Hunter Walker

AUGUST 7, 2021

My job as an early stage investor includes translation services, specifically helping startup founders take what they are hearing from potential investors and providing a read on whether that VC is actually ready to make an offer. This could include anything around board seats, secondary sales, and so on. It’s company specific too.

Term Sheet 151

Term Sheet Due Diligence Reputation Early Stage 151

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2012

I’ve started a series on negotiations in startups. It’s the first functional series I’ve done since sales & marketing. The very first time I ever negotiated a term sheet (and then legal docs for closing the round) I found the experience very frustrating. He marks up the term sheet.

Term Sheet 301

Term Sheet Ireland Cofounder Finance 301

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

I have successfully used this in business development, sales, fund raising and even the press. When you finally get a term sheet you get three. When a VC submits a term sheet all of those angels & seed funds who wanted to fund you “once you got a lead” are your new best friends.

Term Sheet 232

Term Sheet France Technical Review Restful 232

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

I have often been asked about Startup Funding by entrepreneurs. Many myths surround the subject of startup funding. Here is Startup Funding, a Comprehensive Guide for Entrepreneurs. You must have seen a lot of startups giving out promotions, discounts, and incentives at the early phase of their business.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2013

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 242

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Term Sheet 242

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. No hidden terms.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2015

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. Make sure everyone accurately posts their role with your startup on social media profiles, resumes, and references.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Term Sheet 120

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2012

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 245

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Startup 245

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

I recently sat down with Matt Coffin , the founder of LowerMyBills, which sold for $400 million but was very nearly a bankruptcy only a few years early, and talked “startups.&#. Matt is one of the most transparent, focused & honest startup guys you’ll meet. Or read the quick, informative summary below the image!

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

I can’t say it much simpler than this: “What if I took some of the worst, most egregious terms in a standard term sheet and made them the defacto standard in most convertible debt deals? Let me explain it more clearly in equity terms. What happens in a sale or acqui-hire? That’s right.

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. I always tell people that fund raising is a sales process. The assistant tried to end the meeting twice but was shoooshed away.

Software Review 381

Software Review Churn Rate Due Diligence New York 381

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

There’s been a lot of digital ink spilled around the various types of capital available to startups today. As a startup grows, venture debt becomes a viable option to continue that growth. Glen is an active contributor to the local tech ecosystem and well-versed in how and when startups can use venture debt to their advantage.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

VC Cafe

MAY 18, 2022

For many investors it’s not business as usual – and term sheets are getting pulled (normally a big no-no). I’ve seen more term sheets pulled in the last month than in the last decade. Round sizes will likely get smaller in the short term. Advice for startup founders (consolidated). Just sayin.

Term Sheet 190

Term Sheet Startup Valuation Ukraine 190

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

We had many term sheets (it was 1999 and we had a pulse) and we were deciding which one to take. We were trying to optimize around a few criteria: price, size of round, number of syndicate partners and, of course, terms. We ended up agreeing a term sheet for $16.5 VC, sales, biz dev, M&A or otherwise.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

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? Sales pipeline/forecast. For startups: source of VC money? External Assessment.

South Korea 333

South Korea Salary Business Model China 333

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2020

Finding a co-founder is rarely a bad thing, since two heads are always better than one in meeting all the startup challenges. Let me be a bit more specific on how follow-up trumps ideas for success in the key challenges of a startup, or any small business: Networking with investors, partners, and customers.

Entrepreneur 307

Entrepreneur Cofounder Term Sheet Acquisition 307

crowdSPRING Blog

JUNE 6, 2013

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! How to Turn Your Startup Into a Lean, Mean Marketing Machine – [link]. How to Turn Your Startup Into a Lean, Mean Marketing Machine – [link]. End of story.”

Social Media 95

Social Media Small Business Design Media 95

Version One Ventures

JULY 20, 2017

He stumbled across “Volley,” a startup we had never heard of before, but appeared at the top of the search results (for the query “Toronto”, “no known funding”) and had a high momentum score. With Mike and David ferociously developing product and doing sales, they launched the Ada bot with early customers like Medium, Kik and Wattpad.

Artificial Inteligence 151

Artificial Inteligence Silicon Valley Stealth Term Sheet 151

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 Metrics 429

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. Biggest lessons ….

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

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

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

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

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 17, 2013

After all, startups are fast paced, small, and ever-morphing, which means it takes certain type of person to help make things succeed. Understand a term sheet. Others entrepreneur infographic leadership startup' What makes an entrepreneur tick? Here’s a look at what a founder should be able to do: Development.

Advisory Board 279

Advisory Board Balance Sheet Term Sheet Entrepreneur 279

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2010

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 229

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Angel Investor 229

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

If you have a virtual company with your employees working from home locations, as many startups do, it should be the location of the founder. You will be given a “term sheet” during the process, calling out the terms proposed for the investment. Being in a distant city greatly reduces the chance of funding success.

Equity 62

Equity Finance Liquidity Event Angel Groups 62

Up and Running

MAY 18, 2016

Reading lists are dime a dozen, but reading lists that focus on rapid-growth startup businesses? It’s the ultimate startup guide if you’re looking for systematic business growth and guidance on what not to do. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses.

Startup 80

Startup Venture Capital Angel Investor Lean 80

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

Craig Schmitz, a partner in the Technology Companies Group at law firm Godwin Proctor LLP who works on corporate, governance, board and fundraising issues, and Erika Fisher, an associate in the firm’s Business Law Department who deals with IP, fielded questions about the legal issues startups face. ” The Cost of Financing.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

He’ll be speaking at this year’s Lean Startup Conference , and also has a new book (for which I very happily wrote a short foreword) coming out next month: Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It. It used to be that startups went public about 6-7 years from founding; that number is now 10-12 years.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

Useful blogs and links for startups Click Here ————– 2.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

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

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

But Cafepress’s most memorable moment was when the founders used a “Lessons Learned” VC pitch to raise their second round of funding and got an 8-digit term sheet that same afternoon. The presentation didn’t have a single word about Lean Startups or Customer Development. Here’s how they did it.

Venture Capital 216

Venture Capital Silicon Valley RSS Hockey Stick 216

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Startup Resources (Updated Mar 2013). Venture Capital Cafe > Startup Resources (Updated Mar 2013). VC & Startup Resources. Seed Startups. VC Cafe covers early stage Israeli and European tech & mobile startups. Hundreds of startups featured since 2005, will yours be next? About VC Cafe.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

It’s marketing 101 for tech companies in terms of how you market to customers. Sales owns the former, the latter get marketing emails so you’ll be top of your prospects’ minds. And I know many stories of Benchmark or similar investors writing term sheets after the first meeting. Neither is the norm.

Technical Review 309

Technical Review Term Sheet Venture Capital Revenue 309

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