Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. Q: “If you have a term sheet on the table how should you leverage with other VCs?&#

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

Version One Ventures

MARCH 3, 2021

It’s a way to increase your visibility with prospective investors, talent and customers. Too often, we see the opportunity to capture this mindshare lost because the focus is too much on the financing itself. Quotes from your investors, customers, etc. Fortune Term Sheet. Prepare a press kit. Pick your timing.

Social Media 147

Social Media Technical Review Term Sheet PR 147

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

Your customers will no longer be your customers. Your customers start buying. The CEO should dial through as many of the largest existing customers to get a firsthand understanding of the magnitude of any revenue shortfall. Some VC’s are walking away from signed term sheets. Actively buying?

South Korea 333

South Korea Salary Business Model China 333

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2021

Every entrepreneur seeking funding loves the challenge of getting customers and investors excited, but dreads the thought of negotiating the terms of a deal with potential investors. On the other hand, when negotiating a financing for your company, you should never present your term sheet first. Marty Zwilling.

Term Sheet 328

Term Sheet Bootstrapping Finance Startup 328

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2012

You should know EVERYTHING about your business, product, customers and competition. You should know every metric regarding customer acquisition, conversion and retention. This person will be critical in rounding up other investors, drafting a term sheet, and generally getting the deal done.

Software Review 164

Software Review Term Sheet Technical Review Angel Investor 164

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Series Seed Financing Documents Blog. Series Seed Financing Documents. Series Seed Term Sheet (v 2.0). Series Seed Term Sheet. Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Series Seed Financing Documents : 1 Reblog. SeriesSeed.com. Blog Archives.   Series Seed COI (v 2.0).

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Was Paul Graham right in his “high resolution” financing post? I can’t say it much simpler than this: “What if I took some of the worst, most egregious terms in a standard term sheet and made them the defacto standard in most convertible debt deals? Let me explain it more clearly in equity terms.

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

There was a lot of consumer internet activity again…resurgence of things, but it was still mysterious, venture capital was still kind of closed, 1st time entrepreneurs had a lot of questions that were unanswered, and there was still some sort of hand waiving around all the financing stuff and so we took it on….”. Is that when it became big?

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

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. ” The Cost of Financing. In a Series A financing, companies must pay the investors’ lawyers as well as their own.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Gust

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

They’ve heard multiple pitches, poured over business plans, talked to customers, and looked at the legal work. Angel investment events where the group investment is supposed to go to the winner, but the winner ends up hating the term sheet. But before the term sheet is signed, problems come up.

Software Review 79

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Angel Investor 79

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

It included one firm who I asked not to call Salesforce.com as a reference (they were our largest pilot customer) and in their kindness they called Marc Benioff (the CEO) and asked his opinion. I thought, what would I do if I was trying to sell to a customer. Another called Parker Harris, the co-founder and CTO. Page 3: Competition.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Since 2017 we’ve managed $3 million in revenue-based financing, which helps cash-strapped technology companies grow. We’re currently evaluating about 20 companies a month and issuing term sheets to 25% of them; those that fit our investment criteria. “ You qualify if you have $5k+ MRR. Bigfoot Capital. ARR of $500K+.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

We see a lot of great entrepreneurs with incredible market vision, loyal customers, and flawless execution who simply do not yet speak the same language as the typical Valley entrepreneur and executive. Encyclopedic knowledge of term sheets and startup buzzwords can be quickly learned, trained, and packaged.

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Startup Company Lawyer

APRIL 22, 2009

Always looking for ways to better serve the entrepreneurial community, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is pleased to announce the release of the WSGR Term Sheet Generator , a publicly available online tool that allows entrepreneurs and investors to generate an initial draft of a term sheet for a preferred stock financing.

Term Sheet 39

Term Sheet Finance Preferred Stock Kentucky 39

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If an investor isn’t engaging then they’re not suddenly going to get a term sheet. If we feel a mutual connection then my goal is to make your life easier by offering you a term sheet before you’re even raising and I’ll spend the time and effort trying to prove that it isn’t worth running a process.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

You (think) you have product-market fit with real customers and real revenue and need money to grow and expand. Btw, the definition of each startup financing stage has changed in the last decade. Better answer, “Because I’m the customer.”) But great product and eager customers are just part of what makes a great business.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

The primary source of your funds should be your paying customers, i.e., your business should generate enough revenues and profits to fund the growth and expansion. Any custom manufactured IoT device would require software development as well as hardware customization. Both of which are expensive and time-consuming.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 29, 2011

I’ve always had mixed feelings about the importance of a company announcing a financing in the absence of any other activity. When you do a financing, you file something called a Form D with the SEC. For some reason, some companies want to keep their financings quiet. ” Ok, but so what? ” Next.

Finance 133

Finance SEC Term Sheet Acquisition 133

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2019

Image via Pixabay Every entrepreneur seeking funding loves the challenge of getting customers and investors excited, but dreads the thought of negotiating the terms of a deal with potential investors. On the other hand, when negotiating a financing for your company, you should never present your term sheet first.

Term Sheet 201

Term Sheet Bootstrapping Finance Reputation 201

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2018

He was in a later-stage financing round and was talking with many investors. I told him, “I know we don’t yet have a term sheet so you feel you need to listen to everybody’s request. But imagine you were expecting two term sheets imminently. How would you act then?

Term Sheet 217

Term Sheet Later Stage Demand Email 217

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 6, 2011

Through this journey, we have raised the visibility of fundamental issues like the causes of exorbitantly high infant entrepreneur mortality and alerted the entrepreneur community with a simple observation: Entrepreneurship = (Customer + Revenue + Profits); Financing is Optional. a distributed, democratic model of capitalism.

Silicon Valley 118

Silicon Valley India San Francisco Entrepreneur 118

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

Having been through the company-building process myself and after a decade in VC working with thousands of companies and negotiating hundreds of term sheets, I wrote this book to help demystify the process. Morgan credit card business to acquire tons of Square customers at a very low cost.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

The Next Web

AUGUST 26, 2012

The more your narrow down your target audience, the higher the chance is that you will be able to reach the crucial turning-point where you offer your customers enough added value to make them happy and returning. The metrics that matter the most are returning customers (user retention), turnover per customer and viral growth (k-factor).

Bankruptcy 121

Bankruptcy Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence 121

A Crowded Space

SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

Notice the distinct absence of little things like revenue, customers, engagement metrics, or gross margin. This can lead to lots of hype among investors and very rapid financings where VCs are forced to “act quickly” and provide term sheets in less than 48 hours. Hype sometimes spreads quite deliberately.

San Diego 60

San Diego Software Review San Francisco Silicon Valley 60

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

You may happen to emphasize the right points that pique an investor’s interest, but you shouldn’t leave your financing up to chance. Second, understand the broader financing climate. There will be one to three issues that are potentially problematic for your financing — address them head on.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

OnlyOnce

OCTOBER 31, 2013

And this is true of any negotiation, not just a term sheet. They’ll get you customers. The biggest warning sign to look for is someone who says things like “you have to agree on this term, because this is how we always do deals.” This is probably the most important piece of advice I can offer. I’ve heard VCs say it all.

Valuation 133

Valuation Term Sheet B2C Security 133

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2017

Every entrepreneur seeking funding loves the challenge of getting customers and investors excited, but dreads the thought of negotiating the terms of a deal with potential investors. On the other hand, when negotiating a financing for your company, you should never present your term sheet first. Marty Zwilling.

Search 146

Search Term Sheet Bootstrapping Finance 146

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 4, 2013

Every entrepreneur seeking funding loves the challenge of getting customers and investors excited, but dreads the thought of negotiating the terms of a deal with potential investors. On the other hand, when negotiating a financing for your company, you should never present your term sheet first. Marty Zwilling.

Term Sheet 246

Term Sheet Bootstrapping Finance Reputation 246

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2012

Every entrepreneur seeking funding loves the challenge of getting customers and investors excited, but dreads the thought of negotiating the terms of a deal with potential investors. On the other hand, when negotiating a financing for your company, you should never present your term sheet first. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 248

Entrepreneur Term Sheet Finance Bootstrapping 248

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

signup, upgrade, trial pricing Zuora – online subscription management FeeFighters – find the cheapest credit card processors HealPay – Collections made easy Customer Support Tender – support, knowledgebase tool for your site GetSatisfaction - conversations between companies / customers.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Up and Running

MAY 18, 2016

You’ll learn more about what destroys startups, how to use the Customer Development method to succeed, how to use the Business Model Canvas, how to identify and keep your customers, and how to drive profits. Lean Customer Development: Building Products Your Customers Will Buy. B y Cindy Alvarez. B y John Mullins.

Startup 80

Startup Venture Capital Angel Investor Lean 80

mashable.com

JUNE 11, 2013

Young founders tend to complicate things too much, from structuring partnership agreements, financing, leases, etc. Your first product will likely be just a little bit ugly, and thats okay — its part of getting to market quickly and testing your idea in front of live customers. Not Listening to Current (or Future) Customers.

Cofounder 111

Cofounder Technical Review Startup Software Review 111

View from Seed

JANUARY 30, 2020

Once a VC has given you a term sheet or told you that they want to invest, it’s fair game to ask VC’s to introduce you to founders they have worked that you can reference. Did you ever face serious financing risk? How did this differ in a weak vs. strong financing round? Where is this investor not as strong as others?

Due Diligence 195

Due Diligence Partner Term Sheet Finance 195

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development. Customer service. Google Custom Search Engine. Customer Relationship Management. great web customer acquisition tutorials. customer retention, churn reduction, lifetime value. free/cheap web customer relationship mgmt software. Codeacademy. Steve Blank.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

To begin with, it is important to understand some basic facts about the world of entrepreneurial finance: There are many more entrepreneurs than there are investors, with the result that only one company out of every 400 that seeks venture funding actually receives it.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Scott Edward Walker

NOVEMBER 26, 2017

The way the investor thinks about it is that, if you can’t figure out your way to network your way to [an investor],… then you’re unlikely to be able to network your way into hiring a great team, or network your way into selling your product to customers. (at as the one term sheet deal drags out. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEOR0AJsziE.

Term Sheet 63

Term Sheet San Francisco Founder Investment Bankers 63

Genuine VC

JANUARY 13, 2014

The idea is that a couple of highly-qualified VC conversations will follow the 80/20 rule of a “good enough” financing in a relatively short amount period without taking the time of an extended process to truly optimize the funding outcome. becomes the “pace-car” for that lap.

Term Sheet 206

Term Sheet Venture Capital Valuation Portfolio 206