VC Adventure

JUNE 14, 2022

Most founders don’t feel they are getting value from their investors, even in areas like follow on rounds where they would hope to see specialized experience. But it certainly highlights the need for a deeper level of conversation between venture investors and their portfolio CEOs about where and how they can truly be helpful.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Due Diligence Portfolio Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

why the hell has seed financing declined so much in the past 3 years?? And this era ushered in by Amazon changed everything from the age of founders to the skill sets required to the structure of the VC industry and even to the layout of cities (yes, I would proclaim that boldly that Amazon AWS affected city development).

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

And the loosening of federal monetary policies, particularly in the US, has pushed more dollars into the venture ecosystems at every stage of financing. What Has Changed in Financing? On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. two founders in a garage?—?(HP Of course we can’t.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

I read commentary or Twitter or blogs and realize that there are also strongly held convictions that there are these evil VCs who do terrible things to mostly altruistic founders. But unlike the popular press reporting of this conflict — 80% of the time it is founder-to-founder conflict and not investor-to-founder conflict.

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As the idea went from innovating on software & systems to launching a company to rolling it out in the field brought on Rahul Gandhi as his co-founder to physically launch the company. At MakeSpace we had to build complex models to tell us how our pricing and conversion compared down to the neighborhood level.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2: As expected at least one person accused me of writing this post because I want to see lower valuations. I have conversations with entrepreneurs and other VCs on a daily basis about fund raising, the prices of deals, how much companies should raise, etc. You can be pissed off, but I don’t set prices. That’s stupid.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

This article highlights their advice on issues ranging from financing to patent trolls: While startups may believe lawyers are too costly, working with one early on avoids potentially serious problems later. “And if you have a valuation cap; a higher cap is always better than a lower cap.” ” The Cost of Financing.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Was Paul Graham right in his “high resolution” financing post? What the entrepreneurs were really saying is, “I don’t want to take a lower valuation now, while I don’t have customers or a full team. Convertible debt WITH a cap is stupid for founders. Some thoughts on raising angel money.

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

Austin Startup

MAY 19, 2018

As Bryan stated below, there are no shortage of “How to pitch” or “How to behave” articles by VCs but really very little advice for VCs by founders. Anyone notice there's a ton of VCs giving founder advice, and almost no founder advice for VCs? Lines Not Dots Raising money from a fund is a process, most founders get that.

Founder 75

Founder Early Stage Software Review Deal Flow 75

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 10, 2022

I like the quote she pulled out of me in our conversation. Brad Feld] says his “strong belief” that “just doing a clean resetting — at whatever the valuation so that everybody is aligned and dealing with reality — is much, much better for a company.” If you can do this cleanly, take the money. and a bunch of other things.

Down Round 162

Down Round Ratchet Liquidation Preference Participating Preferred 162

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

The culture is driven by the 20-something irreverent founder with huge technical chops who in a “David vs. Goliath” mythology take on the titans of industry and wins. But markets have changed and I think investors, founders and experienced executives who want to join later-stage startups can all benefit from playing the long game.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital LP Valuation Later Stage 363

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. Every Flexible VC structure allows founders to access immediate risk capital while preserving exit, growth trajectory, and ownership optionality. . Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

If polled a week before the board meeting a good number of founders would say, “I wish we could delay this meeting a couple of weeks” or “I really could do without having this board meeting at all.” The law firm has done its job of preparing the stock option requests, board meeting minutes, 409a valuations. There are too many pages.

Stock Options 226

Stock Options Metrics Stock Valuation 226

View from Seed

APRIL 20, 2020

The result is that capital tends to flow towards founders with established VC relationships and away from folks who may be equally talented but are several steps removed from investor networks. We will leverage the standard YC post-money SAFE document with a valuation cap and no discount. Of course, we can’t guarantee success.

B2B 436

B2B Seed Stage B2C Programming 436

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

The key to being able to run a business that isn’t yet profitable (on operating margin) is availability of capital to finance losses and preferably at a cost that isn’t too punitive to the founders and employees. So it might actually be more productive for you to improve your conversion than to improve your ad buying, for example.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.   I’ve sat down with entrepreneurs and a copy of a term sheet guide I like [ “Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations ” by Alex Wilmerding, Aspatore Press.] The Valuation Question.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2023

Investor-friendly clauses in agreement There are also clauses in many such investor documents that allow the investor to override the founder and force a sale of the company if a proposed sale is attractive to an investor for liquidity, even if the founder feels that there is much more potential if the business is not sold at the present time.

Liquidity Event 116

Liquidity Event Initial Public Offering Dividend Valuation 116

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

Photo by Scott Clark for Upfront Ventures Focus on Cash While the headlines in 2020 & 2021 touted many massive fundraising events and heady valuations, we believed that for savvy investors it also represented an opportunity for real financial gains. What do you do with a $650 million platform?

San Francisco 408

San Francisco Early Stage Venture Capital Los Angeles 408

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

That’s because obtaining a pre-money valuation for a concept level technology company in excess of $1 million is difficult, particularly for a startup founder without a proven track record. A deal was reached after two phone conversations and within three weeks contracts were signed and the investment was funded.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2014

Offering debt is better than offering direct equity, especially in early stages when you have no valuation for setting equity percentages. Many use a convertible loan note that may be converted into equity upon the closing of the first formal Angel or VC round of financing, with a more realistic valuation.

Founder 254

Founder Cram Down Angel Investor Equity 254

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Both Sides of the Table , July 22, 2010 An updated Digital Trends presentation - Jeff Hilimire , June 2, 2010 I do what I hate - Jessica Mah , January 7, 2010 Startup Equity Allocation - charliecrystle.com , January 11, 2010 When good investment decisions end up backing more women CEOs: Conversation with Cameron Lester at Azure Capital.

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2020

Offering debt is better than offering direct equity, especially in early stages when you have no valuation for setting equity percentages. Many use a convertible loan note that may be converted into equity upon the closing of the first formal angel or VC round of financing, with a more realistic valuation.

Management 308

Management Cram Down Angel Investor Equity 308

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

Scott Edward Walker

APRIL 22, 2012

This post is the second part of a three-part primer on convertible note seed financings. Part 1, entitled “ Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Convertible Note Seed Financings (But Were Afraid To Ask) ,” addressed certain basic questions, such as (i) what is a convertible note? (ii) What Is a Conversion Discount?

Pre-Money Valuation 72

Pre-Money Valuation Finance Liquidation Preference Founder 72

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) Nothing blows up great opportunities faster than founders who are constantly fighting. Reputation of firm? Of partner?

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Sales Incubator 364

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

The sudden arrival of the global pandemic has shifted the playbook for founders and venture capitalists. As high-conviction, seed stage investors, we are inherently relationship-driven, and we value meeting exceptional founders face-to-face. I can have a wider reach and a higher volume of 30 minute meetings with founders.”.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 352

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Series Seed Financing Documents Blog. Series Seed Financing Documents. Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Series Seed Financing Documents : 1 Reblog. You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post. Sets the valuation at the time of the investment. SeriesSeed.com.

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

This is a fundamental issue that does, indeed, boil down to understanding the post-money valuation of a company. At its core, this issue points to the lack of understanding about the importance of post-money valuation by both entrepreneurs and investors. But it is also a topic that many find esoteric and difficult to grasp.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs. Me: There is no rational explanation for valuations of A round companies by ANY objective financial measure. In finance they call it “terminal value” but the truth is the price is as arbitrary at your A round as it is at your seed round. Him: $12 pre.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JUNE 20, 2011

As you’d suspect, I was similarly ignorant of such things while watching the sale of ITWatchDogs (where I was a co-founder), and still harbored misconceptions as I went into the sale of Smart Bear. There’s many possibilities, each of which will cause a different valuation of your company. Let’s start with the buyer.

Sales 260

Sales Channel Cofounder Valuation 260

View from Seed

JUNE 10, 2020

of teams’ online pitch decks and recorded videos, as well as loved the dozens of second-round video conversations which we had with Founders working on quite compelling startups. Many of these Founders we wouldn’t have had an opportunity to connect with if we hadn’t launched this program.

Cofounder 178

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Alabama 178

techcrunch.com

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

As a refresher, a convertible note is a loan that automatically converts into equity upon the closing of a Series A round of financing. Sometimes these loans have a valuation cap and/or a discount. The point, he says, is to avoid time-consuming valuation negotiations and allowing a variable amount of capital to be raised.

Equity 87

Equity San Francisco Technical Review Angel Investor 87

Scott Edward Walker

MAY 15, 2012

This post is the third part of a three-part primer on convertible note seed financings. Part 1, entitled “ Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Convertible Note Seed Financings (But Were Afraid To Ask) ,” addressed the basics. Part 2, entitled “ Convertible Note Seed Financings: Econ 101 for Founders ,” addressed the economics.

Finance 64

Finance Founder Accredited Investor Preferred Stock 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

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Tim Friedman, Founder, PE Stack , said, “If I could offer one piece of advice to today’s managers, it would be to take the time to understand the demands of the modern institutional LP. Russell Rothstein, Founder and CEO, IT Central Station , a product review site, said, “We see VCs on our site very often. 3) Raise capital.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

ithacaVC

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

I have written about startup valuations previously. If you are advising startup founders, I strongly suggest having them read all 4 of the posts to get the lay of the startup valuation land. Here is Walla’s post: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this conversation. Valuations of other companies like you.

Valuation 69

Valuation Startup Down Round Early Stage 69

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 8, 2023

Satya and I were having lunch (yummy Chinese food) with our LPAC and the conversation turned to generally “how much more did venture portfolios have to fall before they found their true current value?” Valuations. ” That is, for the class of funds institutional LPs tend to back, on average, where was bottom?

Portfolio 97

Portfolio Cap Table LP Valuation 97