Rob Go

DECEMBER 14, 2016

This is something that isn’t that obvious to founders, so I thought I’d write a quick post. When a VC invests in a startup, the two parties usually sign a term sheet that lays out the major terms of the investment round. In the M&A process, an LOI feels an awful lot like a term sheet.

Term Sheet 28

Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence Private Equity 28

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 7, 2021

My job as an early stage investor includes translation services, specifically helping startup founders take what they are hearing from potential investors and providing a read on whether that VC is actually ready to make an offer. Even experienced founders get ‘happy ears,’ not just first time founders.

Term Sheet 151

Term Sheet Due Diligence Reputation Early Stage 151

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. I left the meeting and had to attend a 3-hour board meeting where two founders have been fighting and each want the other one fired.

Software Review 381

Software Review Churn Rate Due Diligence Option Pool 381

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2012

You’re heading into a full partner meeting and you’ve been asked for a full data pack before – should you give it? If you show a list of key customers or key business partners and if this list is sensitive (READ: If you don’t want VCs calling them) then you need to make it explicit with the VCs. S**t rolls downhill.

Technical Review 316

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Cap Table 316

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

VC Partnerships Start by understanding how many partners are at the firm you are approaching. It’s pretty easy since nearly every VC lists its partners on the website. Some firms are trickier since they artificially call everybody “partner” but they’re not all “investment partners.” How many partners are there?

Technical Review 314

Technical Review Due Diligence Partner Term Sheet 314

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? Ycombinator open source term sheet is a good start for Seed deals. Brad Feld does the best blog term sheet series.

Term Sheet 41

Term Sheet Startup Angel Investor Wiki 41

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. It’s by far the longest time I’ve spent working on any one thing, and I feel very blessed to have been able to work with my partners, colleagues, founders, and collaborators. Patience is a virtue.

IRR 205

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 205

View from Seed

MARCH 11, 2020

When a founder is raising money, he/she should expect that any serious investor will conduct some level of due diligence before getting to yes. Due diligence may seem like a drag, but partnering with an investor is a serious commitment, and you want to make sure that whoever you work with has built real conviction about you and your company.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Seed Stage 279

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. It’s by far the longest time I’ve spent working on any one thing, and I feel very blessed to have been able to work with my partners, colleagues, founders, and collaborators. Patience is a virtue.

IRR 156

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 156

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

I first met Andrew Stalbow , the founder & CEO of Seriously in August of 2013. and Petri was co-founder and head of creative at Remedy Entertainment that launched the hit PC games Max Payne and Alan Wake. By September 26th we had submitted a term sheet which was signed on October 4th and financing was closed in less than 30 days.

Technical Review 373

Technical Review North America Los Angeles Cofounder 373

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. It’s by far the longest time I’ve spent working on any one thing, and I feel very blessed to have been able to work with my partners, colleagues, founders, and collaborators. Patience is a virtue.

IRR 136

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 136

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Genuine VC

OCTOBER 2, 2012

After completing a long process identifying the right venture firms to pitch, running an exhaustive fundraising process, finding a mutual fit, and successfully negotiating terms… at last, the term sheet is signed. The two- to six- week time between the signing of the term sheet and closing is “venture limbo.”

Term Sheet 162

Term Sheet Founder Vesting Due Diligence Vesting 162

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Most of these rhyme with what we’ve said in the past, but some have also evolved to fit the changing landscape and our own convictions about what really matters for founders and their investors at the seed stage. As seed funds have raised larger and larger funds, more have developed the muscle around issuing term sheets and “leading”.

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

It’s often more all about fearing how tough VCs are going to be with their term sheets and ‘standard’ clauses. This instantly puts founders on guard, in a defensive position. Wouldn’t you like more loyalty and trust from your investors, board members and business partners? Generosity is nowhere on their radar.

Technical Cofounder 115

Technical Cofounder Entrepreneur Cofounder Post-Money Valuation 115

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

This also appears as a guest post at Fortune’s Term Sheet. Many assume it was a cakewalk, based on the success LinkedIn has enjoyed over time and the current stature of our founder/CEO Reid Hoffman (now Chairman). Yes… he was a very successful PayPal exec and previously co-founder & VP Product of SocialNet.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 12, 2020

During the course of a fundraise, founders are likely to encounter a few questions from VC’s that seem awkward or even a bit unfair. These are questions that usually don’t have anything to do with the business itself, but center around the dynamics of the round or maybe the motivations of the founders.

Term Sheet 364

Term Sheet Burn Rate Founder Partner 364

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 23, 2021

The classic scenario is when a VC has a signed term sheet to lead a round, but has left room open for another meaningful investor. At this point, the investor and the entrepreneur work together to develop their perfect list of potential partners, and then do targeted outreach to try to bring this investor into the round.

Syndicate 207

Syndicate Syndication Term Sheet Cofounder 207

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

What is it, and how should founders think about it? note: We’d like to be extra clear that founders should not take on venture debt if they don’t have 100% visibility into repaying the loan, as banks that need to recoup their loan my force the company or you as the guarantor into liquidation or bankruptcy.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had really positive experiences such as working with Greg Gretsch at Sigma Partners where he championed us to a partners’ meeting where we sort of got crucified. We made changes and Greg was a gentleman throughout the process rather than berating us for our performance (it was our first partners’ meeting).

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet Viral San Diego 274

Austin Startup

JULY 22, 2021

Any software, hardware, or CPG startup in Texas with a female founder or co-founder can apply to participate. We’ve helped winners connect with customers, mentors, and secure millions of dollars in capital from partners like Google Black Founders Fund, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Fund, Backstage Capital, and many other VC investors.

San Antonio 107

San Antonio Dallas Houston Founder 107

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 21, 2023

Before we get into a debate about how much a founder should own, there’s a context implicit in the question that is easily overlooked. It’s this part: “I’m getting inbound from investors…” Nearly all of the inbound VC interest happening out there is from non-partner investors (i.e. A check-writing partner reaches out to you.

Cap Table 78

Cap Table Term Sheet Database Option Pool 78

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

Often if it’s a bigger firm (say 4 partners or more) and it’s a super small investment for their fund size (let’s say $250-500k when they normally invest $5-7 million) they will just require 1 or 2 partners to decide. What happens next feels like a black box to outsiders. ” Some firms are collegiate.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Detroit Early Stage Partner 150

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

by John Vrionis, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Investors typically negotiate from a term sheet, which if not handled properly can create problems that can hurt or kill the startup’s chances when they do their Series A round of funding. Incorporation also protects the founders from a liability standpoint.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

If you are going to do the tour up and down Sandhill Road to try and raise your 1st round of financing you need a pitch deck because the vast majority of those meetings you are going to be sitting around a table and you will be presenting to one or more partners and that is going to be your first engagement.”. Is that when it became big?

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

She’s already a seasoned pro—three term sheets got signed in her room at the NICU where she spent the first 80 days of her life. It’s been incredibly rewarding to be able to offer relevant advice or a connection at the right time and to see when a founder builds on that key turning point and it leads to success.

Later Stage 218

Later Stage Venture Capital Term Sheet Limited Partner 218

Version One Ventures

AUGUST 28, 2019

Entrepreneurs have an increasing amount of financing options – that’s good news, but it also makes it harder to choose the right partners for your journey. We have conviction: If we like a deal, we are happy to write a term sheet. The post The Version One Promise to Founders appeared first on Version One.

Founder 109

Founder Term Sheet Early Stage Venture Capital 109

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 12, 2014

You charge your limited partners this, but you have to pay it back before you start taking a cut of the profits. I hear that partners can make $300,000 on up to a million dollars at a big fund, and that''s before their cut of the upside. I send out my own term sheets and review docs myself--especially since I''m in sydicated rounds.

Investment Bankers 167

Investment Bankers Term Sheet Venture Capital Technical Review 167

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 15, 2010

I was raising money for my second company and having been burned by term sheets on my first company I was eager to get myself knowledgeable before signing up to take VC again. I started reading Brad’s “term sheet&# series. Brad Feld : I first learned of Brad Feld like many of you – through his blog.

Social Network 347

Social Network Networking Southern California Term Sheet 347

Gust

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Angel investment events where the group investment is supposed to go to the winner, but the winner ends up hating the term sheet. Usually these term sheets involve convertible notes, which are supposed to convert to equity at the next round of financing, like when the serious venture capitalists do a Series A.

Software Review 79

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Angel Investor 79

View from Seed

MAY 17, 2019

The venture fundraising process for founders has a certain rhythm to it, and so a lot can be read into the timing and pacing of the conversations. After a term sheet is signed, but before closing, I call the “venture limbo” period. The job of the entrepreneur is to ensure those circumstances don’t change too much in the interim.

Term Sheet 149

Term Sheet Reputation Security Conversion 149

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

I recently sat down with Matt Coffin , the founder of LowerMyBills, which sold for $400 million but was very nearly a bankruptcy only a few years early, and talked “startups.&#. Called Tim Spicer (c-companies partner) and he told him matt, they only want one thing, more warrant coverage!!! And he said ok got it.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Customer Warrant Term Sheet 304

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2015

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. Visit reference customers, partners, and vendors. My best advice is to stick to the middle ground.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Term Sheet 120

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

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Bigfoot Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

In 2017 we began inserting an “Inclusion Clause” into our term sheets because we believe that the culture one establishes at the earliest stages of one’s business will set out the course of how it will grow and develop. We believe that diverse teams produce diversity of thought and that this leads to better decisions and outcomes.

Term Sheet 284

Term Sheet Los Angeles Open Source Portfolio 284

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 5, 2014

Managing short-term tactical outcomes with longer term relationship cultivation. Meeting new founders while collaborating, recruiting, analyzing, doing whatever it takes, to help our current founders build strong companies. Doing what excites me and gives energy. 1) Evaluate New Opportunities.

Software Review 102

Software Review Balance Sheet Cofounder Technical Review 102