Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

And then in the late 90’s money crept in, swept in to town by public markets, instant wealth and an absurd sky-rocketing of valuations based on no reasonable metrics. We had nascent revenues, ridiculous cost structures and unrealistic valuations. Until we weren’t. 2001–2007: THE BUILDING YEARS The dot com bubble had burst.

Valuation 466

Valuation San Francisco Ratchet Liquidation Preference 466

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

At an accelerator … Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago. Your A round?

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Up and Running

APRIL 27, 2012

These students are typically attracted to Internet and technology start-ups, given that these share favourable industry characteristics such as significant addressable markets, low barriers to entry, modest initial capital requirements and relatively low costs of customer acquisition. Most meaningful metrics. But they don’t.

Metrics 68

Metrics Nigeria Ratchet Churn Rate 68

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago. There were no metrics. Him: On metrics. Your A round?

Liquidation Preference 153

Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet Stock 153

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

  It is very expensive if you’re the entrepreneur since it doubles the cost to the company of paying dividends to the entrepreneur.   A full ratchet anti-dilution clause is very unfriendly to entrepreneurs; it requires them to make up the entire difference in price from their own holdings.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 7, 2009

As the product matured, they were able to ratchet up the quality to prevent regression on features that had been truly embraced by their customers. Starting instead from a position where feedback cycle time is the priority and allowing quality to ratchet up as the product matures provides a more natural lead in to continuous deployment.

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review Lean 131

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

It also helps ratchet down the pressure, since so many of the interruptions that plague the typical hacker are actually the same bugs recurring over and over. Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev.

Software Review 94

Software Review Technical Review Part-Time VPE San Francisco 94