Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2012

Remember a term sheet agreement is not a deal until the check clears. However, there is no set pattern of terms an entrepreneur might be able to anticipate from either. Your best strategy is to bring your own term sheet to the negotiation as a starting point. Anti-dilution protection.

Term Sheet 223

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Post-Money Valuation 223

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Remember a term sheet agreement is not a deal until the check clears. However, there is no set pattern of terms an entrepreneur might be able to anticipate from an angel, either. Your best strategy is to bring your own term sheet to the negotiation as a starting point. Anti-dilution protection. Marty Zwilling.

Term Sheet 227

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Post-Money Valuation 227

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

I have often been asked about Startup Funding by entrepreneurs. Many myths surround the subject of startup funding. Here is Startup Funding, a Comprehensive Guide for Entrepreneurs. You must have seen a lot of startups giving out promotions, discounts, and incentives at the early phase of their business.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Does the traditional VC financing model make sense for all companies? 2018 also had the fewest number of angel-led financing rounds since before 2010. However, many industry experts question the accuracy of early-stage market data, given many startups are no longer filing their Form Ds. Absolutely not.

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2012

Since I didn’t originally source the deal I let my co-investor set the terms and negotiate the deal with my consent. But it was early 2009 and not many companies were getting new financings at all so I thought they should take the deal. But for me I care too much about my long-term reputation. He has signed a term sheet.

Term Sheet 356

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Reputation Partner 356

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. The assistant tried to end the meeting twice but was shoooshed away. What do I do now? You’re in control.

Software Review 381

Software Review Churn Rate Due Diligence New York 381

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 12, 2017

To outside investors, the future of early stage and startup companies can be murky. However, as a condition of financing they may require annual audited financial statements. For many startups this results in a need to raise additional financing through debt or equity arrangements. What are the company’s obligations?

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Forecast Early Stage Term Sheet 133

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. Q: “If you have a term sheet on the table how should you leverage with other VCs?&#

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

Version One Ventures

MARCH 3, 2021

ICYMI, here is a list of our posts on why we’re excited about backing these startups. In helping our portfolio startups go through the announcement process, we’ve compiled some suggestions to guide you in putting out your message and making sure it gets amplified in the right way. Fortune Term Sheet. StrictlyVC.

Social Media 147

Social Media Technical Review Term Sheet PR 147

YFS Magazine

OCTOBER 8, 2016

It can be tempting to skip the term sheet and simply have your lawyer prepare the investment documents.

Term Sheet 112

Term Sheet Startup Venture Capital Finance 112

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

Because the hundreds of millions that it takes to greenlight a theatrical film could never be absorbed by a startup and because they way we experience media & characters has evolved dramatically over the past 20 years to a point where the starting point for media is often digital, gaming or even graphic novel oriented.

Technical Review 373

Technical Review North America Los Angeles Cofounder 373

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

After the recent announcement of the Series Seed Financing documents by Marc Andreesen, Brad Feld points out that there are now four sets of “open source&# equity seed financing documents: TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents (by Cooley). Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). under $500K).

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Series Seed Financing Documents Blog. Series Seed Financing Documents. Series Seed Term Sheet (v 2.0). Series Seed Term Sheet. Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Series Seed Financing Documents : 1 Reblog. Ted: Great service to the startup community!

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

There was a lot of consumer internet activity again…resurgence of things, but it was still mysterious, venture capital was still kind of closed, 1st time entrepreneurs had a lot of questions that were unanswered, and there was still some sort of hand waiving around all the financing stuff and so we took it on….”. Is that when it became big?

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

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

The Startup Lawyer

AUGUST 24, 2010

Just like the preferred equity financing process, the convertible debt financing process can start with a term sheet, rather than a full set of financing documents. Closing : Is there a specific date that the convertible debt financing will close, or will there be an open round of seed investment ?

Term Sheet 62

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Liquidity Event Warrant 62

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. It should therefore come as no surprise that an asymmetry of information exists, mostly gleaned from experience, between founders and investors in a venture financing deal.

Finance 178

Finance Term Sheet Preferred Stock Bridge Financing 178

Gust

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Startups and investors discover each other, and the community wins because the event becomes visible evidence of new business and new jobs locally. Or the in-kind winning includes legal work or management consulting, but the startup that wins has its own providers. But before the term sheet is signed, problems come up.

Software Review 79

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Angel Investor 79

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

While certainly not every business needs to raise venture financing, it is the path for many high-growth technology startups. As Steve Blank explained earlier this week on ReadWriteStart from research at The Startup Genome Project : One of the biggest surprises is that success isn't about size of team or funding.

Cap Table 125

Cap Table Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Technical Review 125

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Part of the magic of revenue-based financing is how historical performance and strong, achievable financial projections are ultimately the backbone of how RBI/RBF investment decisions are made.” Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5%

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 2, 2010

Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR). Series Seed Financing Documents (by Fenwick & West). I wrote about this in my post The Challenge of The Ideal First Round Term Sheet. TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents (by Cooley).

Finance 133

Finance Term Sheet Angel Investor Early Stage 133

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

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. FFF investing is not a short-term play and mostly investors do not get a return on their investment immediately. Individual investors who provide financial funding to startups are called ‘Angel Investors.’

Finance 93

Finance Accredited Investor Angel Investor Seed Capital 93

Up and Running

MAY 18, 2016

Reading lists are dime a dozen, but reading lists that focus on rapid-growth startup businesses? It’s the ultimate startup guide if you’re looking for systematic business growth and guidance on what not to do. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses.

Startup 80

Startup Venture Capital Angel Investor Lean 80

Startup Company Lawyer

APRIL 22, 2009

Always looking for ways to better serve the entrepreneurial community, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is pleased to announce the release of the WSGR Term Sheet Generator , a publicly available online tool that allows entrepreneurs and investors to generate an initial draft of a term sheet for a preferred stock financing.

Term Sheet 39

Term Sheet Finance Preferred Stock Kentucky 39

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

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

This is a company that, according to the article, got term sheets from half of the VCs that expressed interest in the company. How would they know unless they surveyed a critical mass of startups all at the same stage now and then three years ago or so to compare? Not a bad close rate, I'd say--and a pretty great pay day.

Venture Capital 114

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 114

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. If an investor isn’t engaging then they’re not suddenly going to get a term sheet. You can short-hand this as “engagement.”

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

Gust

OCTOBER 12, 2011

Last week , we took the plunge and began dissecting an example term sheet for a convertible debt financing round piece by piece. I’ll continue with more specific terms and wrap up next week with some thoughts about recent changes and trends for the future.

Finance 107

Finance Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 107

View from Seed

AUGUST 16, 2019

One of the most relevant scenarios that this fear vs. greed lens applies towards is insider-led financings. With the proliferation of multiple seed rounds prior to a Series A, these situations are coming up increasingly in the early stage startup ecosystem.

Term Sheet 149

Term Sheet Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 149

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

At an accelerator … Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

K9 Ventures

APRIL 27, 2011

In August/September 2009, the founders and I agreed to work together to raise a round of financing for the company. We pulled together about $600K of commitments and interest, for a $500K-target financing round. The lawsuit completely killed the financing prospects for Ugmode. At this stage, the team had had no prior financing.

Software Review 134

Software Review Technical Review IP Finance 134

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Since 2017 we’ve managed $3 million in revenue-based financing, which helps cash-strapped technology companies grow. We’re currently evaluating about 20 companies a month and issuing term sheets to 25% of them; those that fit our investment criteria. “ You qualify if you have $5k+ MRR. Bigfoot Capital. Decathlon Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

5 million was always the classic definition of an A-round between the late nineties (crazy financings aside) and say 2007. If you want a great primer on how the VC and startup funding scene changed here’s a great primer. Startup Lessons' If you''re newer to VC math here''s a great primer]. and there''s always a but].

Cap Table 399

Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Finance 399

Gust

OCTOBER 21, 2011

For convertible notes, the only liquidity event we need be concerned with is an acquisition of the startup in the near future, before the maturity date; otherwise, the notes will convert to equity of one kind or another, and the eventual sale of that equity (in a public offering, acquisition, or private sale) is a different subject for another day.

Finance 79

Finance Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet Liquidity Event 79

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2012

If your startup desperately needs an investor, you may not care if the investor is a so-called “angel” investor, or a venture capitalist (VC). But I have found that making the right choice at the right time can have a major impact on your long-term valuation, and the decision process is complex. Type of startup.

IRR 248

IRR Term Sheet Startup Valuation 248

Scott Edward Walker

AUGUST 8, 2021

Whether you’re doing a financing or selling your startup, consider the following rules (in no particular order): Golden Rules. 3) Your strongest leverage in any financing/sale is prior to the execution of an exclusivity letter — i.e., an LOI/term sheet which includes a “no shop” provision.

Investment Bankers 83

Investment Bankers Term Sheet Finance Sales 83