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Down Rounds: Deal With Reality

Feld Thoughts

Sometimes, given your syndicate configuration, you have no choice but to take structure in a new round. Rather, when you have a choice between a financing at a lower valuation and a financing with all kinds of crazy structure to try to maintain a previous valuation, negotiate the best price you can but do a clean financing with no structure.

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ProfessorVC: Negotiating an Angel Deal in your PJ's

Professor VC

I had a discussi on with another angel investor a few months ago and he was bragging about the deal he just struck that included a 3X participating liquidation preference. This will both reduce the number of angel investors and make it more difficult to syndicate across stage lines. The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic.

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Pari Passu or F.U.little guy

Professor VC

Mike Markkula presenting Steve Jobs with first investment in Apple I recently watched an excellent documentary on PBS, Something Ventured: Risk, Reward, and the Original Venture Capitalists. Another area where I''m not sure I stand is with some of the more formal referral and syndication programs that are emerging now.

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So You Wanna be a VC?

Professor VC

I can just picture Mr. Rogers saying "Children, can you say participating preferred stock with an uncapped 3x liquidation preference and a full ratchet?" When AngelList first launched syndicates a few years ago, I was very skeptical of the idea of angels taking carry on my investment. I got over it.

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The Silliness Of Recapping Seed Rounds

Feld Thoughts

It usually happens in a later round, when the company is in fact worth much less than the liquidation preference overhang and insiders use a pay-to-play and a low valuation to reset the preferences and the cap table. and the investors, who put up $1m in a convertible note, get 0.1%. Sure – it happens.

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How to Be an Angel Investor

www.paulgraham.com

When youhear people talking about a successful angel investor, theyre notsaying "He got a 4x liquidation preference." Mechanics Angel investors often syndicate deals, which means they join togetherto invest on the same terms. In a syndicate there is usually a"lead" investor who negotiates the terms with the startup.