Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

If a company has reached a level of success, has been around for a few years and you believe the company has potential to break out into a much bigger company then you should let the founders take money off of the table. Not FU money, but “feed the family&# money. I raised $500k in seed money to start the company.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

Chris Dixon provided some commentary on Twitter that he believes I missed “the most important point about fund size.&# He’s specifically referring to his point of view that entrepreneurs shouldn’t take seed money from “big VC’s&# (he defines them as > $100 million). You raised angel money.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Term Sheet Early Stage Silicon Valley 265

Scott Edward Walker

OCTOBER 28, 2014

This week, we present legendary angel investor Ron Conway (commonly referred to as the “ Godfather of Silicon Valley ”) and Marc Andreessen , a brilliant entrepreneur and co-founder and general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. So you raise seed money to peel away the first two or three risks.”

Cap Table 67

Cap Table Cofounder Silicon Valley Venture Capital 67

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 10, 2017

TL;DR: Using a “tiered” valuation cap structure in a convertible note or SAFE can provide flexibility that bridges the gap between (i) what founders expect their company to be worth in the near future, and (ii) what investors are comfortable accepting now. Background Reading: The best seed round structure is the one that closes.

Valuation 48

Valuation Dilution Silicon Valley Seed Stage 48

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 23, 2018

While it’s true that you sometimes need to spend money to make money, the amount of money you need to spend is where things get murkier. The highway of new ventures is littered with the remnants of businesses that started with tons of seed money but ran out with little to show for it. in the early days, Microsoft.

Entrepreneur 69

Entrepreneur Startup Seattle Social Media 69

www.paulgraham.com

AUGUST 1, 2008

In the last batch of startups we funded, we had several founders who said theyd thought of applying before, but werent sure and got jobs instead. This is a problem for founders, because it makes raising money take longer and cost more in legal fees. Founders and investors have different attitudes to risk.

Web 54

Web Startup Silicon Valley Technical Review 54

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going. In later posts I’m going to get into more detail on specific topics like hiring, raising money, what types of ideas have the potential to get big, finding your founders, and the like.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

www.businessinsider.com

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Silicon Valley 100. Y Combinator founder Paul Graham, the influential advisor to dozens of startups like Dropbox and Airbnb , sent his entrepreneurs an email Wednesday afternoon cautioning them against taking "lowball offers"—in particular, he said, from Google Ventures. 10 Of The Deadliest Boat Disasters Of All Time.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup Valuation Venture Capital 54

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Multiply that by literally a couple thousand, and that’s what 2013 is going to look like in Silicon Valley, and to a lesser degree some other startup ecosystems. ”The venture business in general is wildly undisciplined about throwing good money after bad,” he says. ” Put another way: Maples is right.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93