View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

The reality is that if a founder raised every one of these rounds, and lead investors always got their “target” ownership, the level of dilution would be ridiculous. As seed rounds have atomized, it’s not uncommon for founders to raise 3 or even 4 rounds prior to a series A.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 23, 2021

For investors, this dynamic means that we actually have much less ability to influence the nature of the round. The founder may lean on us to help choose between a couple finalists, but they usually won’t want to waste time opening up the funnel, even if that may lead to some better partners.

Syndicate 207

Syndicate Syndication Term Sheet Cofounder 207

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you’re raising a round where a new lead investor would invest $5 million the VC fund must have no less than $100 million and if you’re looking for them to write $15–20 million as the lead their fund realistically should be at least $400 million. To be clear?—?your your list never stays static. Why 8–10 and not just 3–4?

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

The Startup Toolkit

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Regarding structure, the first deal is a rolling round with committed lead investors. At this point I’m leaning toward the first deal, but not by a huge amount since there’s some risk to completing the round in both cases. The second is a tranched deal, which is always a bad compromise for founders.

Term Sheet 31

Term Sheet Dilution Participating Preferred B2C 31

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

The Startup Toolkit

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Regarding structure, the first deal is a rolling round with committed lead investors. At this point I’m leaning toward the first deal, but not by a huge amount since there’s some risk to completing the round in both cases. The second is a tranched deal, which is always a bad compromise for founders.

Term Sheet 20

Term Sheet Dilution Participating Preferred B2C 20

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Some corporate funds now lead rounds. Others follow independent financial lead investors and most require that independent investors be part of the syndicate. Teten: What makes for a good vs. bad corporate venture investor? Conventional R&D can only address so many areas and it’s not exactly lean or fast.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Technical Review Portfolio 60