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The Legal Side of Entrepreneurship

YoungUpstarts

Startups need to understand how to manage the seed money they receive from investors and VCs. “And if you have a valuation cap; a higher cap is always better than a lower cap.” Startups bear the costs of their financing, from the first seed investment to the sale of Series A stock.

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The Corrosive Downside of Acquihires

Both Sides of the Table

The Aqui-hire Business. Let’s assume $2 million in seed money. If the money comes from professional investors it usually has a “liquidation preference” meaning that their money comes out before the founders or common stock. It says if you want to make “real” money - quit.

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Why the New Seed Might Be a Bad Seed

This is going to be BIG.

So whereas seed rounds five years ago may have been less than a million dollars on a pre-money valuation of three or four million, today''s seed is up and over a million and usually closer to two million, with post money valuations nearing $10 million. in seed money instead of $1.5M

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Understanding a VC’s Seed Funding Policy is Critical

Both Sides of the Table

I think the issue was mostly framed initially by Chris Dixon in his article The Problem with Taking Seed Money from Big VC s. If we can’t agree on price I tell entrepreneurs that they can raise money and say “GRP will speak for half of the round.&# Done – the only signal is positive. the $190 million).

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Understanding the Risks of VC Signaling

Both Sides of the Table

Chris Dixon provided some commentary on Twitter that he believes I missed “the most important point about fund size.&# He’s specifically referring to his point of view that entrepreneurs shouldn’t take seed money from “big VC’s&# (he defines them as > $100 million).

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How to Fund a Startup

www.paulgraham.com

It wasnt because they werent accredited investors that I didntask my parents for seed money, though. When we were starting Viaweb,I didnt know about the concept of an accredited investor, anddidnt stop to think about the value of investors connections.The reason I didnt take money from my parents was that I didntwant them to lose it.

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Why You’re Not Getting the Most out of Your Board

Both Sides of the Table

If you’re a venture-backed tech company or even an early-stage business fueled by angel or seed money I assume you have a good group of board members or advisors who will give you time to be helpful and they want to be helpful. Deal with company admin: 409a valuations, approve stock options, vote on key measures (15%).