Genuine VC

JANUARY 15, 2015

The founder CEO is already a couple meetings deep into the process with others, at or nearing the final partner meeting decision, and somebody new is all of a sudden interested. The post The “Come-from-Behind” Lead Investor appeared first on GenuineVC.' But reality doesn’t always play out as neatly.

Lead Investor 100

Lead Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital Portfolio 100

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

In previous blog posts I’ve written about the two main approaches to building a seed round syndicate – the subscription method (where an entrepreneur presets a structure with a convertible note or SAFE and recruits investors who subscribe to the round, all without a term-driving lead investor) and a term-driving lead investor approach.

Syndicate 257

Syndicate Syndication Lead Investor Venture Capital 257

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2022

For most founders, fundraising is a struggle. Only a small minority of people are born into the kinds of connections and life paths to provide them instant access to capital. The rest have to work super hard to create access for themselves, build trust and win investors over. No company is up and to the right the whole time.

Cap Table 163

Cap Table Cofounder Private Equity Finance 163

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Professional expert networks allow you to efficiently convert your financial capital into relationship capital. Like many established finance & media companies, GLG knows that the tech startup sector is a growing part of the economy. Or, you can go straight to the source.

New York 114

New York Technical Review Networking Advisory Board 114

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 10, 2022

I love working with great people and as a venture capitalist, am fortunate the number of founders I’m impressed by far exceeds our investment capacity. Here’s an example of a founder that I’ve known for a while who recently raised a seed round with different firms than ours. The needs of the lead investor for ownership?

Cofounder 89

Cofounder Founder Acquisition Startup 89

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

To begin with, it is important to understand some basic facts about the world of entrepreneurial finance: There are many more entrepreneurs than there are investors, with the result that only one company out of every 400 that seeks venture funding actually receives it.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

At its core, this issue points to the lack of understanding about the importance of post-money valuation by both entrepreneurs and investors. When it comes time to convert the notes, these entrepreneurs face ‘sticker shock’ about their post-financing ownership.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

Scott Edward Walker

JUNE 9, 2019

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

Preferred Stock 56

Preferred Stock Term Sheet Dilution Stock 56

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

This is part of a series of advice for founders who need to raise money from venture capitalists. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. This is where most founders err.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

Professor VC

APRIL 1, 2010

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. While this may certainly be the case with unsophisticated angels (much less of these now) or in cases with no lead investor, Id argue the opposite.

Term Sheet 32

Term Sheet Angel Investor San Jose Venture Capital 32

The Startup Lawyer

JUNE 9, 2010

A startup’s Series A financing shouldn’t be a large liquidity event or salary payday for the startup’s founders. While a startup typically receives millions of dollars in a Series A, if too much of that $$$ flows guaranteed to the founders, various incentives get out of whack. Case Study. Case Study.

Salary 99

Salary Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Liquidity Event 99

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic. The latest statistics from VentureSource show 554 financings in Q4, down from 620 in Q3 and 718 in Q4 2007. million for the year, which is the first time it has been below $5 million since 2001, a sign that capital efficiency will be even more important than it has.

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 2, 2010

This prompted me to write a post titled AngelList Boulder and Some Thoughts on Seed Investing where I promised to write up some of my thoughts on how and why VCs could be good seed investors. They are: Fred Wilson: Lead Investors, Dipshit Companies, and Funding Every Entrepreneur. Million Round From Google Ventures.

Angel Investor 152

Angel Investor Cofounder Syndicate Syndication 152

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

It’s just that he’s a “super seed&# investor in a firm, Founder Collective , that I really respect (and with whom I’ve done two deals and hope to do a third) and I’m a partner in a venture capital firm, GRP Partners. In these cases we proactively offer to lead their next round of financing.

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

How To Pitch A Product - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , August 4, 2010 I've said a bunch of times on this blog that the perfect pitch is a very short intro to provide context followed immediately by a demo. Before I get into the details for founders, let me talk about options-hungry employees. Dying at 70?

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 26, 2021

But every so often another founder also sits on the board. If that’s the case, it’s essential that that founder and the CEO have a very tight relationship and coordinate closely to avoid allowing members of the organization to use that alternate channel to the board to get around the CEO’s decisions. Maybe it’s an economic challenge.

Startup 36

Startup Equity Early Stage Green 36

David Teten

JANUARY 10, 2012

Howard Lindzon is Co-Founder and CEO of StockTwits, a social network for traders and investors to share real-time ideas and information. Michael was the lead research analyst for the IPOs of Internet companies like UUNET, Yahoo! Christopher Ahlberg is the CEO and Co-founder of Recorded Future.

Technical Review 128

Technical Review Technology North Carolina Switzerland 128

Gust

OCTOBER 26, 2011

As we conclude our convertible note financing series, there are assorted terms commonly seen in term sheets and deal documents that are worth touching on briefly. The Note Purchase Agreement and Convertible Promissory Note are essential documents for any convertible note financing.

Finance 79

Finance Term Sheet Covenant Accredited Investor 79

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was hanging out the other day with my buddy Jody Sherman, founder & CEO of EcoMom. I was an angel investor in his company, made a bunch of calls on his behalf and then I personally sent it out on AngelList. Q&A with Babak Nivi and Naval Ravikant, founders of AngelList. What if nobody stands up as a lead investor?

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

Gust

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Today’s unveiling of Gust , the global infrastructure for early stage entrepreneurial financing, is a milestone that has been seven years in the making. Instead it came down to the simple question of “how can you get angel investors and venture capital funds to join and use the platform?” Welcome to Gust!

Angel Investor 79

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital Finance 79

Austin Startup

APRIL 1, 2017

out of state VCs Don’t rush a term sheet In assessing financing terms and interacting with their lead investors, most founders instinctively focus on two core things: economics and control. And some founders are quite good at it too. Do not take that selection lightly. And, broadly speaking, that is correct.

Term Sheet 48

Term Sheet Institutional Investors Technical Review Lead Investor 48