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. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5%

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. I believe that Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem. So what is Revenue Based Investing?

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Venture Capital Venture Capital Term Sheets Startups Term Sheets What are examples of good startup term sheets? Ycombinator open source term sheet is a good start for Seed deals. org/2009/02.

Term Sheet 41

Term Sheet Startup Angel Investor Wiki 41

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2016

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels. It’s no fun for either side.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Offshore 120

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

As an entrepreneur himself, founding and operating printed circuit board factories in Taiwan, my father was debating between two places to immigrate to and build his next new venture: Los Angeles (“The Valley” aka San Fernando Valley) and Santa Clara (“Silicon Valley”).

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

Traction can simply mean showing that you’re making progress with customers, product development, channel partners, initial revenue as a proof point, attracting well-known angel investors, winning industry awards / recognition. It’s not required but I have seen this technique be used effectively by entrepreneurs.

Technical Review 309

Technical Review Term Sheet Venture Capital Revenue 309

www.xconomy.com

JUNE 9, 2012

Managing Director, Enterprise Partners. New San Diego VC Firm Emerges as ‘The Moneyball of Venture Capital’. Coats says the VC firm spent more than six years and invested millions of dollars to compile a database of key variables from more than 60,000 venture financing deals covering roughly 98 percent of all U.S.

San Diego 40

San Diego Venture Capital Technical Review San Francisco 40

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 5, 2018

Entrepreneurs need to understand what’s involved – from what to consider when picking the right venture partner and how to think about the economic and control rights at stake, to what life will be like after the deal closes. We want entrepreneurs to understand all the issues and to make the most informed decisions they can.

Venture Capital 77

Venture Capital Cofounder Video Partner 77

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

As the venture capital industry has evolved, more and more seed investors are passing on traditionally “seed stage” startups because there isn’t enough traction. As seed funds have raised larger and larger funds, more have developed the muscle around issuing term sheets and “leading”. And by early, we mean pre-traction.

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Asia has far fewer VC firms and institutional investors, each of which invests a far smaller amount of capital. Many Asian entrepreneurs tell me that they want to raise funds from Silicon Valley firms because they perceive the valuations to be higher. The term sheets tend to be fairly standardized and straightforward as well.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 27, 2020

Legal Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know. Venture Debt (with help from SVB), and 17. How to Engage an Investment Banker (with help from Golding Partners). We also significantly updated Chapter 2: Preparing for Fundraising and Chapter 19: Legal Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know (with help from Cooley).

Investment Bankers 108

Investment Bankers Term Sheet Capitalization Table Venture Capital 108

Scott Edward Walker

AUGUST 25, 2011

Introduction I’ve been doing deals as a corporate lawyer for 17+ years, and there are certain fundamental mistakes that I’ve seen entrepreneurs make over and over again. Sadly, there are a lot of bad apples out there, and entrepreneurs need to be careful whom they are doing deals. Will he add significant value (e.g.,

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Term Sheet Los Angeles Entrepreneur 63

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Called Tim Spicer (c-companies partner) and he told him matt, they only want one thing, more warrant coverage!!! Raised money from Splitrock Partners (of whom Matt thinks very highly) experience was so emotionally traumatic he came out of it vowing he’d never go thru that again – get cash flow positive RIGHT NOW!!! [if

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

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. For simplicity I’ll assume you’ve raised some money from angels or seed investors and you’re either raising an A round or a B round of venture capital. You might start with a partner in the meeting or it might be a principal or associate.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 27, 2011

The post “ What I learned from raising venture capital ” by Gabriel Weinberg , the founder of DuckDuckGo is one of them. WHAT TO DO WHEN RAISING VENTURE CAPITAL. Get the right partner at the firm. Deals usually don’t get handed off from one partner to another, so your first pick matters.

Venture Capital 109

Venture Capital Term Sheet Angel Investor Due Diligence 109

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

In 2017 we began inserting an “Inclusion Clause” into our term sheets because we believe that the culture one establishes at the earliest stages of one’s business will set out the course of how it will grow and develop. Many of us had experiences of asking entrepreneurs, “Why are none of our candidates women?”

Term Sheet 284

Term Sheet Los Angeles Open Source Portfolio 284

www.bothsidesofthetable.com

MAY 13, 2012

Raising Venture Capital. Entrepreneur DNA. Entrepreneur turned VC. Share and Enjoy: Mark Suster is a 2x entrepreneur who has gone to the Dark Side of VC. He joined GRP Partners in 2007 as a General Partner after selling his company to Salesforce.com. Entrepreneur Advice (3). Term Sheets (1).

Fractional VPE 89

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Fractional CTO CTO Hire 89

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

They had received a term sheet from a VC and were wondering whether to work with this firm. I often tell people that raising venture capital is more difficult than getting married. Not so in venture capital. But what about once you have a term sheet? You’re tied at the hip to your VC.

Term Sheet 298

Term Sheet Venture Capital Stealth Cofounder 298

Version One Ventures

AUGUST 28, 2019

The venture capital market has become very noisy over the past few years, especially on the early-stage side. Entrepreneurs have an increasing amount of financing options – that’s good news, but it also makes it harder to choose the right partners for your journey. Not a day goes by that a new fund isn’t being announced.

Founder 109

Founder Term Sheet Early Stage Venture Capital 109

Feld Thoughts

JULY 18, 2011

My partner Jason Mendelson and I are psyched to announce that our book – Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist – has been published and is now available. The book originated in 2005 when Jason and I wrote a long series of posts on this blog about a typical Venture Capital term sheet.

Term Sheet 162

Term Sheet Venture Capital Capitalization Table Finance 162

Genuine VC

JANUARY 13, 2014

I’ve commonly heard entrepreneurs recite some version of “I don’t want to waste too much time fundraising because it will distract me from building my business, so I’ll only talk to a few potential funders.” Venture capital firms are comprised of people, which natural means that their idiosyncrasies seep into the process.

Term Sheet 206

Term Sheet Venture Capital Valuation Portfolio 206

Gust

DECEMBER 21, 2011

The Valley produces world-class entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists and successful high-tech companies – all growing and creating jobs on one relatively small peninsula. Many other communities are entrepreneur-friendly and, by any measure, have the tools in place to spawn new high growth companies.

Silicon Valley 107

Silicon Valley Southern California Tucson Seattle 107

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2010

But I use this all of the time as a metaphor when talking with entrepreneurs in person and I’ve found it to be a useful way of explaining to entrepreneurs what is going in in the VC’s life. I have no idea why, but that’s always how it always felt to me when I was an entrepreneur raising money.

Venture Capital 275

Venture Capital Sacramento San Francisco Silicon Valley 275

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR – disclaimer, I represent the Founders Institute and was involved in drafting this document). My general opinion is that anything that makes the financing process faster and easier or otherwise educates entrepreneurs is a good thing. (A Dividend preference.

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

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

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 28, 2016

There are two new forewords – one from Fred Wilson at USV (the VC perspective) and one from James Park, CEO and co-founder of Fitbit (the entrepreneur perspective). We added a section on Corporate Venture Capital, as there has been a Cambrian explosion of CVCs over the past few years, even though the concept of a CVC is not a new one.

Term Sheet 70

Term Sheet Cofounder Venture Capital Equity 70

Genuine VC

JANUARY 15, 2015

In other words, as much as feasible, to gate all of the VC discussions so that they’re progressing along essentially the same pace – with the goal to receive multiple terms sheets near simultaneously in order to best select the best offer and best partner, with full information. But reality doesn’t always play out as neatly.

Lead Investor 100

Lead Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital Portfolio 100

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

As the venture capital industry has evolved, more and more seed investors are passing on traditionally “seed stage” startups because there isn’t enough traction. As seed funds have raised larger and larger funds, more have developed the muscle around issuing term sheets and “leading”. And by early, we mean pre-traction.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Not so in venture capital. As in real life – those that rush into marriage often find out what their partner is really like after the fact. But what about once you have a term sheet? For some reason most entrepreneurs do.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Term Sheet Cofounder Partner 288

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Understanding Venture Capital. I recently wrote a blog post on understanding how the size and age of a venture capital fund might affect you when you’re raising money. In a world of The Funded, VentureHacks and entrepreneur blogs this kind of informations spreads like wildfire.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Term Sheet Early Stage Silicon Valley 265

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

Think about venture capital. So many had names of partners (Kleiner Perkins) or local favorite identifiers like trees (Sequoia). But if you were going to start a venture capital fund today, you’d want to stand out. Like they truly understood entrepreneurs. I was a former entrepreneur.

Community 304

Community Los Angeles Startup Silicon Valley 304

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

VC’s keep different titles but the most common that I’ve come across that are investment professionals are (in ascending order of seniority): analyst, associate, principal and partner. In a VC firm the people with authority are clearly partners, although some firms have principals that also have authority.

Partner 308

Partner Term Sheet Sales Portfolio 308

Genuine VC

JULY 6, 2011

A lot has been written for entrepreneurs about optimizing a venture capital fundraising process, but one aspect which isn’t discussed very often is the pacing of it. Peace of mind in that an entrepreneur shouldn’t worry early-on that a term sheet isn’t forthcoming after one conversation.

Term Sheet 150

Term Sheet Deal Flow Venture Capital Conversion 150

David Teten

JULY 20, 2011

Boillot , Susan Klein , and Ed Reitler of Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt did a great job representing me in finalizing the terms of my joining ff Venture Capital. Ten Tips for Entrepreneurs when Working with Lawyers. I recently worked on the sale of a company by an entrepreneur. by Ed Reitler.

Intellectual Property 128

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Term Sheet Venture Capital 128

OnlyOnce

JULY 18, 2011

Brad Feld has been on my board for over a decade now, and when he and his partner Jason Mendelson told me about a new book they were writing a bunch of months ago called Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist , I took note. I’d like to be smarter than my lawyer or venture capitalist.&#.

Term Sheet 92

Term Sheet Capitalization Table Venture Capital Finance 92

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. “I don’t know the exact math, but I hear it again and again: the top 2% of firms generate 98% of the returns in venture capital.” Shame on you.

LP 374

LP Later Stage IRR Term Sheet 374