Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

pre-money valuation you certainly would want to exercise your right to continue investing if you had prorata rights. The “big boom” in startup financing started around March 2009?—?more Marc Andreessen captured some of this sentiment in his recent “ 10 Ways to Damage Your High-Growth Tech Startup ” Tweetstorm.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

As the seed-stage startup fundraise process has received more transparency in recent years, ranging from published advice on how to raise seed capital to increased availability through AngelList, Funders Club, and various accelerator programs, I’ve noticed another trend emerging. Lower-Than-Market Value. Above-Market Value.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

Austin Startup

JUNE 21, 2018

Our pre-money valuation for the seed round is 2 trillion dollars.” Now, if you’re a crypto entrepreneur, you still have to abide by the basic rules of good startups (link shamelessly inserted if you missed it before). It will revolutionize produce sales globally. By: Joe Merrill, Partner at Sputnik ATX.

Securities and Exchange Commission 61

Securities and Exchange Commission SEC Pre-Money Valuation Security 61

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Before I do, however, I want to talk about a thumb rule that I'd like to propose to entrepreneurs about raising money. So at any point, if you are trying to raise money, and you are hearing from investors that you are too early and have too little validation, it may be a good thing. I encouraged Todd to keep building.

Valuation 119

Valuation Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Bootstrapping 119

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Startups and angels: Along the way to success. Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations. Please see later version of this post on May 16, 2010 Entrepreneurs are often not experts in the area of term-sheet negotiations and all of the surrounding issues. By Tim Keane, Angel Investor, Golden Angels Investors, LLC.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2012

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an Angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. It’s true that Angel investors typically do not present entrepreneurs with overly complicated deal structures, especially when compared to venture capitalists. Seat on the board.

Term Sheet 223

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Post-Money Valuation 223

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. It’s true that angel investors typically do not present entrepreneurs with overly complicated deal structures, especially when compared to venture capitalists. Seat on the board. Marty Zwilling.

Term Sheet 227

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Post-Money Valuation 227

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 4, 2017

Investing in startups is a lot more than just buying “stock” in a company. For investors who have come to the table with a history investing in publicly listed companies or the property market, it’s easy to think that backing startups is largely a “set and forget” strategy. Ask yourself, where is your startup currently struggling?

Pre-Money Valuation 187

Pre-Money Valuation Seed Stage IP Deal Flow 187

David Cohen

AUGUST 1, 2018

When valuations rise, so do the caps on notes, which are upper limits on valuation at conversion. In many cases the caps are very high because the entrepreneurs are telling the investors that they’re super confident they’re about to raise a larger round and they just need to “bridge” the company to that larger round.

Pre-Money Valuation 83

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Equity Finance 83

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Salesforce.com is a startup with 76,000 subscribers (over 2.1M I also joke with Reid Hoffman that this was back in the days before he was “Reid” Reid’s an incredible entrepreneur, startup investor, and human being. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

This conversation seems to come up very frequently these days both with portfolio companies and with entrepreneurs just looking for mentorship. I’m a very big believer in the “Lean Startup&# principles as espoused by Steve Blank and Eric Ries. So here’s my framework. Are you in the “lean&# phase?

Pre-Money Valuation 303

Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Valuation PR 303

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

Over the years I’ve written extensively about the downsides of convertible notes for startups such as here , here and here. In the old days VCs funded off of a “pre-money” valuation. What I’ve found over the years is that this forces way more clarity on the entrepreneurs at fund raising time.

Pre-Money Valuation 150

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

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” As an entrepreneur it can feel as intimidating as going to buy a car where the dealer knows the price of every make & model of a car and you’re guessing at how much to pay.

Valuation 324

Valuation Post-Money Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder 324

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. They point to some widely known facts: financings & valuations are up massively over the past 7 years and non-VC money has entered the system.

LP 150

LP Valuation Burn Rate Pre-Money Valuation 150

Genuine VC

JULY 30, 2012

Sharing these expectations early in potential lead investor discussions fundamentally qualifies the conversations, but it also runs the risk of prematurely losing a potential financing partner or reducing options to maximize a financing process outcome. By definition, all entrepreneurs should think that their endeavor is truly exceptional.

Valuation 136

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Angel Investor Syndicate 136

Gust

OCTOBER 21, 2011

This week we move on to something near and dear to the hearts of entrepreneurs and investors alike: The exit, more formally known as a “ liquidity event.” In Parts II and III, we looked at commonly used mandatory and voluntary conversion language in convertible notes. What happens to the outstanding convertible notes?

Finance 79

Finance Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet Liquidity Event 79

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

My initial reaction to Adeo when we spoke was that while it may have solved some issues (debt versus equity) it didn’t solve the ones that I’ve been warning entrepreneurs about most loudly. A standard entrepreneur retort I heard back then (2008-09) was “I don’t know what my company is worth now.

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

K9 Ventures

MARCH 23, 2011

Obviously, both the founders and the note holders have the common objective of getting the company funded; but assuming the company is fundable, there is a basic misalignment of incentives when it comes to valuation. The typical fix for this problem is to put in a cap in the note for the pre-money price for conversion.

Pre-Money Valuation 132

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Equity Liquidation Preference 132

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

It’s meant to be a bit provocative but the reality is that I give this advice to entrepreneurs all the the time and I usually leave the “e&# off of the end. I learned all of this myself on your side of the table raising money at my first company. Existing investors won’t want to have these conversations.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Common Stock Dividend 289

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

As an entrepreneur, you’ll face a bevy of challenges. Sometimes the list of challenges may feel never ending – from writing the business plan to finding the right partner – but one of the single most important challenges entrepreneurs face is calculating a realistic, defensible pre-money valuation. .

Pre-Money Valuation 133

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Angel Investor Cofounder 133

Gust

OCTOBER 12, 2011

In Part II, we looked at the mandatory conversion language that is at the heart of any convertible debt financing. Particularly when there are multiple closings taking place over a period of months, the fuse burns awfully quickly on a 12-month note given the many competing priorities of early stage entrepreneurs.

Finance 107

Finance Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 107

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

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Entrepreneurs and investors who have spent any time dealing with convertible debt seed financing transactions are likely to have encountered the subject of valuation caps. The cap is irrelevant if the next equity financing is at a valuation below the cap amount.) was spun out, and the valuation was set by that financing round.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Scott Edward Walker

APRIL 9, 2012

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. ii) what happens if the maturity date is reached prior to the note’s conversion to equity? price the round).

Preferred Stock 87

Preferred Stock Finance Common Stock Liquidation Preference 87

thestartuplawyer.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Contact The Startup Lawyer: Home Page About Contact FAQs Glossary Ryan Roberts Law: Home Page Social Networks: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr Delicious Digg Last.FM 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.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Founder Preferred Stock Startup 40

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

A reminder that it is important for all entrepreneurs is to remember to be careful about “deal drift.” I think the perfect saying to have as a reminder is “time is the enemy of all deals,” or as my wife is all too tired of hearing me say, “Don’t pop the champagne until the ink is dry on the contract and the money is in the bank.”.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

I recently wrote about my views that startups rounds should be priced. If you do a capped note it’s bad for the entrepreneur. Here is what I recommend very often – privately – to startup entrepreneurs for angel funding. We plan to raise at a $5 million pre-money valuation.

Pre-Money Valuation 294

Pre-Money Valuation Finance Liquidation Preference Warrant 294

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

So as an entrepreneur it’s hard to navigate those waters over time. As usual the rule is, if you’re doing well, they’ll find the money for your next round.&#. Is their money being used to “protect&# the investment that was made from Fund 1? Everything that Roy mentions is true.

Pre-Money Valuation 226

Pre-Money Valuation Venture Capital LP Term Sheet 226

venturehacks.com

OCTOBER 21, 2010

Venture Hacks Good advice for startups. SUPPORTED BY Products Archives @venturehacks Books AngelList About RSS The Option Pool Shuffle by Nivi on April 10th, 2007 “Follow the money card!&# – The Inside Man, Three-Card Shuffle Summary: Don’t let your investors determine the size of the option pool for you.

Option Pool 68

Option Pool Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Warrant 68