Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” How much is NewCo worth to investors at this point (pre-money valuation)? This is the most concrete valuation element, usually called the asset approach. MORE >>

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” The founders now need a $1M Angel investment to do the marketing for a national NewCo rollout, build a team to manage the rollout, and maybe even pay themselves a salary. MORE >>

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. The price is the percent of ownership given to the investor, calculated as “investment/post-money valuation.” Remember a term sheet agreement is not a deal until the check clears. MORE >>

The main drawback is the quirk that the lower your pre-money at Series A, the more equity your angel investor gets. EXAMPLE 1 : If a VC invests $2,000,000 at a $5,000,000 pre-money valuation ($7,000,000 post money ) and an angel investor has a $100,000 convertible note with a 25% discount, the angel investor will own 1.9% MORE >>

Founders vs. Early Employees To help with this discussion, let me start with a definition of "early employee." The first few people into a startup are on a spectrum of founder vs. early employee. Founders are likely not paid for a long time and have a sizeable equity percentage for early risk and having the concept. MORE >>