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Want to Know How VC’s Calculate Valuation Differently from Founders?

Both Sides of the Table

Things like “ participating preferred stock &# in legalese unsurprisingly never actually call out, “hey, this is the participating preferred language.&# We got a3x participating liquidation preference with interest (not participating with a 3x cap, but 3x participating. 4 * $4 million) and not $4 million.

Valuation 405
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In defence of liquidation preferences

The Equity Kicker

It turns out that ‘time bomb’ is the much maligned and, I suspect, little understood, liquidation preference. To be clear, liquidation preferences are sometimes used badly and founders should generally turn away from investors who ask for multiple liquidation preferences.

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Praying to the God of Valuation

Both Sides of the Table

During this era, from 2009–2015, most founders I knew were in it for building great & sustainable companies. If they are private we still have fig leaves that cover us because some rounds might raise debt vs. equity or might fund with terms like multiple liquidation preferences or full-ratchets or convertible notes with caps.

Valuation 466
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More on Liquidation Preferences

Altgate

@altgate Startups, Venture Capital & Everything In Between Skip to content Home Furqan Nazeeri (fn@altgate.com) ← Pre-Money Valuation vs Number of Founders Where Do Tech VCs Invest? One of the least understood of these key terms is the liquidation preference. For example, rounds with a preference between 1.1X

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What Founders Need to Know: You Were Funded for a Liquidity Event – Start Looking

Steve Blank

To most founders a startup is not a job, but a calling. Founders can now access the largest pool of risk capital that ever existed –in the form of Private Equity (Angel Investors, family offices , Venture Capitalists (VC’s) and Hedge Funds.). (BTW, What does this mean for startup founders? Here’s the thing most founders miss.

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Equity for Early Employees in Early Stage Startups

SoCal CTO

Founders vs. Early Employees To help with this discussion, let me start with a definition of "early employee." The first few people into a startup are on a spectrum of founder vs. early employee. Founders are likely not paid for a long time and have a sizeable equity percentage for early risk and having the concept.

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Avoid Offensive Liquidation Preferences

The Startup Lawyer

In most equity financing rounds, an investor will ask for (and get) a term called a liquidation preference. A liquidation preference is the amount that must be paid to a preferred stock holder before any sale proceeds may be paid to the holders of common stock (i.e., founders, option holders, etc.).