Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

I am reminded of this problem every time my firm does a financing where a note went before us but more specifically I was reminded by this great post by Brad Feld to talk about the pre-money vs. post-money conversion issue. In the old days VCs funded off of a “pre-money” valuation. It’s very simple.

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Post-Money Valuation Dilution 150

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Bates: Good morning and welcome to our CEO panel, “How to Fine-Tune Your Small Business Finances From Funding to Growth” which I think is the direction that we would all like to be going. I’m here with some really phenomenal CEOs who are going to talk to us today about small business finances from funding to growth.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

To be clear, these are hires we are talking about, not co-founders. Co-founders are an entirely different discussion and I am not talking about them in this post. This is NOT your 409a valuation (we call that "fair value"). This "best value" can be the valuation on the last round of financing.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

Feld Thoughts

JULY 29, 2011

Finance Friday’s gets off the ground with today’s post by introducing you to an imaginary startup, the entrepreneurs that we’ll being following throughout the series, and their first challenges: splitting up the founders’ equity and addressing the case where one of the founders provides the initial seed capital for the business.

Equity 137

Equity Finance Pre-Money Valuation Denver 137

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 7, 2017

Employee options pools, typically created at the point of financings, shouldn’t be treated as haggling over dilution, but rather a strategic resource that will help founders build the best team and, by extension, a more valuable company.

Equity 94

Equity Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Founder 94

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

What I want to talk about today is one of the insider baseball discussions of our industry this past week: The odd fact of the $500 million financing round completed just before the company sold for a B. Did raising money at a $500 million valuation help secure the $1 billion deal? “Impending” valuation.

Valuation 316

Valuation Balance Sheet Dilution Term Sheet 316

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 3, 2020

On the positive front, I did encounter more founders making early exercise available to their teams and much less resistance overall to the idea of a 10-15% pool (perhaps because valuations continued to increase so founders themselves were taking less dilution in financings).

Equity 56

Equity Employee Dividend Cofounder 56

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Finance | Tuesdays. Financing a Small Business. Financing A Small Business. Personal Finance. Before Roving Software could receive its first round of financing from professional investors, in early 1999, he had to put all the stock arrangements in writing. Start-up | Mondays. Technology | Thursdays. Franchises.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

Scott Edward Walker

APRIL 9, 2012

Introduction We are in the golden age of seed financing. Venture capital funds, seed funds, super angels, angel groups, incubators, and “friends and family” are all playing the seed financing game and investing early in startups in an attempt to land the next Facebook. and (iii) what are the advantages of issuing convertible notes?

Preferred Stock 87

Preferred Stock Finance Common Stock Liquidation Preference 87

David Teten

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

I’ve often found it helpful to have on hand a simple model showing the impact of each financing stages on all team members, suitable for sharing with everyone in the company. Download the Startup Options Valuation model here. Such a model is particularly helpful for those founders looking for a co-founder or key employee.

Employee 155

Employee IRR Startup Mexico 155

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

There are a number of factors that have contributed to the rise of pre-seed rounds, but the strongest have been the frothy late-stage financing market, coupled with both the scaling-up of some of the early winners in the institutional seed ecosystem and the scaling-down of some larger funds that retrenched after the financial crisis.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

Altgate

MAY 24, 2012

But how well do most other founders do? Even as Facebook prepares to go public, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO, still owns 28% of his company. As a whole, Zuckerberg, his co-founders, and his former and present employees, own about 55% of Facebook. million, with a valuation of $10 million. Fear vs. Greed.

Pre-Money Valuation 43

Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder Dilution Valuation 43

View from Seed

JANUARY 28, 2016

When we talk about seeds, we mean your first outside round of financing at the earliest stages of your business. In my prior post, I talked about the rise of the pre-seed and a more nuanced definition of a pre-seed based on milestones, not financing labels. This staged approach is often much better for the founders as well.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Finance Founder Syndicate 120

Ben's Blog

AUGUST 17, 2020

When speaking with founders and private growth investors, we hear countless references to “multiples paid” on current or near-term revenue; both obsess over this because a higher multiple translates to a higher valuation. It starts with the complexity involved in valuing companies in general.

Valuation 36

Valuation Balance Sheet Cofounder Forecast 36

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 19, 2019

Andy Rachleff co-founded the venture capital firm Benchmark Capital in 1995. It was 20 to 30, not 100, because of the dilution from the capital. The venture capitalists said, "Okay, let the angels invest at a $5 million valuation and take all of that market risk. We'll invest at a $50 million valuation.

Silicon Valley 159

Silicon Valley Lean Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation 159

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 28, 2013

Every time he opens his mouth about founder diversity, he seems completely out of his league to address the topic. The biggest question I think VC''s face right now is whether or not, in the future, the best founders will look and act like the best founders of the past. That''s less than 10%. That''s 25%.

Venture Capital 152

Venture Capital Cofounder IRR Dilution 152

Feld Thoughts

JULY 14, 2015

Assuming equity is raised at or above that cap, the total dilution, before the new money, is 16.6% (equivalent to an equity financing of $1m at a $6m post money valuation. The term sheet converts all the convertible debt into a post-money valuation of $100, essentially making the convertible debt worthless.

Recapitalization 70

Recapitalization Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Angel Investor 70

thestartuplawyer.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

He obviously never launched a startup and got shafted by a co-founder. He obviously never launched a startup and got shafted by a co-founder. He obviously never launched a startup and got shafted by a co-founder. You can start by examining every aspect of the co-founder relationship.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Founder Preferred Stock Startup 40

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I have been talking about my concerns about valuations for the past couple of years because, well, they’ve been rising very rapidly the past two years! ” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.” Do Investors WANT Valuations to Drop? The Motive for Speaking Up. Mostly, no.

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

Berkonomics

AUGUST 27, 2015

He has served as advisor to and member of numerous financial exchanges, and was the founder and CEO of Arthur Lipper Corporation and co-founder and Chairman of New York & Foreign Securities Corporation. Today he serves as Chairman of British Far East Holdings Ltd.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Balance Sheet Stock Options Valuation 48

venturehacks.com

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Use a hiring plan to justify a small option pool, increase your share price, and increase your effective valuation. Reading on, the term sheet states, “The $8 million pre-money valuation includes an option pool equal to 20% of the post-financing fully diluted capitalization.&# Don’t lose this game.

Option Pool 68

Option Pool Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Warrant 68

The Startup Lawyer

FEBRUARY 4, 2011

But before your startup signs up and cashes that $[XX,000] check, your startup’s co-founders should sit down and evaluate the incubator’s offer. The following are some issues to consider and actions to take before accepting an incubator’s offer: (1) Calculate Valuation and Determine Value.

Incubator 105

Incubator Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Advisory Board 105

Up and Running

JANUARY 17, 2011

As Facebook grew, founder Mark Zuckerberg traded share of ownership for investment money. And sometimes these valuations are a bit like musical chairs. Worth, called valuation when we talk about startups, is what somebody will pay for something. And these are enormously successful companies with brilliant founders.

Securities and Exchange Commission 74

Securities and Exchange Commission Dilution SEC Stock 74

venturehacks.com

MARCH 21, 2008

If your company hasn’t raised a Series A, increase the advisor’s equity by roughly 30%-50% to account for dilution from seed investors, Series A investors, option pools, swimming pools, and the like. And that wouldn’t make any sense—our valuation already takes the investor’s value-add into account.&# Learn more.

Advisory Board 44

Advisory Board Cap Table Vesting Equity 44

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

management, founders, angel investors) get any money. I once told an entrepreneur in whom I was going to co-invest with a VC that brought me a deal and the CEO was considering changing that firm out, “I came to this dance with one VC and I’m leaving with that VC. But pass they will. Brain damage. Reputation.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Common Stock Pre-Money Valuation 289

The Next Web

DECEMBER 3, 2013

Be realistic with your valuation. If you’re asked to give a valuation for your startup, be honest. The person reading your application form will have a wealth of experience in this area and know if you’re applying the infamous ‘reality distortion field’ pioneered by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. ”So Be honest.

Startup 153

Startup Cofounder Valuation Dilution 153

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

Before StartEngine, Howard co-founded Activision and founded Acclaim Games. . Weaknesses inside the founder team kill startups. The truth is, sometimes you need to replace your co-founders and start over. It should never be the financing event that dictates whether to shift or not. How do you do that?

Metrics 136

Metrics Cofounder Cram Down Liquidity Event 136

Seeing Both Sides

JANUARY 11, 2011

At a (pre-blizzard) conference I attended today run by Gridley & Co, this theme was reinforced, with rosy predictions of an M&A boom. In each case, a strong unsolicited offer came in that would have yielded "VC-like" returns and many millions for the founders and senior executives. Dilution Risk.

Post-Money Valuation 40

Post-Money Valuation Dilution Cofounder Valuation 40

Rob Go

JANUARY 28, 2016

When we talk about seeds, we mean your first outside round of financing at the earliest stages of your business. In my prior post, I talked about the rise of the pre-seed and a more nuanced definition of a pre-seed based on milestones, not financing labels. This staged approach is often much better for the founders as well.

Cofounder 28

Cofounder Finance Founder Syndicate 28

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

Financing, that is.I Since the iControl system chronicles all meetings, I was able to find the automatic picture snapped from my first meeting with the founders, Reza Raji and Chris Stevens on April 22, 2004. One truth of start-up financing is that it generally takes twice as long and twice as much money to accomplish your milestones.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28