Hunter Walker

AUGUST 8, 2023

At the time, this is last quarter and the stock market has trended upwards nicely since then (a potential leading indicator of private tech valuations), we all agreed venture portfolios were probably still 25-40% overvalued. And fascinating new advances (and needs) in AI, climate, biology, etc are driving tech-IP driven startups.

Portfolio 98

Portfolio Cap Table LP Valuation 98

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 18, 2019

Here are four critical challenges of tech startup PR. Technology industry startups have to pay more attention to their image than most other companies do. The business side chronicles which startups locked down financing rounds, who are providing them, and what the money is earmarked to do.

PR 107

PR Startup Social Media Silicon Valley 107

Scott Edward Walker

JUNE 9, 2019

Over the past few weeks, two of my clients have received financing term sheets in which the investors requested super pro rata rights. Accordingly, I thought it would be helpful for founders to discuss these rights and to point out the problems they create for startups. Introduction. Pro Rata Rights.

Preferred Stock 56

Preferred Stock Term Sheet Dilution Stock 56

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

As many of you know, in the past I’ve done a series of posts deconstructing the S-1s of VC-backed internet startups going public. A few years ago this was sort of a novelty… not that many startups were going public and not that many bloggers or mainstream journalists took the time or had familiarity with combing these SEC filings.

IPO 194

IPO Aggregator B2B Internet 194

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

The potential bad news is that if the merger is an all stock deal, the company will need to find a way to find cash to pay back the loan or negotiate a way for the acquiring company to deal with the debt. If it’s not a stock deal, then one normally sees one of the above scenarios. Typical language follows.

Conversion 96

Conversion Sales Later Stage Preferred Stock 96

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 26, 2022

Hunter Walk: Ok, so we first met when you were leading comms at enterprise software company Box, a startup you joined when they were still pretty early and stayed at until post-IPO. But for the first time since abandoning my law school plan A, my mandate was clear: I needed to work at a startup. First, congrats! Enter Box.

IPO 91

IPO Cofounder Early Stage Portfolio 91

Hippoland

JANUARY 4, 2017

Here’s a quick primer on how investments tend to work in startup companies at the seed stage. So, in the aggregate, it is possible that you may be required to pay as much as $30k-$50k to get an equity round done. Newer VC firms, though, typically do not pass their costs to their startups, which is much more progressive.

Convertible Security 48

Convertible Security Equity Security Silicon Valley 48

ithacaVC

DECEMBER 14, 2011

As most of you probably know, LP is one of the fundamental economic attributes of preferred stock that preferred shareholders enjoy. Yes, it is possible to issue preferred stock without liquidation preference, but that is rarely done. Series B round = $5mm and the Series B preferred stock is participating with a 2x LP.

Liquidation Preference 49

Liquidation Preference LP Preferred Stock Liquidity Event 49

K9 Ventures

MAY 14, 2011

The companies go through a 3-6 month long startup bootcamp and then typically try to raise angel/seed funding. Most angels invest for a couple of reasons – some do it because they genuinely love the startup space and this is their way of continuing to be involved in a startup, sometimes vicariously. <$50K in aggregate.

Preferred Stock 125

Preferred Stock Seed Stage Incubator Early Stage 125

ithacaVC

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

The MCOP can serve a critical role as founders and other management team members are diluted down by rounds of financing or if their equity is not in the money. As the investors’ aggregate liquidation preference (ALP) increases typically the need for a MCOP also increases. A few key points to consider: 1.

Liquidation Preference 55

Liquidation Preference Management Preferred Stock Dividend 55

ithacaVC

JANUARY 24, 2013

Having a relatively small about of convertible debt on your balance sheet prior to your Series A financing is not a bad thing. Let’s assume the following: Common Stock outstanding: 3,400,000 shares owned by the founders. That would be the share price of the Series A stock being sold to new Series A investors.

Valuation 53

Valuation Balance Sheet Option Pool Dilution 53

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 10, 2010

This mecca for any and all surveillance has aggregated some of the most interesting behavioral data around, and helped unearth two decision fallacies we as humans often fall victim to – the gamblers’ fallacy and the hot hand. This startup version of “going on tilt&# tends to only add to the frustration and solves nothing.

Entrepreneur 70

Entrepreneur Nevada Aggregator Stock 70

Startup Company Lawyer

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

I was speaking at an event last month to a group of CEOs and was surprised by the number of CEOs that were worried about the value of their common stock in a M&A transaction. Due to aggregate liquidation preferences that may exceed the acquisition price in an M&A deal, common stock may be rendered worthless.

Retention 31

Retention Liquidation Preference Employee Common Stock 31

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

25 Best Startup Failure Post-Mortems of All Time. Update – As a followup, we analyzed all of these startup failure post-mortems to identify the top 20 reasons for startup failure. Also worth a read after you review these startup failure post-mortems. Post-Mortem Title : How My Startup Failed.

Software Review 79

Software Review Startup Technical Review Vesting 79

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

See Bessemer Venture Partners’ A comprehensive guide to security for startups. Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda. For more on gathering data and using it to assess companies, see How to Assess Startups Using Machine Learning. 2) Market . 8) Monitor .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Why the Unicorn Financing Market Just Became Dangerous…For All Involved. In February of last year, Fortune magazine writers Erin Griffith and Dan Primack declared 2015 “ The Age of the Unicorns ” noting — “Fortune counts more than 80 startups that have been valued at $1 billion or more by venture capitalists.”

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Startup Company Lawyer

JANUARY 9, 2011

Convertible debt with a price cap seems to be the preferred structure for early-stage financings. Over the last 12 months, I’ve noticed a trend where early-stage startup companies raise seed financings of between $250K and $1M using a convertible note with a price cap. Is a priced Series A financing a valid alternative?

Liquidation Preference 57

Liquidation Preference Finance Preferred Stock Common Stock 57

David Teten

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

One are investors in truly new asset classes, e.g., frontier markets like the Pakistani stock market, which really do provide new opportunities for investors to put capital to work. According to CB Insights, there is little to no relationship between financial runway and startup success. In aggregate, angels are significant investors.

Management 114

Management Pre-Money Valuation Venture Capital New Hampshire 114

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 4, 2021

It kind of aggregates technology content, I suppose. And of course, I wasn't really interested in the finance side of it to me. And the reason is, there's a bunch of reasons for this, but one of them is that doing a startup is just so difficult. So I see people sometimes tell me, "Why are you doing this startup?"

IPO 113

IPO Cofounder Technical Review Government 113

Start Up Blog

APRIL 29, 2013

Startups are lucky that they can’t afford research, so they test in market and land upon on ideas that would never fly based on what we think or what focus groups would respond with. Like most politically important information, consumers will eventually get to be in control of their own aggregated data.

Uruguay 123

Uruguay Technical Review Vertical Las Vegas 123

Scott Edward Walker

JANUARY 13, 2012

House of Representatives overwhelming passed the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act , a crowdfunding bill which permits startups to offer and sell securities via crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter or social networking sites like Facebook.

SEC 91

SEC Las Vegas Accredited Investor Security 91

Scott Edward Walker

MARCH 1, 2012

House of Representatives voted 407-17 to pass the “Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act,” a crowdfunding bill which permits startups to offer and sell securities via crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter or social networking sites like Facebook. May Startups Raise Funds via Crowdfunding? — investing in startups!

SEC 65

SEC Security Accredited Investor Social Network 65

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

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Incubators, too, helped flood the markets with even more startups, and AngelList played its part too. A name like 500 Startups says it all. Multiply that by literally a couple thousand, and that’s what 2013 is going to look like in Silicon Valley, and to a lesser degree some other startup ecosystems.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93