Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. My blog was wiped out. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

If you’re a startup and you don’t have a close relationship with a few law firms you’re really missing one of the most important relationships that any entrepreneur can have. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Consider it a sales & marketing expense for them.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

by John Vrionis, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. This article highlights their advice on issues ranging from financing to patent trolls: While startups may believe lawyers are too costly, working with one early on avoids potentially serious problems later. Lightspeed is in the business of encouraging entrepreneurship.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Capacity Capital, Greater Colorado Venture Fund, Indie.VC, Reformation Partners, UP Fund, Versatile VC. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5% return cap.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

While certainly not every business needs to raise venture financing, it is the path for many high-growth technology startups. As Steve Blank explained earlier this week on ReadWriteStart from research at The Startup Genome Project : One of the biggest surprises is that success isn't about size of team or funding.

Cap Table 125

Cap Table Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Technical Review 125

The Next Web

APRIL 6, 2013

My daily work consists of connecting innovative A round startups with potential investors or strategic partners. The five suggestions below are designed to help facilitate the investment process which may lead to a more expeditious term sheet and teach entrepreneurs to think more like an investor. Go For The Money NOW.

Term Sheet 126

Term Sheet Due Diligence Strategic Investors Valuation 126

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 12, 2017

If you have a sales model that involves relationship selling to high-level decision makers, you can be sure they would prefer a detailed proposal from you with a request to “sign here.” In that case, you are not making a specific offer; you are soliciting a terms sheet. Decide to think big and ask big.

Term Sheet 48

Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence Merger 48

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

Traction can simply mean showing that you’re making progress with customers, product development, channel partners, initial revenue as a proof point, attracting well-known angel investors, winning industry awards / recognition. It’s marketing 101 for tech companies in terms of how you market to customers.

Technical Review 309

Technical Review Term Sheet Venture Capital Revenue 309

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

In 2019 we partnered with several revenue-based lending providers, effectively creating a marketplace. “. According to Brian Parks, “Bigfoot provides RBI, term loans, and lines of credit to SaaS businesses with $500k+ ARR. We have a special program if you are pre-seed and need product development. Bigfoot Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Austin Startup

JULY 22, 2021

On October 4th, five technology startup finalists will pitch to a panel of advisors and judges made up of successful investors, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders. Any software, hardware, or CPG startup in Texas with a female founder or co-founder can apply to participate. Startups, submit your application now! Who Can Apply?

San Antonio 107

San Antonio Dallas Houston Founder 107

Austin Startup

MARCH 16, 2021

Greetings from Houston Mural located in Houston Heights If your startup is located in the Houston region you may be eligible to compete for a $50,000 investment! Startups, submit your application Capital Factory Ventures Application Who Can Apply?

Houston 80

Houston San Antonio Dallas Texas 80

www.bothsidesofthetable.com

MAY 13, 2012

Sales & Marketing. I recently did a post for startups on understanding sales people. A few people asked me to try and define the perfect startup organization chart. But I do have more insight into understanding your startup team. Every great tech startup needs one. Raising Venture Capital.

Fractional VPE 89

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Fractional CTO CTO Hire 89

www.readwriteweb.com

DECEMBER 29, 2011

While certainly not every business needs to raise venture financing, it is the path for many high-growth technology startups. Earlier this week on ReadWriteStart, Steve Blank used research at The Startup Genome Project and explained: One of the biggest surprises is that success isn't about size of team or funding.

Cap Table 47

Cap Table Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Technical Review 47

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

If you’ve taken the roller coaster ride that is a startup – you know what I’m talking about. The truth is that in my experience very, very few people really enjoy the “pure&# startup environment: months with no salary, months with no live product and lots of trial, error & rejection. It’s addicting. La vita e bella.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Salary Egypt 384

Startup Company Lawyer

APRIL 22, 2009

Always looking for ways to better serve the entrepreneurial community, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is pleased to announce the release of the WSGR Term Sheet Generator , a publicly available online tool that allows entrepreneurs and investors to generate an initial draft of a term sheet for a preferred stock financing.

Term Sheet 39

Term Sheet Finance Preferred Stock Kentucky 39

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR – disclaimer, I represent the Founders Institute and was involved in drafting this document). This post assumes that you have a basic understanding of Series A financing terms. Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). Dividend preference.

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

View from Seed

JANUARY 30, 2020

Partnering with an investor and/or board member is very long term commitment, and I’m always surprised by how little diligence founders do prior to signing up for what could be a 10+ year collaboration. It’s very hard to really tell who might be the perfect fit for your startup. Raising money is super hard. Are they prepared?

Due Diligence 195

Due Diligence Partner Term Sheet Finance 195

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

VC’s keep different titles but the most common that I’ve come across that are investment professionals are (in ascending order of seniority): analyst, associate, principal and partner. The process for raising money from a VC is a sales process and as such much of what is taught in enterprise sales can be applied.

Partner 308

Partner Term Sheet Sales Portfolio 308

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Series Seed Term Sheet (v 2.0). Series Seed Term Sheet. Good idea, I think this will benefit lots of startups and some angels. In reviewing these documents on the term sheet, last item, how is the term "double trigger" defined.   Series Seed COI (v 2.0).

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

When you run a startup you’re always on borrowed time. There is no way to run a startup business without accepting at least a little bit of cognitive dissonance as you persuade yourself that one way or the other you’ll find a way to make it work while suppressing the very real possibility that you may not. Be in Person.

Burn Rate 238

Burn Rate Term Sheet CTO Hire Fractional CTO 238

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

The same kind of tasks that a startup team has. I submitted a term sheet to a company yesterday. Yesterday I offered him a term sheet. I spent time today negotiating it with him and getting my partners bought into some changes. We call these investors “LPs” for limited partners.

Email 314

Email Product Term Sheet Portfolio 314

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

And they should be; the feeding frenzy in the innovation economy is in some cases because startups are eating the lunch of more established companies. Access to the corporate investor’s ecosystem can open up great opportunities from technology validation to customer and partner development.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Technical Review Portfolio 60

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 1, 2011

At today's roundtable, we announced 1M/1M Premium company Freshdesk's $1M funding from Accel Partners. Freshdesk is a social customer support startup offering a SaaS solution to small businesses. Such long sales cycle businesses find it very difficult to sustain and survive the pre-revenue period. Loyaltepays.com.

Partner 113

Partner Tennessee Nashville India 113

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

George Deeb is the Managing Partner at Chicago-based Red Rocket Ventures , a startup consulting and financial advisory firm based in Chicago. I like to break-out startup growth into four stages, not too dissimilar to four years of high school education: freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Your stage of development.

Valuation 167

Valuation Forecast Seed Stage .Net 167

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

Austin Startup Week , established in 2011, is five days full of inspiring events that celebrate Austin startups, the organizations that support them, and the spectacular people who make it all happen. Throughout the week you’ll find panels, keynotes, specialized meetups, happy hours, workshops and our famous Austin Startup Crawl.

Austin 48

Austin Startup Texas Community 48

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

If you’ve taken the roller coaster ride that is a startup – you know what I’m talking about. The truth is that in my experience very, very few people really enjoy the “pure&# startup environment: months with no salary, months with no live product and lots of trial, error & rejection. It’s addicting. La vita e bella.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Salary Egypt 176

Eric Friedman

JUNE 11, 2019

Whether a fundraising event, hiring, or sales/partnership opportunity- these can be especially useful to make all parties move faster. Having worked on many deals that seem to go dark with the other party (think endless sales calls or follow ups) getting back in front of someone in the right way is key. and they move at a glacial pace.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Stock Options Early Stage Agile 68

Tim Keane

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

Startups and angels: Along the way to success. « Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations | Main. |   For an example written by a VC, see A Startups Guide to Market Sizing from DocStoc. .    For an example written by a VC, see A Startups Guide to Market Sizing from DocStoc.

Marketing 116

Marketing Wisconsin Startup Angel Investor 116

Scott Edward Walker

AUGUST 31, 2011

Thanks, Scott Question We’re a startup based in Palo Alto, and we just received a Series A term sheet for a $725,000 investment. At what valuation and on what terms? But more importantly, a good startup lawyer will also discuss with you the business terms, including the structure of the deal.

Silicon Valley 45

Silicon Valley Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Redemption 45

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

The partner you saw is probably sitting on 5-6 boards which means he or she will be busy helping existing portfolio companies. This is not unlike a major biz dev deal you’re trying to sign or a big sales campaign into the VP of a major company. I like to tell entrepreneurs to treat it like a sales campaign.

Campaign 277

Campaign Email Venture Capital Term Sheet 277

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 11, 2012

submitting term sheets. So if you hire a senior sales rep with 100% bonus on top of their $150,000 base salary they want to get paid $100,000 (33% of $300,000). Why should I pay 2x the price to hire a VP of sales as I would pay to hire a VP of Market, Technology or Finance? doing pre-emptive follow-on rounds.

Mexico 305

Mexico Term Sheet Hiring Search 305

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2010

Company B had already lined up a significant funding round ($20 million) from some of the most elite VCs on Sand Hill Road but hadn’t signed the term sheet. She asked if she could fly the next day to meet with me and my partners. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. Another example.

Entrepreneur 296

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Term Sheet France 296

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

Seed investors trip over themselves to get a look at the latest YCombinator deals and the entreprenuers in the hottest companies are in the drivers seat on terms. Unfortunately, that’s really not the case for most startups. They may have unlimited tolerance for pricing, but you don’t have unlimited resources as a startup.

Equity 104

Equity Term Sheet Seed Stage Angel Investor 104

Scott Edward Walker

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

Instead of investing in the stock market or in startups (e.g., Moreover, because most financial buyers are set-up as funds (which have their own limited partner investors) that typically expire in 10 years, the return on their investment must happen relatively quickly. The most common financial buyer is a private equity firm.

Private Equity 59

Private Equity New York City Equity Deal Structure 59

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Want to start a startup? A typical startup goes throughseveral rounds of funding, and at each round you want to take justenough money to reach the speed where you can shift into the nextgear. Few startups get it quite right. 1 ] A startups life will be more complicated, legally, if any of theinvestors arent accredited.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

Scott Kupor is the managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he’s responsible for all operational aspects of running the firm. When you’re in a startup, it’s very easy to measure progress in 90 day increments - what milestones does the company need to hit each quarter? financial markets and economic growth.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108