Growthink Blog

JANUARY 24, 2011

I get the same question a lot from entrepreneurs raising equity capital (venture capital or angel funding). The question is whether they need to issue common or preferred stock. The answer depends on how and what rights are defined in the preferred stock. If, then the company were to be sold for $5,000,000 (i.e.

Preferred Stock 93

Preferred Stock Stock Common Stock Liquidation Preference 93

Altgate

OCTOBER 8, 2009

Raising Capital: 5 Reasons Convertible Debt Sucks HOT The Collapse of the VC Ecosystem & What It Will Look Like Post Recovery 10 Tips On Negotiating With VCs Dating…er…Fundraising Etiquette The Science & Art of Term Sheet Negotiation HOT How Liquidation Preferences Work HOT How Much Money Should I Raise?

Term Sheet 39

Term Sheet Technical Review Michigan Liquidation Preference 39

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

  I’ve sat down with entrepreneurs and a copy of a term sheet guide I like [ “Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations ” by Alex Wilmerding, Aspatore Press.] This results in a range of sale prices; in this example from $118.6MM to $21MM.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

Venture capital investors normally insist on this option. Investor liquidation priority. Investors want a contract preference to get their total investment back first in any company sale, to prevent founders who are struggling from deciding to sell at a loss.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Demand Preferred Stock Liquidation Preference 120

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

I watched, participated, and suffered through every type of creative financing as companies were struggling to raise capital in this time frame. I’ve seen every imaginable type of liquidation preference structure, pay-to-play dynamic, preferred return, ratchet, share/option bonus, option repricing, and carveout.

Cap Table 70

Cap Table Down Round Liquidation Preference Founder 70

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Even the best venture capital firms have a lot of failures and few successes. where your stock sits in the liquidity preference stack. what rights and preferences the founders and the other investors have. venture capital. However, Ive learned four lessons the hard way: 1. Most tech start-ups fail.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

With this seed capital – more often than not totaling between $100,000 and $1,000,000 - the company accomplishes a number of key technical milestones, gets a beta customer or two, and then goes on a "road show" to venture capitalists around the country for capital to “scale” the business. There are a lot of dark, hard days.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

The Startup Lawyer

JUNE 9, 2010

In addition, here’s an example of how a startup CEO’s huge salary didn’t help his startup: CEO’s $500,000 Salary Burns Startup Into Fire Sale. The startup community focuses most of the term sheet discussion on liquidation preferences and anti-dilution , but startup CEO salary is nonetheless an important issue.

Salary 99

Salary Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Liquidity Event 99

ithacaVC

MAY 1, 2013

I read an article this morning in DealBook titled “ In Venture Capital Deals, Not Every Founder Will be a Zuckerberg “ Go ahead and give it a read. The article states “When venture capitalists invest, they typically demand preferred shares that accrue a yearly dividend of about 8 percent.

Dividend 45

Dividend Liquidation Preference Common Stock Venture Capital 45

ithacaVC

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

Note that MCOPs are rare when the company is young and has only raised a limited amount of venture capital – no need yet for the carve out as the founders still own a large chunk of the company (thankfully). As the investors’ aggregate liquidation preference (ALP) increases typically the need for a MCOP also increases.

Liquidation Preference 55

Liquidation Preference Management Preferred Stock Dividend 55

Scott Edward Walker

APRIL 9, 2012

Venture capital funds, seed funds, super angels, angel groups, incubators, and “friends and family” are all playing the seed financing game and investing early in startups in an attempt to land the next Facebook. Introduction We are in the golden age of seed financing.

Preferred Stock 87

Preferred Stock Finance Common Stock Liquidation Preference 87

Altgate

DECEMBER 18, 2008

@altgate Startups, Venture Capital & Everything In Between Skip to content Home Furqan Nazeeri (fn@altgate.com) ← The 3X Liquidation Preference Is Back! This is reminiscent of Yahoo bringing Jerry Yang back to be CEO (in that case they did it knowing that a potential sale was on the horizon).

Liquidation Preference 28

Liquidation Preference Management Venture Capital Founder 28

Altgate

MARCH 17, 2009

@altgate Startups, Venture Capital & Everything In Between Skip to content Home Furqan Nazeeri (fn@altgate.com) ← Global Nuances of Startup Compensation Obama Shoots Down 90% Tax Bracket → Popular Posts Posted on March 17, 2009 by fnazeeri Once again, here is a list of some of the more popular posts on this blog.

Term Sheet 28

Term Sheet Due Diligence Liquidation Preference Dividend 28

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

He spoke about ROCE (return on capital employed). The numerator (return) encourages more sales, which is fine. But “on capital employed” encourages companies to push more off balance sheet and thus into offshore & outsourced situations. Venture Capital. So they could monetize and people would pay.

Bankruptcy 403

Bankruptcy Offshore Liquidation Preference Balance Sheet 403

Gust

MAY 24, 2012

By contrast, venture capital and angel investments normally take the form of Preferred Stock with rights and preferences set forth in the company’s Certificate of Incorporation and other governance documents. Options and warrants, when issued, are also typically exercisable for shares of Common Stock.

IPO 159

IPO Equity Common Stock Stock 159

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

In Silicon Valley boardrooms, where “growth at all costs” had been the mantra for many years, people began to imagine a world where the cost of capital could rise dramatically, and profits could come back in vogue. In 1999, record valuations coexisted with record IPOs and shareholder liquidity. Competition also has access to capital.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Youllprobably get either preferred stock, which means stock with extrarights like getting your money back first in a sale, or convertibledebt, which means (on paper) youre lending the company money, andthe debt converts to stock at the next sufficiently big fundinground. [ You give a startup money and they give you stock.

Angel Investor 63

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Dilution 63