Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

Having re-read it, I believe his real premise instead is, “Fixed-size, multi-investor angel rounds are such a bad idea for startups that one wonders why things were ever done that way.&#. I talked about this in my social proof post where I gave some suggestions about how to get the early guys off of the fence. and not a min.

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. No hidden terms.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 7, 2021

My job as an early stage investor includes translation services, specifically helping startup founders take what they are hearing from potential investors and providing a read on whether that VC is actually ready to make an offer. But end of the day, if you screw a founder, they’ll never forget. It’s company specific too.

Term Sheet 151

Term Sheet Due Diligence Reputation Early Stage 151

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

I can’t say it much simpler than this: “What if I took some of the worst, most egregious terms in a standard term sheet and made them the defacto standard in most convertible debt deals? Let me explain it more clearly in equity terms. You rarely find full ratchets in early-stage deals any more.

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2023

They fail to realize that the considerations are quite different for each, which can make or break their investment efforts, and ultimately their startup. Angels are more likely to fund new entrepreneurs, and early-stage or seed rounds, while VCs tend to focus on entrepreneurs with a successful track record, and later stage rounds.

Angel Investor 246

Angel Investor IRR Venture Capital Valuation 246

NZ Entrepreneur

AUGUST 4, 2021

And if you’re a high-growth startup looking to get off the ground or expand, it’s likely you’ll need an injection of capital to do that. Lead investors and term sheets. Those investors interested in becoming lead will issue what’s called a term sheet – this details the terms they’re willing to invest on.

Technical Review 61

Technical Review Software Review Founder Due Diligence 61

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Though RBI will displace some traditional equity VC, its much bigger impact will be to expand the pool of capital available for early-stage entrepreneurs. . However, only recently have early-stage companies started to use this model at any scale. . So what is Revenue Based Investing?

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

There’s been a lot of digital ink spilled around the various types of capital available to startups today. As a startup grows, venture debt becomes a viable option to continue that growth. Glen is an active contributor to the local tech ecosystem and well-versed in how and when startups can use venture debt to their advantage.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It occurred to me that although we mentioned our new thematic approach when we raised our last fund in 2017, we haven’t really shared a broader manifesto about how we are approaching the early stage market. It’s been an interesting several years in the early stage venture eco-system, and the sands have shifted considerably.

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 12, 2017

To outside investors, the future of early stage and startup companies can be murky. Many of these companies are pre-revenue and in the cash burn stage as they try to establish their technology and market. For many startups this results in a need to raise additional financing through debt or equity arrangements.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Forecast Early Stage Term Sheet 133

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2020

None normally work for or provide funds for early-stage startups. For these fees, they will develop a business plan, solicit investors, and negotiate term sheets to a closing. Many investment banks even call themselves “boutiques.” Commercial banking is also known as business banking.

Silicon Valley 362

Silicon Valley Private Equity Initial Public Offering Term Sheet 362

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

If you’re a startup and you don’t have a close relationship with a few law firms you’re really missing one of the most important relationships that any entrepreneur can have. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. They want to lock in future clients at an early stage.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

I think you have to listen to the queue’s.” “…if you look at a lot of the early stage investors, whether it be Union Square Ventures or First Round or Jeff Clavier at Softtech or Dave McClure – we want to try the product, we want to experience the product, we want to get a sense of how the entrepreneur is thinking about it.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Thomas Clayton has started and run numerous high-tech startups in Silicon Valley. He is currently CEO of Bubbly , a social media startup backed by Sequoia Capital, SingTel Innov8, and JAFCO. The company is one of the largest VC–backed startups in Southeast Asia, having raised over $60M in funding. Sequoia , Accel , NEA , etc.).

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. This also appears as a guest post at Fortune’s Term Sheet. Salesforce.com is a startup with 76,000 subscribers (over 2.1M 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.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

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

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

Let’s take a few minutes to examine the kind of equity financing available to small or early stage businesses. There are other classes of equity investors for small or early stage businesses that we have not yet considered. Friends and family investors. Angel investment groups or funds. Accelerators.

Equity 62

Equity Finance Liquidity Event Angel Groups 62

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 28, 2023

KG companies have decisive tax disadvantages for startups and are, therefore, rarely used in this area. Since the attractiveness of investments is also largely related to exit channels, this aspect affects the availability of capital and company valuation at every stage. BAND) and the Bundesverband Deutsche Startups e.V.

Germany 165

Germany Liquidation Preference Option Pool Advisory Board 165

Gust

MAY 22, 2012

It’s an early stage investment, meaning that it has a long way to go, several years, before it gets through all the testing and makes a difference for people. We have a standard term sheet as a starting point. This year we started with more than 30 submissions from startups. We like the local connection. .

Technical Review 111

Technical Review Oregon Due Diligence Term Sheet 111

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Long-term alignment : Many Flexible VCs retain a small residual stake in the company after the return cap is reached, driving alignment well beyond the horizon of the revenue share, similar to the long-term orientation of equity VC.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2009

Ability to Pivot – I don’t like to invest in people that I’ve never met before who come through my office wanting to have a term sheet within 30 days. Yes, there is the mythical company you all heard about that walked into Sequoia and had a term sheet 24 hours later. I’m sure that happens.

Entrepreneur 291

Entrepreneur Term Sheet Early Stage Affiliate 291

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

During the final pre-term sheet due diligence we discovered that the CEO had had a felony arrest for a significant crime that he hadn’t disclosed to us. I’m proud to say that most early-stage VCs that I know really do care about making money ethically. any guesses what the image is from?).

Technical Review 284

Technical Review Due Diligence Entrepreneur Early Stage 284

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2012

The second reason is that investors want to know that YOU believe in your own startup…and the best way for you to demonstrate that is to show that you have personally put your own money where your mouth is. Start by letting absolutely everyone know that you’ve got a great startup looking for early investors.

Software Review 164

Software Review Term Sheet Technical Review Angel Investor 164

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

He’ll be speaking at this year’s Lean Startup Conference , and also has a new book (for which I very happily wrote a short foreword) coming out next month: Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It. It used to be that startups went public about 6-7 years from founding; that number is now 10-12 years.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2020

They fail to realize that the considerations are quite different for each, which can make or break their investment efforts, and ultimately their startup. Angels are more likely to fund new entrepreneurs, and early-stage or seed rounds, while VCs tend to focus on entrepreneurs with a successful track record, and later stage rounds.

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Entrepreneur IRR Valuation 314

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 23, 2010

B ack in March, Andreessen Horowitz and Fenwick & West, LLP published a series of documents that would help structure early stage investments in startups. Seed Term Sheet Series Seed Term Sheet (v 2.0).

Early Stage 79

Early Stage Term Sheet Preferred Stock Equity 79

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

A friend of mine is a serial entrepreneur and is running a high-profile, early stage company in NorCal. Many term sheets ensued. I had that against the backdrop of several term sheets. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice VC Industry startup technology vc venture capital. I believe this is wrong.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

mashable.com

JUNE 11, 2013

16 Common Mistakes Young Startups Make. Are you working on a startup? In fact, recent research shows that 75% of startups fail (based on a study of 2,000 startups that received VC funding from 2004 to 2010). Some startups are destined for failure. Whats This? By Lauren Drell 2013-06-10 14:46:07 UTC.

Cofounder 111

Cofounder Technical Review Startup Software Review 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2014

As an Angel investor to startups, I’m still surprised to find entrepreneurs who expect investors to give them money, and then disappear into the sunset. Angel and venture capital money always comes with strings attached, starting with the obvious ones outlined in the term sheet for the deal.

Term Sheet 237

Term Sheet Advisory Board Liquidation Preference Startup 237

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). In fact, it’s why many startup folks leave the early stage world to go over to the big company side—because the benefits tend to be much better.

Hiring 179

Hiring Early Stage Marketing Term Sheet 179

View from Seed

MAY 31, 2023

raising $1M in venture funding for a startup that was liquidated 2. All of them were in the process of re-founding or were already operating their next startup. However, it is important to consider the potential of failure in the early stages of building. I reached out to a dozen founders using the criteria of: 1.

Silicon Valley 156

Silicon Valley Cofounder Term Sheet Founder 156

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

Craig Schmitz, a partner in the Technology Companies Group at law firm Godwin Proctor LLP who works on corporate, governance, board and fundraising issues, and Erika Fisher, an associate in the firm’s Business Law Department who deals with IP, fielded questions about the legal issues startups face. ” The Cost of Financing.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. The goal of their startup in this stage becomes “getting funded.”

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

My father eventually decided on Santa Clara (Saratoga, more specifically), and so I grew up in the shadows of the orchards of Cupertino and the nondescript concrete startup boxes of Santa Clara. Encyclopedic knowledge of term sheets and startup buzzwords can be quickly learned, trained, and packaged.

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

None normally work for or provide funds for early-stage startups. For these fees, they will develop a business plan, solicit investors, and negotiate term sheets to a closing. investment bank entrepreneur startup funding IPO' Many investment banks even call themselves “boutiques.” Marty Zwilling.

IPO 205

IPO Silicon Valley Private Equity Initial Public Offering 205

Berkonomics

MAY 22, 2014

Angels, as group of accredited investors funding startup companies, are assumed to meet a Regulation D exemption for purchasing equity in private companies. I have yet to read a PPM written for a startup company that meets the parameters we angels generally establish for funding new ventures. Raising money'

Early Stage 79

Early Stage Accredited Investor SEC Private Placement 79

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

But Cafepress’s most memorable moment was when the founders used a “Lessons Learned” VC pitch to raise their second round of funding and got an 8-digit term sheet that same afternoon. The presentation didn’t have a single word about Lean Startups or Customer Development. Here’s how they did it.

Venture Capital 209

Venture Capital Silicon Valley RSS Hockey Stick 209