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. Plus physical.

Technical Review 373

Technical Review North America Los Angeles Cofounder 373

Gust

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. If results don’t match what they have been told, all bets are off.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 152

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2010

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. If results don’t match what they have been told, all bets are off.

Technical Review 225

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 225

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 12, 2017

The decision is yours as to how you package up your offering in a way that matches your goals. In that case, you are not making a specific offer; you are soliciting a terms sheet. But, if that is part of the terms sheet that comes your way, you can then decide if you want to fight it, try to soften it, or just go along.

Term Sheet 48

Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence Merger 48

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

How else can you explain this headline matching a story about a professional social network still trying to explore revenues raising $17mm on an $80mm valuation? This is a company that, according to the article, got term sheets from half of the VCs that expressed interest in the company. Perhaps I need to rethink that.

Venture Capital 114

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 114

Gust

DECEMBER 21, 2011

Boston, New York City, Seattle and Southern California spawn many exciting startups…but do not exceed the Valley in any measure of entrepreneurial achievement. And, while being the undisputed leader in breeding and growing startups, the Valley is not the only place in the world (or the US) where entrepreneurs thrive.

Silicon Valley 107

Silicon Valley Southern California Tucson Seattle 107

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 5, 2014

Stage 1 : Either Satya or I are meeting the founders, usually solo, giving them an overview of Homebrew and learning about their startup through direct conversations, using the product (whatever stage it’s at) and doing some background on their industry (if it’s an area new to us). Satya and I use a simple three stage system.

Software Review 102

Software Review Balance Sheet Cofounder Technical Review 102

OnlyOnce

OCTOBER 31, 2013

One of the strongest points of value that venture investors bring to the table is pattern matching, and you can maximize that by making sure the investor you end up with has seen a multitude of companies like yours. And this is true of any negotiation, not just a term sheet. Check references carefully.

Valuation 133

Valuation Term Sheet B2C Security 133

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

This means that by far the most effective way to reach a VC is to be introduced by someone who knows both of you and thinks it would be a good match. Browse through the many hundreds of video answers to startup questions that we’ve filmed from the world’s leading VCs and angels.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 12, 2020

One just got a seed term sheet for twice the valuation I put in at in the pre-seed and the other is doing $200k/month in revenue. When my own startup was failing, I was helping Foursquare’s seed round happen—even switched seats around at an outing to Citifield for my 30th birthday to help make the right connections happen.

LP 136

LP Technical Review Software Review Valuation 136

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

If these sound like reasonable answers to you, and you are in a startup/small company, update your resume. Titles are not your job When I pressed my staff to explain why marketing did trade shows, or wrote press releases or penned data sheets, the best I could get was “why that’s our job.”

Silicon Valley 259

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 259

View from Seed

MAY 12, 2015

Start with the firms of whatever city you’re in that have a history of investing in the stage and sector of your startup, then augment with additional firms outside your home geography which may have a strong particular fit with your company. ultimately, a term sheet) when pitching any given firm? Always think about fit.

Partner 120

Partner Term Sheet Reputation Deal Flow 120

Spencer Fry

DECEMBER 7, 2011

I can try and put into words the highs and lows you experience when running a startup, but I'll hardly be able to do it justice. One day you're on the top of the world — you've hired the person you dreamed about, you received your first term sheet, you pocketed your first revenue, etc. — There's a Massive Stress Pendulum.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Startup Term Sheet IPO 78

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

So here’s a five-day playbook to help CEOs of cash-flow negative startups, or ones about to go negative, assess the new normal and respond with speed and urgency. For companies burning cash, such as startups, how much cash do you have? For startups: source of VC money? Some VC’s are walking away from signed term sheets.

South Korea 333

South Korea Salary Business Model China 333

Hunter Walker

APRIL 27, 2014

I’ve written before about our fundraising process and how it very much resembles that of a startup. We’ve continued to refine our process so we make best use of entrepreneur’s time and move as fast – or faster – than the market in getting a term sheet to the teams we want to back.

LP 97

LP Cofounder Term Sheet Valuation 97

K9 Ventures

JUNE 30, 2016

Now, what do you do when you get an email from a VC firm, that says something like: Dear <Founder’s Name>, We recently came across your company in {TechCrunch | Term Sheet | StrictlyVC}. Saw that you’ve raised a seed round and are building a AI platform for chatbots.

Email 96

Email Database Term Sheet Partner 96

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

They either do too many seed investments (for which they can spend no quality time with any) or they treat it as an option (“if you succeed come back and see us and we’ll match any term sheet you get&# ) – they view it as a sort of “right of first refusal.&#. The signaling affect is overrated.

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

Genuine VC

MARCH 25, 2010

He lamented that if the meetings with this venture firm soon led to a term sheet, he’ll be faced with a tough problem of a binary decision – take whatever they offer him (which was likely too much money for what the company needs now at not a great price) or risk losing any funding options. Fair enough.

Early Stage 123

Early Stage Venture Capital Term Sheet Conversion 123

Genuine VC

MARCH 25, 2010

He lamented that if the meetings with this venture firm soon led to a term sheet, he’ll be faced with a tough problem of a binary decision – take whatever they offer him (which was likely too much money for what the company needs now at not a great price) or risk losing any funding options. Fair enough.

Early Stage 121

Early Stage Venture Capital Term Sheet Conversion 121

www.payne.org

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Startup Equity For Employees. The re-heating of the venture funded tech market has pushed a heat up of the hiring market, and Im getting more calls from friends asking for help understanding startup stock (equity) offers. For a very good summary of investor terms, see Brad Felds writeups on term sheet terms.

Equity 56

Equity Employee Vesting Preferred Stock 56

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. The goal of their startup in this stage becomes “getting funded.”

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Fred Wilson warns that it is starting to feel like a bubble again, with VCs writing $5 and $10 million dollar checks with very little due diligence, sometimes showing up to a first meeting with a term sheet… Israeli startup headlines for Nov 15, 2010. Funding news. Realmatch was started in 2007 by Gal Almog. [ Source ].

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Venture Capital Matching 79

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Fred Wilson warns that it is starting to feel like a bubble again, with VCs writing $5 and $10 million dollar checks with very little due diligence, sometimes showing up to a first meeting with a term sheet… Israeli startup headlines for Nov 15, 2010. Funding news. Realmatch was started in 2007 by Gal Almog. [ Source ].

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Matching Venture Capital 79

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Fred Wilson warns that it is starting to feel like a bubble again, with VCs writing $5 and $10 million dollar checks with very little due diligence, sometimes showing up to a first meeting with a term sheet… Israeli startup headlines for Nov 15, 2010. Funding news. Realmatch was started in 2007 by Gal Almog. [ Source ].

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Matching Venture Capital 79

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Fred Wilson warns that it is starting to feel like a bubble again, with VCs writing $5 and $10 million dollar checks with very little due diligence, sometimes showing up to a first meeting with a term sheet… Israeli startup headlines for Nov 15, 2010. Funding news. Realmatch was started in 2007 by Gal Almog. [ Source ].

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Matching Venture Capital 79

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2018

What about pitch competitions that sound like Ancient Roman death matches? After a bit, I finally asked, "What's the difference between One and Two in terms of funding and time, because I want to fund Phase Two way more than I want to get stuck in Phase One without funding." I offered a term sheet to lead a $1.6mm financing.

Founder 100

Founder Conversion Naming Term Sheet 100

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Not all startups need outside investment to grow. What most founders don’t realize is: Every stage of a startup requires a different set of metrics and milestones and founder skills. Here’s the first 2½ years of a startup journey. The Startup Investment Landscape. Still, there are some benchmarks to keep in mind.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Angel Investor 429

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

It has many stylistic errors — and a few substantive ones, too — that I would now change having learned more, but I realized that it still provides useful insights for entrepreneurs and startup participants outside of the Greylock network, particularly across three areas of interest: how entrepreneurs should approach the pitch process.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

” These are people with whom there is a likely match for your product or service. You need to build genuine relationships with these portfolio startup founders as well as trust with them and the rest will follow. ” But focusing on too many is a mistake. You want to narrow the suspects into a group called “prospects.”

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

Austin Startup

MAY 19, 2018

Just don’t do reference checks ever until the term sheet has been issued and you’re almost ready to fund. The number of those VCs who didn’t know our stage or who had some other part of their thesis that we didn’t match was also staggering. I’ve made countless intros to my investors on behalf of funds and startups.

Founder 75

Founder Early Stage Software Review Deal Flow 75

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

Six firms had expressed strong interest, two had strong champions already trying to test price and round size and one had made it clear they were planning to submit a term sheet the following week. In this market some startups will understand “the trade” of a long-term W over short-term bravado.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Valuation Forecast 150

www.currentlyobsessed.com

MAY 28, 2010

I have to admit, the light bulb didn’t go off for me until I was negotiating term sheets. Read up on the “unwritten terms&# in term sheets having to do with exit multiples here For bootstrappers, the math is even easier: 100% of the upside goes to you and your awesome team. Like this post?

Valuation 42

Valuation Channel Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 42

Hippoland

AUGUST 31, 2018

He has done incredibly well financially on his past two startups, and he’s now building his 3rd company. And if you do the math of VCs buying roughly 20% of a startup, valuations can be upwards in the $50m+ range for today’s series A rounds! But when we were talking, he expressed frustration in raising his series A round.

Pre-Money Valuation 90

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Early Stage 90

Hippoland

AUGUST 31, 2018

He has done incredibly well financially on his past two startups, and he’s now building his 3rd company. And if you do the math of VCs buying roughly 20% of a startup, valuations can be upwards in the $50m+ range for today’s series A rounds! But when we were talking, he expressed frustration in raising his series A round.

Pre-Money Valuation 48

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Early Stage 48

Steve Blank

APRIL 16, 2009

Each of my competitors each had 5-10 graphics boards covering a range of prices with performance to match. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. I went home to think about this. Instead of a product family, we had a single point product. Even our current product line had four graphics boards in it. What could we do?

Silicon Valley 134

Silicon Valley Product RSS Engineer 134

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2015

Every entrepreneur should do the same due diligence on a potential investor that smart investors do on their startups. Taking on an investor is a long-term relationship, like getting married, that has to work at every level. Be wary if the term sheet is a document longer than your business plan. Legal eagle investors.

Due Diligence 120

Due Diligence Term Sheet Entrepreneur Angel Investor 120

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 10, 2021

A few months ago, I got a pitch from a company providing a kind of “last mile” for computer vision—an always-on human network that would take images that computers couldn’t identify, and spit back whether or not a roof tile was broken or if a signature matched. I was both horrified and yet not surprised at all.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Cap Table Accredited Investor Silicon Valley 150