conferences.

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374

Genuine VC

NOVEMBER 12, 2012

It’s really interesting, but perhaps only applicable to a more limited set of entrepreneurs. When you compromise on terms in the early stages, you will have to pay the price in the later stages. In contrast, valuation always has room to move up.

Finance 128

Finance Mezzanine Valuation Seed Stage 128

Hippoland

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

As an early stage investor, I know that if I can invest in a team that fits exactly what Ellen describes (OR MIT / Stanford, OR Facebook / Google, etc), I’ll win in the short term. Just a couple of years ago, AngelList announced their syndicate feature. But syndicates are logistically challenging.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 48

Hippoland

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

As an early stage investor, I know that if I can invest in a team that fits exactly what Ellen describes (OR MIT / Stanford, OR Facebook / Google, etc), I’ll win in the short term. Just a couple of years ago, AngelList announced their syndicate feature. But syndicates are logistically challenging.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication Angel Investor 48

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

With that in mind, let’s look at an illustration of these trends below, which demonstrates what’s been happening to early-stage financing rounds over the last 15 years or so. Series A investors invested quite early, often before product/market fit.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 20, 2014

It seems like a high-class problem for an entrepreneur to be able to influence round composition, and it is. How should an entrepreneur think about the different types of investors affecting their seed and Series A rounds? Lots of credibility, even at a very early stage. Definition: This is the case when a large VC (i.e.

Startup 301

Startup Syndicate Syndication Boston 301

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 18, 2015

Or the influx of massive new amounts of entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs seeking fortune and fame? Either we’ve discovered magical beans and elixir or perhaps we’ve gotten ahead of ourselves on valuation. So what we can say is that a whole lot of money is sloshing around in the late-stage tech ecosystem. Not so fast.

IPO 150

IPO Venture Capital LP SEC 150

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

Startups in NextView’s portfolio frequently receive inbound interest from other VC investors who are intrigued about what they’re doing, and I often talk with other early-stage entrepreneurs how to approach similar situations. Im a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned East Coast VC. Author howerl.

Early Stage 100

Early Stage Syndicate Syndication Silicon Valley 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

*. If you are a 20-something tech entrepreneur you could be forgiven for thinking that seed-stage investors, Angellist Syndicates and widely available angel money always existed. It is, of course, a very recent phenomenon. I was out to raise my first seed money in my second startup of $500,000.

Seed Stage 150

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 150

Feld Thoughts

JULY 14, 2015

Assuming equity is raised at or above that cap, the total dilution, before the new money, is 16.6% (equivalent to an equity financing of $1m at a $6m post money valuation. The term sheet converts all the convertible debt into a post-money valuation of $100, essentially making the convertible debt worthless. Sure – it happens.

Recapitalization 70

Recapitalization Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Angel Investor 70

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 10, 2010

In this case neither Niel (nor I) had any interest in creating a traditional syndicate to fund the company. It’s a great example of how we like to work with entrepreneurs – especially those that we have a long history with. We did a second financing by ourselves at an increased valuation – this was the “Series B&#.

Syndicate 120

Syndicate Syndication Angel Financing Finance 120

Berkonomics

APRIL 3, 2014

There are three classes of equity investors for early stage businesses that we have not yet considered. And even though angel groups syndicate their best deals within their respective associated networks, it is always best to apply to the angel groups nearest your physical location.

Equity 92

Equity Finance Liquidity Event Angel Groups 92

Professor VC

APRIL 1, 2010

was part of a Dow Jones VentureWire webinar last week titled Negotiating An Angel Deal: What Angels, Entrepreneurs & VCs Need to Know. One comment made by Jason was that angels tend to be less sensitive than VCs on valuation and can potentially make it difficult to get a venture financing done at acceptable valuation.

Term Sheet 32

Term Sheet Angel Investor San Jose Venture Capital 32

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

I know many super experienced entrepreneurs who don’t understand the basics of how fund size and age can affect them so I thought it was worth establishing a baseline. In a world of The Funded, VentureHacks and entrepreneur blogs this kind of informations spreads like wildfire. Let me explain: 1. And they don’t.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Term Sheet Early Stage Silicon Valley 265

Austin Startup

AUGUST 1, 2017

TL;DR: In a market that has historically idolized huge, splashy financings and exits, an increasing number of entrepreneurs are realizing that everyone else’s definition of success — particularly among certain large VCs — isn’t necessarily aligned with their own. Most individual VCs can only support about 7–10 companies at a time.

Liquidation Preference 48

Liquidation Preference Common Stock Valuation Silicon Valley 48

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

There are more similarities with early-stage VC than public investing, but in these asset classes you still see somewhat more uniform access to investment opportunities and less information asymmetry. other entrepreneurs you’ve backed) are usually the best tool for the job. Author howerl. Filed under Uncategorized.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Framework Silicon Valley Early Stage 100

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 21, 2014

17 core investments have been made, I’d say our investment model was, and continues to be, consistent with the type of firm we want to build but if you’re not constantly evaluating how to get better and serve entrepreneurs, you won’t last very long in the early stage venture business. No more, no less.

Cofounder 102

Cofounder Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 102

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Many firms do it in a way that can be more detrimental to entrepreneurs. There are positive benefits to the right VCs being involved early – especially if your company or the economy hits bumps in the road. Short summary of my posts: 1.

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

David Teten

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Each new investor tends to raise valuations and lower returns for all the other competitive investors. This is the psychology that drives VCs to load up a company with more capital, rationalizing that $5m at a $20m pre-money valuation is little different than $10m at a $40m pre-money valuation. Photo credit: JD Hancock.

Management 114

Management Pre-Money Valuation Venture Capital New Hampshire 114

Professor VC

JANUARY 17, 2008

I think the title of this post is a TV show, but fitting as there has been much debate in the venture community as to the whether angel investors are good or bad for entrepreneurs and VCs. One of my comments was that we would likely see more institutionalization of angel groups and syndication of deals among groups.

Pre-Money Valuation 28

Pre-Money Valuation Angel Investor Angel Groups Valuation 28

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 1, 2018

The $750 million fund combines all of our prior fund strategies – our early stage, early growth, and partner fund investments – into a single fund. For historical reference, our early-stage funds (FG 2007, FG 2010, FG 2013, and FG 2016) are all $225 million in size. We now have seven equal partners.

Syndicate 17

Syndicate Syndication IRR Canada 17

Tim Keane

APRIL 12, 2006

Ten questions the entrepreneur should ask the (prospective) investor. If they’re making it as part of a group that the entrepreneur likes, fine. If they are “solo,” though, the entrepreneur will want to know a lot about their attitudes and expectations, especially when things go wrong. valuation than the previous round.

Entrepreneur 60

Entrepreneur Valuation Sweat Equity Common Stock 60

Rob Go

JANUARY 7, 2013

Amidst the mass of new initiatives, new firms, new strategies, etc that constantly pop up in the early stage investing landscape, it’s helpful to have a clear articulation of what VC’s are focused on and how they see the world. Tom Brady Entrepreneurs: 8. Introduced by other entrepreneurs: 6. Commerce: 5.

Portfolio 49

Portfolio Seed Stage Cofounder B2B 49

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

There are definitely some lessons in the story for entrepreneurs and angel investors, but before discussing, I thought Id share a bit about the early financing history for iControl. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28