Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

How They Do It: Aggregate data from travel data warehouses like ITA as well as indexing travel providers websites, provide this information to consumers in a highly customizable search engine. liquidation preference, 6% accumulated dividend (1). Post-money valuation probably no higher than $12M (2). Series B Preferred.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

ithacaVC

DECEMBER 14, 2011

Continuing with the “No Mess” theme of commenting on things that give VCs pause, I thought it would be good to touch on liquidation preference. Specifically, “too much” liquidation preference (I will use “LP” for liquidation preference). Ok, enough of the background.

Liquidation Preference 49

Liquidation Preference LP Preferred Stock Liquidity Event 49

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 1, 2012

between them, making the aggregate exit value of these acqui-hires 4.2x, which tells us that if the investors on average had a 24% stake they would have broken even on these deals. Lightbox and Karma had raised money $5.7m Whichever way you look at it the conclusion is the same – acqui-hire is not a great exit strategy for investors.

San Francisco 110

San Francisco Hiring Liquidation Preference Aggregator 110

ithacaVC

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

In “VC world” Rule 409A is best known for providing a safe harbor for private company valuations, and in particular the setting of strike prices for employee stock options. If the company conducts an outside independent valuation, then, under 409A, the burden is on the IRS to prove that the valuation was not reasonable (i.e.,

Liquidation Preference 49

Liquidation Preference Common Stock Stock Options Valuation 49

Startup Company Lawyer

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

Due to aggregate liquidation preferences that may exceed the acquisition price in an M&A deal, common stock may be rendered worthless. If you can’t figure this out yourself, you should probably build a liquidation preference spreadsheet to model how liquidation preferences work depending on M&A transaction value.

Retention 31

Retention Liquidation Preference Employee Common Stock 31

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

One key to this population growth has been the remarkable ease of the Unicorn fundraising process: Pick a new valuation well above your last one, put together a presentation deck, solicit offers, and watch the hundreds of million of dollars flow into your bank account. By January of 2016, that number had ballooned to 229.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Startup Company Lawyer

JANUARY 9, 2011

Tweaking convertible debt so that common stock (instead of preferred stock) is issued for the conversion discount in order to limit liquidation preference overhang. Convertible debt with a price cap preserves the investor’s “equity&# ownership, but gives the investor extra liquidation preference.

Liquidation Preference 57

Liquidation Preference Finance Preferred Stock Common Stock 57