Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” Many entrepreneurs stumble at this point, losing the deal or most of their ownership, by having no answer, playing coy, or quoting an exorbitant number. Marty Zwilling. MORE >>

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” Many entrepreneurs stumble at this point, losing the deal or most of their ownership, by having no answer, saying “make me an offer,” or quoting an exorbitant number. MORE >>

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. It’s true that angel investors typically do not present entrepreneurs with overly complicated deal structures, especially when compared to venture capitalists. Seat on the board. Marty Zwilling. MORE >>

Thus, the universe of financings that even the most experienced entrepreneurs get directly exposed to is typically 5-10 financings over a 15-20 year career.  Year in, year out, Thus, VCs and entrepreneurs are not operating on an equal playing field when it comes to negotiating financings and interpreting the impact of the terms involved. MORE >>

Here’s the key point these analyses overlook:  It’s not the seed investors who are smarter – it’s the entrepreneurs. pre-money valuation. Had we instead raised the first $1M from seed funds, we would have been free to raise the remaining money at a higher valuation. at a $2.5M MORE >>