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Want to Know How VC’s Calculate Valuation Differently from Founders?

Both Sides of the Table

Things like “ participating preferred stock &# in legalese unsurprisingly never actually call out, “hey, this is the participating preferred language.&# We got a3x participating liquidation preference with interest (not participating with a 3x cap, but 3x participating.

Valuation 405
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Down Rounds: Deal With Reality

Feld Thoughts

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. and a bunch of other things.

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One Book Every Entrepreneur and VC Should Own

Both Sides of the Table

To this day I’m still surprised how few CEOs really understand the differences between 2x liquidation preference and a liquidation preference with a 2x cap. Or what “participating preferred&# stock is and how it can screw you. Or what “flat spots&# on a cap table are. It’s hidden in legal language.

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Unicorn deals – not that heavily structured

The Equity Kicker

However, few of the deals went beyond a simple 1x non-participating preference share. I always wondered if companies were accepting multiple liquidation preferences in exchange for high valuations, but that was only the case in 3% of the deals analysed.

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In defence of liquidation preferences

The Equity Kicker

a 1x non-participating preference share) and the company is successful enough to raise a couple of million or more the complexity and misalignment are more than manageable. Moreover, in the rare situation where investors offer a choice management almost always go for the higher valuation.

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Shark Tank Season 4 week 4 breakdown

Lightspeed Venture Partners

Week three’s breakdown covered topics like how hard momentum is to turn around, and how participating preferred stock works. I’ve been writing up reviews of this season’s Shark Tank pitches from a silicon valley VCs perspective. This time I’ll break down week four of this season. BACK 9 DIPS.

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Model Cap Table

ithacaVC

The model includes a simple waterfall analysis using both participating and non-participating preferred (see line 44 and then columns M and O). The larger the preferred stock liquidation preference the larger the impact of participating preferred. The option strike price in cell J1 is arbitrary.