ReadWriteStart

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

Looking at the major markets in Latin America in 2018, most show increases in VC investment in keeping with the regional average. These markets have brought us to 2020 — outpacing them all — is Colombia. Colombia is an attractive market for technology companies. Market size. Increased connectivity.

Colombia 146

Colombia America Technical Review Startup 146

View from Seed

JANUARY 27, 2021

100M is a meaningful increase from our $50M third fund, though it’s still quite small in the grand scheme of venture, especially amid the recent wave of late stage financings and SPACs. But it is also large enough to write a $2M check to lead a post-seed round for companies that are starting to scale.

LP 411

LP Early Stage Seed Stage Venture Capital 411

ithacaVC

MARCH 9, 2017

Sometimes at the seed stage, the company founder insists that he/she be the only board member and that once more financing is raised that the board composition will be normalized (code word for “adding more members”). We followed in line with the lead investor and went along with the structure.

Seed Stage 58

Seed Stage Software Review Institutional Investors Lead Investor 58

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

In previous blog posts I’ve written about the two main approaches to building a seed round syndicate – the subscription method (where an entrepreneur presets a structure with a convertible note or SAFE and recruits investors who subscribe to the round, all without a term-driving lead investor) and a term-driving lead investor approach.

Syndicate 257

Syndicate Syndication Lead Investor Venture Capital 257

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 23, 2021

Especially in the age of zoom pitching, founders can create a fairly wide top of the funnel, and talk to a large number of investors to find a good match for their round. These forces result in most early stage rounds being composed of investors that are already hanging around the hoop.

Syndicate 207

Syndicate Syndication Term Sheet Cofounder 207

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Asked to respond to the topic, “What collusion happens with AngelList, if any&# I wrote the following: “Um, let’s not be naive here and not think that a “form of collusion&# doesn’t happen on virtually any financing round. Investors talk to each other. How well financed is the competition?

Entrepreneur 292

Entrepreneur Technical Review Stealth Valuation 292

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2022

I’m a straight white dude who grew up in NYC and worked in finance. How competitive is your company going to be in the race to recruit the best women on the market (women—the segment of the talent market who hold the majority of new college degrees) when your lead investor is a top donor to an anti-choice org?

Cap Table 163

Cap Table Cofounder Private Equity Finance 163

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

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Like many established finance & media companies, GLG knows that the tech startup sector is a growing part of the economy. I’ve also presented at a range of industry conferences on how institutional investors can use professional networks for research , origination , market research , and value creation.

New York 114

New York Technical Review Networking Advisory Board 114

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

And while I passed on leading their seed, I did contribute a smaller amount into the financing, along with three subsequent pro rata/super pro rata investments. I agreed and we subsequently did a TechCrunch Live discussion together with a follow-up blog post in her newsletter. Compliance training is an example.

Cofounder 97

Cofounder Lead Investor Founder Restful 97

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 12, 2020

This question helps an investor assess a deal’s level of competitiveness as well as the likelihood that it falls into a zone that the investor would consider reasonable. The response I’d generally recommend is something like “Our priorities are to partner with the right long term investor at a price that is fair in this market.”

Term Sheet 364

Term Sheet Burn Rate Founder Partner 364

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

At its core, this issue points to the lack of understanding about the importance of post-money valuation by both entrepreneurs and investors. When it comes time to convert the notes, these entrepreneurs face ‘sticker shock’ about their post-financing ownership.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 18, 2017

FinTech players are increasingly becoming an important part of the fabric of Africa’s financial services ecosystem and the leading banks on the continent are now more urgently seeking to harness technology innovations, collaborate with FinTech start‐ups, and create a platform to scale much faster – to make digital financial services pay.

Africa 62

Africa Ethiopia Elevator Pitch Technical Review 62

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

Sharing these pricing expectations early with potential lead investors fundamentally qualifies your conversations, but it also runs the risk of prematurely losing a potential financing partner, or else it can reduce options to maximize your fundraise outcome. Lower-Than-Market Value. Market Value.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

You get dilution sensitive and you start optimizing on price of a financing deal, versus finding the right partners or raising enough money to grow. The right lead investor and the right amount of cushion in a raise can help with the best defense against scaling disaster—hiring.

Dilution 104

Dilution Equity Hiring Partner 104

Genuine VC

JULY 30, 2012

By communicating pricing expectations with potential lead investors, I mean sharing either an “ask” or even stated floor for the pre-money valuation of the company (with a priced preferred round) or explicitly stating a valuation cap (for convertible note round). Above market.

Valuation 136

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Angel Investor Syndicate 136

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

There are a number of factors that have contributed to the rise of pre-seed rounds, but the strongest have been the frothy late-stage financing market, coupled with both the scaling-up of some of the early winners in the institutional seed ecosystem and the scaling-down of some larger funds that retrenched after the financial crisis.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 10, 2022

I really enjoy our conversations and am especially glad you’re up for some candor, because it’ll help provide some insight into the state of the startup and funding market. Homebrew was on the board of a construction tech startup called BuildingConnected , having led their seed financing. The needs of the lead investor for ownership?

Cofounder 89

Cofounder Founder Acquisition Startup 89

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 19, 2023

Is Their Company Name a Core Value Or Marketing Spin You learn a lot when buying a first home. Can any transition to a venture-financed for profit be truly Open? But is throwing money (and frankly the importance of their brand, which right now is red hot) into startups a lead investor really Open?

Naming 62

Naming Lead Investor Distribution Technology 62

The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 3, 2012

Chris Dixon wrote an interesting post yesterday which described two different ways of thinking about startup opportunities – the finance lens and the product lens. whilst investors typically look at opportunities from an investment perspective, asking the question ‘is there an opportunity to make a lot of money from this investment?’.

Finance 116

Finance Valuation Lead Investor Startup 116

Genuine VC

JULY 10, 2012

There are essentially two distinct basic strategies for startup entrepreneurs to raise a seed round of capital: Subscription approach – An entrepreneur sets a structure (usually a convertible note) and recruits individual angel investors who subscribe to the round, all without a term-driving lead investor.

Syndicate 207

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Portfolio 207

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

In a world where a focus on founder track record and network became increasingly pervasive, how could new founders effectively break in and obtain early financing? Join online networks, reach out to investors over Twitter, and expand your community.”.

Venture Capital 350

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 350

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. I think there’s some truth in this.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Series Seed Financing Documents Blog.   That’s because there are not that many issues to negotiate in a simple equity financing. Have you had anyone from Canada use these documents for financing a Canadian (Quebec) entity? One issue I do have with the term sheet though is the provision for $10K in investor legal expenses.

Term Sheet 40

Term Sheet Ratchet Dilution Equity 40

BeyondVC

SEPTEMBER 13, 2006

As an entrepreneur, you are most likely spending most of your time building your product and getting it to market. Make sure your basic finances are in order and that all customer contracts, employment-related documents, financing paperwork, etc. is all stored properly and securely.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Due Diligence 60

Hunter Walker

APRIL 20, 2018

Like we do at the seed stage, USV almost always plays the role of “ lead investor.” ” And later: “The truth about these situations is a few seed investors will massively over deliver and the rest will massively disappoint.” But it often is not.”

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Lead Investor Portfolio Reputation 48

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 2, 2010

They are: Fred Wilson: Lead Investors, Dipshit Companies, and Funding Every Entrepreneur. Dave McClure: MoneyBall for Startups: Invest BEFORE Product/Market Fit, Double-Down AFTER. Lead Investors, Dipshit Companies, and Funding Every Entrepreneur ), and treat them the same way we would with a $10m investment.

Angel Investor 152

Angel Investor Cofounder Syndicate Syndication 152

Babbling VC

DECEMBER 5, 2010

We overlooked doing extensive market research. More specifically, we did market research in the wrong place. We picked the investor who was far better known in the market and supposedly had reach into the US. Long story short, we never received the attention nor the leverage in the market which we expected from them.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Europe Portfolio Germany 76

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

The fact that I invest less just means the company is earlier stage and needed/wanted less or without a product/market fit we weren’t yet prepared to invest more heavily. In these cases we proactively offer to lead their next round of financing. Tags: Startup Advice Tech Market Analysis VC Industry.

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

Scott Edward Walker

AUGUST 9, 2013

Valuation is “not a formula” – “it’s a trade-off between an investor’s desire for ownership and a founder’s desire to minimize dilution.”. The analysis at the seed stage is a fairly succinct one”: there must be (i) a strong founding team, (ii) going after a real problem and (iii) in a very large market.

Seed Stage 53

Seed Stage Entrepreneur Dilution Valuation 53

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2012

Looked at from their perspective, given two teams equal in entrepreneur, market, business model and potential, why should they invest in one that exists on paper, when the other has reduced its risk and improved its viability by actually getting started? Your goal in all this is to try to find a lead investor.

Software Review 164

Software Review Term Sheet Technical Review Angel Investor 164

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 13, 2010

StoredIQ , a leading provider of Intelligent Information Management solutions for eDiscovery, records and compliance management, today announced that it has closed $10 million in new investment financing and expanded its management team in preparation for accelerated growth.

Vertical 59

Vertical Early Stage Cofounder Channel 59

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

we weren’t the natural leader of a market or technology trend that everyone was paying attention to, we didn’t have substantial organic growth, and. Investors see a lot of pitches. You may happen to emphasize the right points that pique an investor’s interest, but you shouldn’t leave your financing up to chance.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

ithacaVC

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

You evaluate the team, product, market and other variables – then, make a general guess. Market size. A big market determines the upside potential. For some investors, this is the most important attribute and they won’t invest unless it’s a huge market. The valuation only exists if investors validate it.

Valuation 69

Valuation Startup Down Round Early Stage 69

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 26, 2021

One of the things a financing round brings is an opportunity to strengthen the startup’s overall network. This is one of the reasons why the best practice for a startup is to raise investment rounds from different lead investors rather than simply doing internal rounds, even if an internal round requires less work.

Startup 36

Startup Equity Early Stage Green 36

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 2, 2010

First off all, not every company is right for equity financing—and many other companies would be better off starting without it. I can’t tell you how many companies I’ve run into where the inability to get financing, or the lack of interest in it, led them to building better companies.

Startup 101

Startup Venture Capital Incubator Programming 101

Austin Startup

AUGUST 16, 2010

The company has been making steady progress, culminating in a huge round of financing. The company announced it is raising $48 million from a unique syndicate of investors comprising industry leading venture capital firms and semiconductor innovators. Power consumption matters more than ever. CrunchBase Information.

Syndicate 54

Syndicate Syndication Venture Capital Texas 54