abovethecrowd.com

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

In his recent bankruptcy proceeding filing, John Ray III, the new CEO and Chief Restructuring Officer at FTX, minced no words: I have over 40 years of legal and restructuring experience. Filling a board with people who lack experience in private company development (i.e., Filling a board with friends is one way to do this.

Venture Capital 113

Venture Capital Non-Compete Government Delaware 113

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

On the phone … Me: So, you raised venture capital? Him: But it’s much cheaper to just use the Series Seed term sheets that every law firm has put out so convertible notes make more sense because they’re cheaper and easier. ” Not in my experience. We raised a seed round. About $1 million.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

If all this checking sounds a bit paranoid and unnecessary, it may be time to take another look at some questionable investor practices and onerous term sheet requests. Look for investor experience in your business domain, as well as evidence of integrity and trustworthiness. It’s no fun for either side.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Offshore 257

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. I had really positive experiences such as working with Greg Gretsch at Sigma Partners where he championed us to a partners’ meeting where we sort of got crucified. My blog was wiped out.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. Brad’s start in Venture Capital. Venture Capital in Boulder and other smaller communities. “So I owe ya’ a 20 minute call (or in person next time I’m in San Diego).

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2023

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. The amounts from angels start as low as $25K, while minimum venture capital amounts usually start in the $2M range. In fact, the reality is quite the opposite.

Angel Investor 246

Angel Investor IRR Venture Capital Valuation 246

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2021

If the entrepreneur wants total control of their own venture, with no one looking over their shoulder, they should work within the limits of their own resources, a process called bootstrapping. Every funding term sheet is followed by a set of milestone commitments, which should not be considered optional suggestions.

Term Sheet 433

Term Sheet Advisory Board Liquidation Preference Startup 433

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2016

If all this checking sounds a bit paranoid and unnecessary, it may be time to take another look at some questionable investor practices and onerous term sheet requests. Look for investor experience in your business domain, as well as evidence of integrity and trustworthiness. It’s no fun for either side.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Offshore 120

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Similar to the explosion of seed funds in the past decade, we (and some limited partners too ) believe these Flexible VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem. We detail below the major categories of VC: VENTURE CAPITAL TYPOLOGY. FLEXIBLE VC VS. OTHER VENTURE CAPITAL MODELS.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Genuine VC

MAY 20, 2013

Compared to most other areas of finance, venture capital is practiced as more of an art, as opposed to a science. The art of venture capital also means that for entrepreneurs raising it, there isn’t one definitive playbook which can be used as a guide. MYTH: Goal of entrepreneur’s VC fundraising is a term sheet.

Venture Capital 244

Venture Capital Cap Table Portfolio Early Stage 244

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

In this three-part series I will explore the ways that the Venture Capital industry has changed over the past 5 years that I would argue are a direct result of changes in the software industry, not the other way around. So it’s unsurprising that typical “A rounds&# of venture capital were $5-10 million.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software PHP Open Source 334

Scott Edward Walker

JULY 7, 2011

Introduction This post originally appeared in the “ Ask the Attorney ” column I am writing for VentureBeat ; it is part of my ongoing series regarding venture capital term sheets. The problem, of course, is that a so-called “walking dead” company rarely has the cash to buy-back the investors’ shares.

Term Sheet 49

Term Sheet Redemption Venture Capital Preferred Stock 49

Hunter Walker

OCTOBER 31, 2020

Disclaimer: I’ve never been hired by a venture firm. Ok, now that’s out of the way, here’s the advice I give folks who have 2–3 years of work experience and are looking to get an entry-level role at a venture firm (typically called an Analyst or Associate). “Hi, Hi, thanks for reaching out. Notes and More. Things I’m Enjoying.

North Carolina 91

North Carolina Hiring Angel Investor Technical Review 91

Berkonomics

MAY 15, 2014

A good example was during the negotiation of a term sheet. These usually involve a handful of angel investors, and a few entrepreneurs, who all want to build the very best term sheet for their exciting nascent enterprise. Angel investing today is similar to where venture capital investing was in the mid-1980s.

Term Sheet 91

Term Sheet Angel Groups Angel Investor Deal Structure 91

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series about Raising Venture Capital. If a VC term sheet comes in they begin their due diligence process. I would say the same thing about True Ventures. When we funded our two seed deals we used the Y Combinator Open Source Term Sheet and were highly entrepreneur friendly.

Software Review 283

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Southern California 283

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

It will be the 105th deal out of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, the firm I started back in September 2012, and it will be the last deal I’ll be making out of my third fund. It will also be my last venture capital deal. For me, I don’t mind sharing how I think about it. No new investments. No more responding to fundraising decks.

Later Stage 218

Later Stage Venture Capital Term Sheet Limited Partner 218

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

My partner Erik Rannala has had a similar experience, having worked as a VC at Harrison Metal before moving down to LA to co-found our seed stage venture firm. From my experience, it’s not necessarily about “quality,” but rather about “sophistication.” While such an experience would be nice, it certainly is not a pre-requisite.

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2020

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. The amounts from angels start as low as $25K, while minimum venture capital amounts usually start in the $2M range. In fact, the reality is quite the opposite.

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Entrepreneur IRR Valuation 314

www.xconomy.com

JUNE 9, 2012

New San Diego VC Firm Emerges as ‘The Moneyball of Venture Capital’. Here’s some big news for San Diego’s innovation economy: There’s a new venture capital firm in town—and its investment methodology represents a fundamentally different approach to the conventional business model for venture investing. Hacker News.

San Diego 40

San Diego Venture Capital Technical Review San Francisco 40

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. What is venture capital, really? And what does a venture capital firm do?

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

This is a company that, according to the article, got term sheets from half of the VCs that expressed interest in the company. Television disruption seems right around the corner, with Apple working on the in home viewing experience and lots more consumers getting internet connected devices plugged into their TVs.

Venture Capital 114

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 114

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

My general advice is to go join a startup as an employee, and learn from experience. You enter business school as someone with no business experience and who knows literally nothing about the business world. I went to business school because I thought, “I don’t have first-hand experience with how a normal business works.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

My general advice is to go join a startup as an employee, and learn from experience. You enter business school as someone with no business experience and who knows literally nothing about the business world. I went to business school because I thought, “I don’t have first-hand experience with how a normal business works.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Raised money from Splitrock Partners (of whom Matt thinks very highly) experience was so emotionally traumatic he came out of it vowing he’d never go thru that again – get cash flow positive RIGHT NOW!!! [if if you don't have experience with venture debt you might want to listen to this bit in the video - we talked a lot about how it works].

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

It is essential to understand the funding structure stated in your term sheet and the advantages and disadvantages it may have for your business. Under this category, you have the angel investors who would invest their own money and Venture Capital or VC firms, who manage funds aimed towards specific startup sectors and stages.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

Each has a process in place to accept applications or recommendations for investment into new companies, and to review these and make decisions based upon their exploration, previous experience in the field, knowledge of the company or industry, or about individual entrepreneurs. Then there is venture capital.

Equity 62

Equity Finance Liquidity Event Angel Groups 62

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 27, 2011

The post “ What I learned from raising venture capital ” by Gabriel Weinberg , the founder of DuckDuckGo is one of them. I highly recommend reading his full post and the following comments on HackerNews , but in sum, below are the DOs and DON’Ts from his experience. WHAT TO DO WHEN RAISING VENTURE CAPITAL.

Venture Capital 109

Venture Capital Term Sheet Angel Investor Due Diligence 109

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . These same tools are used by companies raising capital. Fund/SPV management services specifically are provided by Assure Services and Proteus Capital. What’s Your VC Tech Stack?

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2014

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited Angel investors. The amounts from Angels start as low as $25K, while minimum venture capital amounts usually start in the $2M range. In fact, the reality is quite the opposite.

Angel Investor 266

Angel Investor Entrepreneur Venture Capital IRR 266

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

The venture capital landscape in Asia is varied and complex, as most of the active firms on the continent are concentrated in just a few areas. The term sheets tend to be fairly standardized and straightforward as well. Term sheets are littered with many more obscure protective provisions and onerous terms.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

Up and Running

MAY 18, 2016

Why David Rose recommends it: “This should be mandatory reading for every startup convinced that the only path to success runs through angel or venture capital.”. Funding a startup venture is difficult, no matter what way you look at it. Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson have spent over 20 years in the venture capital sector.

Startup 80

Startup Venture Capital Angel Investor Lean 80

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 28, 2021

Over the last two and a half months in the hospital, I’ve actually been fairly productive—no doubt setting the record for VC term sheets offered literally from inside the NICU (three). She’s even been on several board calls already and last week showed up on her first pitch call.

Hiring 179

Hiring Early Stage Marketing Term Sheet 179

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 2, 2017

It’s hard enough to get a job at a venture capital or private equity firm; it’s even more complex to join as a Partner. These are many of the steps I went through when I joined HOF Capital. Union Square Ventures ( [link] ). How this new partner will be treated in the group goes beyond just the economics.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Partner 60

Scott Edward Walker

AUGUST 25, 2011

In certain deals (like a venture capital financing) this is critical because you will, in effect, be married to the guys on the other side of the table for a number of years. Accordingly, you will need to determine whether it’s a good match by addressing certain key questions, such as: Can this person be counted-on and trusted?

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Term Sheet Los Angeles Entrepreneur 63

www.gabrielweinberg.com

OCTOBER 24, 2011

I recently raised venture capital for the first time. However, please bear in mind my lack of experience in these matters and that this post is written from the company/entrepreneur perspective. I realize most companies can't get multiple term sheets. I'm new at this. It's a double-edged sword though.

Venture Capital 90

Venture Capital Term Sheet Cofounder Partner 90

www.bothsidesofthetable.com

MAY 13, 2012

Raising Venture Capital. I have much experience in this domain. The terms “CTO” and “VP Engineering” have such stigmas associated with what they are that I’m sure some people will feel uncomfortable with the definitions I’ve put forward. Experience. Raising Venture Capital (12).

Fractional VPE 89

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Fractional CTO CTO Hire 89

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2018

If the entrepreneur wants total control of their own venture, with no one looking over their shoulder, they should work within the limits of their own resources, a process called bootstrapping. Every funding term sheet is followed by a set of milestone commitments, which should not be considered optional suggestions.

Term Sheet 140

Term Sheet Advisory Board Liquidation Preference Portfolio 140