Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

My initial reaction to Adeo when we spoke was that while it may have solved some issues (debt versus equity) it didn’t solve the ones that I’ve been warning entrepreneurs about most loudly. A standard entrepreneur retort I heard back then (2008-09) was “I don’t know what my company is worth now.

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2022

One of the big questions that every entrepreneur struggles with is how much funding they should request from investors in the first round. This is all about setting a credible current value on your startup -- not future value. If you ask for more money than your company is now worth, no investor will bite. Marty Zwilling.

Preferred Stock 304

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 304

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2021

When an entrepreneur first incorporates a business, they may find themselves the proud owner of 10 million shares of common stock, commonly called founder’s shares. Startup owners need to assume a three to five year wait for a liquidity event, such as acquisition or going public, before they can cash out. In the U.S.,

Vesting 298

Vesting Dilution Stock Founder Vesting 298

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 26, 2020

by Rizwan Virk, author of “ Startup Myths and Models: What You Won’t Learn in Business School “. If you are building a startup, you’ll find no shortage of people who are willing to give you advice, particularly when it comes to raising financing. The real key is to have an entrepreneur that is obsessed with a small market.

Finance 205

Finance Silicon Valley Valuation Startup 205

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Things like “ participating preferred stock &# in legalese unsurprisingly never actually call out, “hey, this is the participating preferred language.&# We got a3x participating liquidation preference with interest (not participating with a 3x cap, but 3x participating. That’s normal.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

Most entrepreneurs looking for an investor can tell you how much money they need, but few have given much thought to what they are willing to give up for it. In very early startups, which have no valuation, the term sheet may specify a convertible note. Type of stock assigned to the investor.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Demand Preferred Stock Liquidation Preference 120

Gust

MAY 24, 2012

Yet I’m skeptical that a widespread shift will occur anytime soon, and for reasons discussed below, as much as I admire and advocate for talented entrepreneurs, I believe it would be a losing proposition for nearly all involved. Options and warrants, when issued, are also typically exercisable for shares of Common Stock.

IPO 159

IPO Equity Common Stock Stock 159

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. on the entrepreneur side of the table) when I raised at too high of a price. This is wrong.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 28, 2022

With the rise of startups and growing businesses , it has become more critical for investors to have a thorough understanding of equity to be aware of all of the advantages they are receiving from the companies they have invested in. Why do startups issue company equity? You have a financial stake in a startup if you have equity.

Valuation 108

Valuation Equity Warrant Common Stock 108

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2011

tl;dr version: If you’re an entrepreneur or VC or will be working in this industry - buy this. When I first started as a startup CEO in 1999 there were no guides on raising venture capital. Or what “participating preferred&# stock is and how it can screw you. This article originally ran on TechCrunch.

Liquidation Preference 304

Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Cap Table Participating Preferred 304

Startup Company Lawyer

AUGUST 31, 2012

Over the past few years, convertible debt has emerged as a quick and inexpensive method for startup companies to raise money from angel investors and early stage venture funds. ” As a result, Ted introduced the Series Seed preferred stock documents as an alternative to convertible debt for early stage investments.

Convertible Security 73

Convertible Security Equity Security Preferred Stock 73

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Startup Resources (Updated Mar 2013). Venture Capital Cafe > Startup Resources (Updated Mar 2013). VC & Startup Resources. Seed Startups. VC Cafe covers early stage Israeli and European tech & mobile startups. Hundreds of startups featured since 2005, will yours be next? About VC Cafe.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2015

When an entrepreneur first incorporates his or her business, he or she may find him or herself the proud owner of 10 million shares of common stock, commonly called founder’s shares. Startup owners need to assume a three to five year wait for a liquidity event, such as acquisition or going public, before they can cash out.

Stock 120

Stock Vesting Common Stock Founder Vesting 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2018

It’s great motivation for every entrepreneur to get that value up quickly. Unfortunately, in my years since as a small business advisor, I have seen too many founders squander this asset through a lack of understanding of some basic legal and operational issues, or by handing out nominally “free” stock to the wrong people at the wrong time.

Stock 129

Stock Vesting Preferred Stock Cofounder 129

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2013

One of the first questions that I get from many entrepreneurs is “How should I set up my company to minimize my setup costs, tax liabilities, and risk of lawsuits?” If you aren’t so sure, need something fast, or need to keep your costs low, then an LLC is the best legal and taxable entity to facilitate your startup.

LLC 234

LLC Nevada Delaware Limited Liability Company 234

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

A frequent concern I hear from aspiring entrepreneurs is “I have invented a great product, but I have no idea where to start in setting up a company, to avoid all the tax and legal problems I hear about on the news.” Many entrepreneurs follow old shoebox habits in managing expenses until the company launches.

LLC 210

LLC Limited Liability Company Cofounder Preferred Stock 210

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

– Build out low-cost force multipliers such as scouts , Advisors, Entrepreneurs in Residence, Venture Partners, and so on. I’ve listed a few more below which require meaningful startup and ongoing costs. Typically they get cofounder common equity, in addition to the preferred stock that a conventional VC gets.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

techcrunch.com

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

Although these types of notes are relatively easy and cheap to form, many have argued that these types of vehicles are not startup-friendly for a variety of reasons, which we’ll explain below. He claims that anecdotal evidence suggests that there are as many as 30,000 startups carrying as much as $50 billion in convertible debt today.

Equity 87

Equity San Francisco Technical Review Angel Investor 87

Gust

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

The most successful serial entrepreneurs in the world may found three or four, perhaps even eight or ten venture-backed startups over the course of their careers. For more on working with startup lawyers, see Mark Suster’s classic post, How To Work With Lawyers At A Startup.). Knowledge is power.

Finance 178

Finance Term Sheet Preferred Stock Bridge Financing 178

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2016

After many years of working with angel investors seriously trying to find new ventures worthy of their hard-earned money, I find their frustration often exceeds that of entrepreneurs sincerely looking for financial help. For seed stage funding, entrepreneurs should be looking to friends and family, crowd funding, and relevant institutions.

Due Diligence 120

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 120

View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Editor’s note: Understanding how to divide founder equity at a startup can be tricky, even to the point of reaching emotional riffs between founders. In addition to being a co-founder of NextView Ventures, Lee was an early member of PayPal and a founding team member at LinkedIn, so he speaks as both a former entrepreneur and a VC.

Equity 315

Equity Founder Sweat Equity Cofounder 315

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 7, 2012

Week three’s breakdown covered topics like how hard momentum is to turn around, and how participating preferred stock works. This does neither, so I’m out” Cuban said, “I see you guys not as entrepreneurs but as wantrepreneurs” I agree with him. The entrepreneur was clearly desperate.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 110

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Startup Advice. As startup entrepreneurs we all want to work with them because having their name as reference clients makes it so much easier for marketing, PR, selling to other customers, fund raising and even recruiting. Make the warrants for common stock and not preferred stock.

Warrant 298

Warrant Dilution Startup Stock Options 298

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. Fred Wilson , Paul Graham and Seth Levine all agree that as an entrepreneur one would prefer uncapped convertible debt to equity, but investors typically won’t go for it.

Early Stage 80

Early Stage Term Sheet Preferred Stock Equity 80

Scott Edward Walker

JUNE 9, 2019

Accordingly, I thought it would be helpful for founders to discuss these rights and to point out the problems they create for startups. Over the past few weeks, two of my clients have received financing term sheets in which the investors requested super pro rata rights. Pro Rata Rights.

Preferred Stock 56

Preferred Stock Term Sheet Dilution Stock 56

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2015

One of the big questions that every entrepreneur struggles with is how much funding they should request from investors in the first round. This is all about setting a credible current value on your startup -- not future value. entrepreneur funding request investors startup stage'

Preferred Stock 120

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 120

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Venture Capital Venture Capital Term Sheets Startups Term Sheets What are examples of good startup term sheets? Entrepreneur. If you can't find what you are looking for, hit enter or click "Add Question" again. Daniel Feygin , Consultant. Technologist.

Term Sheet 41

Term Sheet Startup Angel Investor Wiki 41

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, many industry experts question the accuracy of early-stage market data, given many startups are no longer filing their Form Ds. So what is Revenue Based Investing?

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Startups and angels: Along the way to success. Please see later version of this post on May 16, 2010 Entrepreneurs are often not experts in the area of term-sheet negotiations and all of the surrounding issues.   Investors sometimes “present” the terms they’d like and expect the entrepreneurs to react. times at six years.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Scott Edward Walker

APRIL 9, 2012

Venture capital funds, seed funds, super angels, angel groups, incubators, and “friends and family” are all playing the seed financing game and investing early in startups in an attempt to land the next Facebook. ii) why are convertible notes issued instead of shares of common or preferred stock?

Preferred Stock 87

Preferred Stock Finance Common Stock Liquidation Preference 87

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Notes: In an IPO preferred share classes are converted into common stock, and liquidation preferences and accumulated but unpaid dividends essentially go away. One can infer valuations based on per share prices of preferred stock and oustanding common shares (~5.3M

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

Scott Edward Walker

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

I’ve been helping entrepreneurs raise capital as a securities lawyer for 17+ years, and there are certain fundamental mistakes that I’ve seen entrepreneurs repeatedly make. Accordingly, I thought it would be helpful to share three basic tips for entrepreneurs in connection with raising capital. This is how the game is played.

Preferred Stock 45

Preferred Stock Angel Investor Entrepreneur Common Stock 45

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Across both the startups I’ve personally been involved in (PayPal and LinkedIn) and the startups in which I’ve been an investor, I’ve seen a broad range of co-founder equity splits. As a result, one of the trickier things co-founders tackle is determining the equity split amongst the founding group of individuals.

Cofounder 255

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 255

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

I recently wrote about my views that startups rounds should be priced. If you do a capped note it’s bad for the entrepreneur. It has both a “full rachet” and “multiple liquidation preferences.” Here is what I recommend very often – privately – to startup entrepreneurs for angel funding.

Pre-Money Valuation 294

Pre-Money Valuation Finance Liquidation Preference Warrant 294

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

Most startup founders do not have enough capital to launch their companies and need to raise money at some point. Individual investors who provide financial funding to startups are called ‘Angel Investors.’ Among the most common methods of funding used by startups when raising seed capital is “Convertible Debt Financing.”

Finance 93

Finance Accredited Investor Angel Investor Seed Capital 93

Gust

AUGUST 6, 2014

25 individual angel investors funding a startup on a convertible note. two angel groups investing money in Series Seed Preferred stock purchase. a single venture capital fund putting in the full amount as Series A Convertible Preferred investment. Good personal chemistry with the entrepreneur.

Term Sheet 170

Term Sheet Lead Investor Preferred Stock Common Stock 170

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Across both the startups I’ve personally been involved in (PayPal and LinkedIn) and the startups in which I’ve been an investor, I’ve seen a broad range of co-founder equity splits. As a result, one of the trickier things co-founders tackle is determining the equity split amongst the founding group of individuals.

Cofounder 173

Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 173