Feld Thoughts

JUNE 10, 2022

Rather, when you have a choice between a financing at a lower valuation and a financing with all kinds of crazy structure to try to maintain a previous valuation, negotiate the best price you can but do a clean financing with no structure. .” Now, I’m not encouraging anyone to do a down round if unnecessary.,

Down Round 162

Down Round Ratchet Liquidation Preference Participating Preferred 162

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 4, 2019

While 2011 is only eight years ago, it’s a lifetime in the world of finance, private equity, venture capital, and business. 2006 was still the pits for venture capital, although a number of legendary companies (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) were in their early phases of getting started.

Private Equity 82

Private Equity Cofounder Equity Venture Capital 82

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 27, 2020

Legal Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know.

Investment Bankers 108

Investment Bankers Term Sheet Capitalization Table Venture Capital 108

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 10, 2011

In conjunction with their financing, Avalon just rolled out a new website designed by Slice of Lime. I’ve gotten to know several of Rich’s partners over the past few years and recently had a wonderful Do More Faster book tour dinner hosted at Avalon’s San Diego office by Kevin Kinsella (a fellow MIT-grad turned VC.).

San Diego 125

San Diego Cloud Hosting Finance 125

Feld Thoughts

JULY 27, 2011

When Jason and I set out to write Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist , we both agreed that we wanted to try to create as useful and durable a reference guide for entrepreneurs interested in raising a round of venture capital as we could.

Term Sheet 136

Term Sheet Preferred Stock Merger Venture Capital 136

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 21, 2014

If you are interested in learning about Venture Deals , my partner Jason Mendelson and I created a course with the Kauffman Fellows Academy on NovoEd which is running for the first time from 3/31/14 – 5/19/14. If you want to sign up for the course , use the discount code of “ventureds” to get 20% off the price.

New York 139

New York Venture Capital Programming Finance 139

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 26, 2019

million Series A financing. And I’m not the only partner at Foundry Group who feels this way, as my partner Jason Mendelson testified in front of the House of Representatives in 2013 when he was on the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) board about the importance of legal immigration to the U.S. innovation economy.

America 109

America Russia United States Green 109

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 5, 2014

I wonder what happens to the allocation of capital, entrepreneurship, and the impact on society when capital gets expensive again? The post Capital Is Cheap And Labor Is Expensive appeared first on Feld Thoughts. Venture Capital capital Entrepreneurship finance investing Jobs labor VC wages'

Valuation 144

Valuation Venture Capital Flash Government 144

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 10, 2017

When we led Eric’s first financing — a $10 million round and the first capital into the bootstrapped team — we believed mobile location and mapping would be big. Back in 1997, Softbank Technology Ventures (which became Mobius Venture Capital) was the first VC fund I helped raise.

Afghanistan 82

Afghanistan Bootstrapping Venture Capital Channel 82

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 18, 2014

My partner Jason Mendelson and I even churned out a series on venture capital financing. This was during a time when venture funding was in the dumps, and the process was opaque. How could I make the financing process more efficient? In about 30 posts, we demystified it.

Cofounder 182

Cofounder Angel Investor Venture Capital Finance 182

Feld Thoughts

JULY 18, 2011

The book originated in 2005 when Jason and I wrote a long series of posts on this blog about a typical Venture Capital term sheet. The Capitalization Table. How Venture Capital Funds Work. Issues at Different Financing States. Economic Terms of the Term Sheet. Control Terms of the Term Sheet.

Term Sheet 162

Term Sheet Venture Capital Capitalization Table Finance 162

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 2, 2012

Demo Day is a week away and I did my annual “talk about how to finance your company” thing which included meeting with each company and giving them advice on where they were in the process. I spent most of the day yesterday at TechStars Boulder.

Venture Capital 140

Venture Capital Programming Finance Web 140

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 7, 2012

Jason, BradB, and Mike’s class is a subset of the class that Jason and BradB teach at the CU Boulder Law School which has consistently been one of the most popular law and business school classes around startups, raising money, and venture capital. The four hour course costs $29.99.

Colorado 139

Colorado Venture Capital Portfolio Partner 139

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 11, 2010

Tysdal serves on the Board of Directors for the following Mantucket Capital portfolio companies: BrandJourney Capital and PRN Medical Services. His investment background includes venture capital, buyouts, restructurings, hedge funds, real estate, public equities, bonds and several entrepreneurial ventures.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Entrepreneur Merger Cofounder 94

Feld Thoughts

JULY 19, 2018

I remember when, in a period of about six months, the ceiling on seed financings vanished. Suddenly every company was raising a seed financing of at least $5m, regardless of the experience of the team. By 2002 investments at the seed level had evaporated (there were almost no seed financings happening).

Early Stage 105

Early Stage Seed Stage Valuation Finance 105

Feld Thoughts

MAY 12, 2012

” When we did investments at Mobius Venture Capital, in addition to a board seat, we always got board observer rights. But after several rounds of financings with new investors, I’ve often found myself in board meetings with ten or more people. Early in the life of a company, this often seems manageable.

Venture Capital 132

Venture Capital Finance Management Partner 132

Feld Thoughts

JULY 11, 2010

And Amy and I are huge advocates of campaign finance reform. Tags: Politics first amendment pay to play sec Venture Capital. So, on one hand we have corporations who can give any amount to any candidate running for office while on the other hand my wife can’t contribute $1,000 to someone running for governor of Colorado.

SEC 133

SEC Pay to Play Colorado Campaign 133

Feld Thoughts

MAY 5, 2010

The assignments should be specific – if they are general (such as “help with strategy” or “help with the financing”) they will be useless. Tags: Entrepreneurship board members Venture Capital. Make sure the assignments play to the individual board members strengths and interests.

Venture Capital 135

Venture Capital Leadership Finance Entrepreneur 135

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

In the absence of the existing seed investors stepping up and writing another check (without any new / outside validation) it's going to be hard for these companies to get to the place where they raise a next round financing. Tags: Venture Capital angel seed VC.

Florida 137

Florida Venture Capital Angel Groups Angel Investor 137

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 6, 2012

For a number of years, my partner Jason Mendelson has been teaching an extremely popular course at CU Boulder Law School with Brad Bernthal titled Venture Capital – A 360 Degree Perspective. Financing Entrepreneurial Companies. Reading: Venture Deals: How To Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer (Mendelson, Feld).

Venture Capital 133

Venture Capital Leadership Lean Community 133

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 16, 2021

us) and the entrepreneur, who did a few of these over her lifetime.

Term Sheet 151

Term Sheet Finance Web Entrepreneur 151

Feld Thoughts

JULY 28, 2015

” “With the rise in venture capitalism it’s hard to say the word “start up” and not be offered an abundance of accelerator programmes, free office space, free apartments & a free bible of connections. He tells Henry Ward’s story of the financing for eShares. I never got close.

Silicon Valley 70

Silicon Valley Algorithm Venture Capital Partner 70

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 19, 2017

This was an artifact of the last 30 years of venture capital, where VCs often would use the board meeting as the way to primarily engage with the company. Historically, the number of board meetings I had per company was all over the place. Some had four per year, some six, some eight, and some had twelve.

Balance Sheet 70

Balance Sheet Metrics SEC Distribution 70

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

I watched, participated, and suffered through every type of creative financing as companies were struggling to raise capital in this time frame. I suffered through the next financing after implementing a complex structure, or a sale of the company, or a liquidation. Your existing investors might be willing to provide it.

Cap Table 70

Cap Table Down Round Liquidation Preference Founder 70

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 2, 2010

But before Foundry Group, my partners and I were involved in many seed investments, both at Mobius Venture Capital. And, in case you are wondering, here are two recent examples of how seed investments blossom: AdMeld Raised $15 Million Round from Norwest Venture Partners and Time Warner and Trada Raises $5.75

Angel Investor 152

Angel Investor Cofounder Syndicate Syndication 152

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 29, 2015

No understanding of the human dynamics behind the financing. No underlying metrics that drive the financing. Recently, the gang at SalesLoft told the detailed story of their $10m financing. None of them covered the financing in any way. financing of Mattermark. There’s no real story there.

Atlanta 70

Atlanta Valuation Term Sheet Finance 70

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 31, 2015

If you are in any kind of investment business (including Venture Capital) you should read this book right now. The Investment Answer : I was given this book with a note that it’s a clear, basic book on personal finances and investing. I should have read this book when it first came out. It’s that, but very basic.

Angel Investor 70

Angel Investor Investment Bankers Term Sheet Texas 70

Feld Thoughts

JULY 14, 2015

Assuming equity is raised at or above that cap, the total dilution, before the new money, is 16.6% (equivalent to an equity financing of $1m at a $6m post money valuation. A company raises $1m of seed money from angels in a convertible note with a $6m cap. The company spends the $1m building and launching their first product.

Recapitalization 70

Recapitalization Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Angel Investor 70

Feld Thoughts

MAY 8, 2012

Many of these companies raise less than $3m coming out of TechStars – all of them are subsequently in our zone for the next round financing. As a result, we are tiny indirect investors in all of the companies that go through TechStars.

Seed Stage 138

Seed Stage LP Warrant Syndicate 138

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 2, 2015

We’ve been regularly running into another problem with doing a financing after companies have raised convertible notes. The entity getting screwed on this term are the founders, who now have a greater liquidation preference hanging over their heads than the dollars invested by the angels.

Liquidation Preference 70

Liquidation Preference Cap Table Angel Investor Post-Money Valuation 70