The Startup Magazine

MARCH 14, 2022

A business plan is drawn up to attract investors and partners. The equity dilution at this nascent stage is on desirable terms; such investing can lead to profitable returns. Here, the company’s valuation benchmark is set, and funding is solicited accordingly. 2) Laying out the genesis of the company. 3) Company formation.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Due Diligence India Startup 143

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

It’s by far the longest time I’ve spent working on any one thing, and I feel very blessed to have been able to work with my partners, colleagues, founders, and collaborators. My partners will tell you that I am an incredibly impatient person. Effective post money is the effective valuation of an investor’s dollars at any one time.

IRR 156

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 156

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

They have too many highly paid partners, fat fees, an aging corporate infrastructure and difficulty raising money from institutions. As lifecycle investment partners, they have become weighted down with portfolios still recovering from the economic downturn. Super angels sometimes drive up valuations.

Angel Investor 342

Angel Investor Venture Capital Silicon Valley Portfolio 342

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

The next default of waiting until later is equally bad, since partners who bow out early will still expect an equal share of that first billion you make later. Investors may not be called co-founders, but they always get equity, commensurate with their share of the total costs anticipated, or share of the current valuation.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

It’s by far the longest time I’ve spent working on any one thing, and I feel very blessed to have been able to work with my partners, colleagues, founders, and collaborators. My partners will tell you that I am an incredibly impatient person. Effective post money is the effective valuation of an investor’s dollars at any one time.

IRR 136

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 136

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

by John Vrionis, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. What’s critical for entrepreneurs to understand is that valuations for startups do not increase at a linear rate; they increase geometrically based on achieving the right milestones. It’s part art, part science. It’s part art, part science.

Valuation 100

Valuation Dilution Chicago Technical Review 100

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 13, 2024

Startups in the cybersecurity sector are facing a daunting market environment , contending with decreased valuations and increasing pressure to sell while competing for vital funding and collaborations. Additionally, these down rounds can decrease employee morale, as they may dilute shares or pay cuts, affecting the overall work environment.

Down Round 154

Down Round Marketing Artificial Inteligence Startup 154

View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2019

Over the last 10 years, we’ve been in a bull market with considerable froth in late stage financing activity and valuations. The trends described above in VC performance have an upstream effect on Limited Partners which is somewhat counter-intuitive. This would suggest that TVPI would be performing well. LP Constraints.

LP 256

LP IRR Distribution Portfolio 256

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2022

The average valuation for angel investments is $2 million, which will get you $500,000 for 20 percent of your startup. Most professional investors will expect preferred stock, a board seat, rights to later rounds and perhaps anti-dilution protection. If you ask for more money than your company is now worth, no investor will bite.

Preferred Stock 304

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 304

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. each with partners as the lead.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

They have too many highly paid partners, fat fees, an aging corporate infrastructure and difficulty raising money from institutions. As lifecycle investment partners, they have become weighted down with portfolios still recovering from the economic downturn. Super angels sometimes drive up valuations.

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Venture Capital Silicon Valley Startup 314

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

They should heed the age old advice that raising slightly more money while you can is always better than trying to optimize future valuations. Should VC’s really be impacted by public market valuations when the money that they’re investing today should be for returns in 7-10 years? Short answer – yes.

Burn Rate 263

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Private Equity 263

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

Executives run the day-to-day so often the board is more involved as a sparring partner at key intervals. In fact, as one Twitter commenter observed to what do board do, “Often, not much.” That’s true. The administrative work we actually do at board meetings?

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2023

From the moment such an investor looks seriously at your company, the investor or VC partner is thinking of the end game, the ultimate sale of the company or even of an eventual initial public offering. There is no middle ground. Draconian terms?

Liquidity Event 116

Liquidity Event Initial Public Offering Dividend Valuation 116

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2020

The average valuation for angel investments is $2 million, which will get you $500,000 for 20 percent of your startup. Most professional investors will expect preferred stock, a board seat, rights to later rounds and perhaps anti-dilution protection. If you ask for more money than your company is now worth, no investor will bite.

Startup 337

Startup Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity 337

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

George Deeb is the Managing Partner at Chicago-based Red Rocket Ventures , a startup consulting and financial advisory firm based in Chicago. So, let’s say that one founder puts in $100,000 in seed capital, that could be worth 20 percent of a seed stage company’s valuation.

Cofounder 136

Cofounder Equity Founder Seed Stage 136

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

” If you invested at $8m pre-money and put $2m in (thus you own 20% of a company at a $10m post-money valuation) and if you put another $2m into a round at a $40m valuation raising $10m ($50m post) you end up with half your money at $8m pre and half at $40m pre thus your average price goes up dramatically. That seems fair.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Genuine VC

JULY 19, 2010

Micro VCs will continue to come in many flavors with slightly different strategies, but there are a few distinctive defining characteristics: On a per partner basis, each investor is investing less than $25M in any given fund. The capital deployment velocity is notably higher than a traditional 1-2 investment per partner per year.

Seed Stage 175

Seed Stage Technical Review Dilution Offshore 175

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. Similar to the explosion of seed funds in the past decade, we (and some limited partners too ) believe these Flexible VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem. Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 24, 2017

Lindel joined Foundry Group as a partner to lead the fund investing activity of Foundry Group Next. We’ve had the opportunity to work with Founder Collective’s partners – David Frankel, Eric Paley, and Micah Rosenbloom – over the years on several companies. It starts with the people.

Founder 75

Founder LP Technical Review Seed Stage 75

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

To provide relevant perspective, listing past convertible note(s) and/or equity financing(s) including total round size and valuation (caps) is helpful. Plus, any other non-standard items here should be called out, too, like non-dilutive grants, as applicable. What not to include is directly stating valuation expectations.

Cap Table 211

Cap Table Seed Stage Valuation Dilution 211

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Many Asian entrepreneurs tell me that they want to raise funds from Silicon Valley firms because they perceive the valuations to be higher. In India, the leading firms are slightly more concentrated with Sequoia India , Accel Partners , and Nexus Venture Partners being a cut above the rest.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

Rob Go

AUGUST 29, 2016

When I first started out as a VC nearly 9 years ago, most early stage company valuations were expressed as pre-money valuations. That is, the valuation of the company prior to the investment of new capital. Today, nearly all early stage term sheets I see are expressed as post-money valuations.

Post-Money Valuation 52

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Term Sheet 52

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

Use good judgment, talk to your co-founders/investors/lawyers, and partner with a bank that values transparency and relationships such as SVB.]. And it’s that important because all companies will go through good times and tough times, and we’ll want to make sure we’ve got the right partner on the other side.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

“Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator.

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Technical Review Southern California Angel Investor 293

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

They have too many highly paid partners, fat fees, an aging corporate infrastructure and difficulty raising money from institutions. As lifecycle investment partners, they have become weighted down with portfolios still recovering from the economic downturn. Super Angels sometimes drive up valuations.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Startup Portfolio 260

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 23, 2014

As the company builds value, shares allocated later for employees or partners will have an appropriate price. Most Founder vesting is not subject to the one year cliff because partners should already know and trust each other. Stock dilution control. Valuation has very little meaning until an outsider invests.

Stock 256

Stock Vesting Common Stock Founder Vesting 256

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2013

As the company builds value, shares allocated later for employees or partners will have an appropriate price. Most founder vesting is not subject to the one year cliff because partners should already know and trust each other. Stock dilution control. Valuation has very little meaning until an outsider invests.

Vesting 245

Vesting Common Stock Stock Founder Vesting 245

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

And, oh by the way, we also really like the idea of the 1M/1M entrepreneurs building valuation and negotiating leverage through these business development efforts, instead of signing off large chunks of their company in form of equity early on.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

Version One Ventures

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

What is the best thesis to ensure companies are well capitalized, without diluting everyone’s ownership with every round raised, assuming every round is larger in both size and valuation than a traditional IT one? With these dynamics at play, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we at Version One can effectively invest in biotech.

Dilution 132

Dilution Artificial Inteligence IPO Valuation 132

thebarefootvc

MAY 8, 2012

If there is an opportunity to bring in a syndicate partner that will add exponential value, it would be foolish to not include them. This is also what I advise entrepreneurs when discussing dilution and valuation — think of the bigger picture and the end game of what you are looking to build — and who will help you get there.

Venture Capital 78

Venture Capital Syndicate Syndication Bandwidth 78

Jason Ball

SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

Don’t sweat the valuation too much. If this is your first start up, you’re not going to get a great multi-million dollar pre-money valuation, nor a lot of cash up front. Don’t worry about your “dilution&#. A series D round held in September 2009 raised $100 million from Insight Venture Partners, T.

Pre-Money Valuation 34

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Dilution Venture Capital 34

The Equity Kicker

NOVEMBER 9, 2016

For these reasons our investments at Forward Partners are always in ordinary shares. Not by much, but by enough that it makes sense for them to accept a liquidation preference in exchange for a higher valuation. Moreover, in the rare situation where investors offer a choice management almost always go for the higher valuation.

Liquidation Preference 122

Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley Participating Preferred Common Stock 122

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Everyone moved to earlier stage – part of the decline in late stage investing is the ‘baggage’ of companies that previously raised money at inflated valuations that they would struggle to justify in today’s market. That’s yet another reason for micro funds to move earlier in the fundraising timeline.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

View from Seed

MAY 2, 2019

The challenge with pre-seed rounds is that pricing will sometimes be pretty dilutive. My experience is that YC partners tend to encourage founders to hold off on taking more money shortly after getting into YC, arguing that their value will increase significantly in just a few months. The Pre-YC Pre-Seed.

Early Stage 214

Early Stage Dilution Valuation .Net 214

Gust

MARCH 16, 2014

As the company builds value, shares allocated later for employees or partners will have an appropriate price. Most Founder vesting is not subject to the one year cliff because partners should already know and trust each other. Stock dilution control. Valuation has very little meaning until an outsider invests.

Stock 175

Stock Vesting Common Stock Founder Vesting 175

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

I was actually somewhat surprised that the following investors have agreed to use the Series Seed documents in certain of the their deals: Baseline, Charles River Ventures, SV Angel (Ron Conway), First Round Capital, Harrison Metal Capital, Mike Maples, Polaris Venture Partners, SoftTech VC and True Ventures. Anti-dilution protection.

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70