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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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More on Liquidation Preferences

Altgate

→ More on Liquidation Preferences Posted on December 16, 2010 by admin A long time ago I had asked a VC about what pre-money valuation he was planning to put in a term sheet he had promised to send over. .&# He said it as a joke, but it is totally true that pre-money valuation is just one of a handful of key economic terms in a term sheet.

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Praying to the God of Valuation

Both Sides of the Table

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. The tide has gone out. But this is still all about valuations and none of it is any fun anymore.

Valuation 466
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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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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.).

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Price Cap Liquidation Preference Windfall Regulators

The Startup Lawyer

Depending on the delta between the price cap and the pre-money valuation of the qualified equity financing, the convertible note investors could receive a windfall in terms of liquidation preference. The Potential Problem Let’s say Series A investors invest at a pre-money valuation that [.].

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Equity for Early Employees in Early Stage Startups

SoCal CTO

Memo to CEOs And Founders: Share The Love Consider the proceeds of a $50-million acquisition for a 100-person company that has raised $14 million with a typical liquidation preference: Because of the liquidation preference, the investors get $14 million right off the top. million.