Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. No hidden terms.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. I always tell people that fund raising is a sales process. The assistant tried to end the meeting twice but was shoooshed away.

Software Review 381

Software Review Churn Rate Due Diligence New York 381

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

controlling your psychology ) you no doubt have heard me say that raising capital is a sales & marketing process. This is Sales 101. If you’ve read any of my ongoing series on fund raising from venture capitalist (episode 1?— ?controlling that’s a lot riding on your pitch and the willingness of the sponsoring partner to advocate.

Technical Review 314

Technical Review Due Diligence Partner Term Sheet 314

The Next Web

APRIL 6, 2013

The five suggestions below are designed to help facilitate the investment process which may lead to a more expeditious term sheet and teach entrepreneurs to think more like an investor. In fact, we engaged a leading US investor who gave an initial terms sheet to a very promising startup with a ‘rockstar CEO’, to then retract the $1.5

Term Sheet 126

Term Sheet Due Diligence Strategic Investors Valuation 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2013

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Sales and marketing strategy. Investors will talk to their own experts on the size of the potential market and the expected growth rate.

Technical Review 242

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Term Sheet 242

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2012

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Sales and marketing strategy. Investors will talk to their own experts on the size of the potential market and the expected growth rate.

Technical Review 245

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Startup 245

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

Tip 4: Really Understand Key Terms. Once you get the term sheet make sure you know how to read it. This will give you tons of information on all the terms you'll encounter when raising a venture round and how they could impact your deal. Once you have a term sheet you are happy with, don't over negotiate.

Cap Table 125

Cap Table Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Technical Review 125

Version One Ventures

JULY 20, 2017

With Mike and David ferociously developing product and doing sales, they launched the Ada bot with early customers like Medium, Kik and Wattpad. Needless to say, Boris and I were super excited when Mike and David received a term sheet from Bessemer. By the summer of 2016, Volley was now Ada.

Artificial Inteligence 151

Artificial Inteligence Silicon Valley Stealth Term Sheet 151

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2015

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal. Traction in the marketplace.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Term Sheet 120

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

He met with 8 companies and got 6 term sheets, decided to take General Atlantic deal and that’s when Experian came back to buy the whole thing. o On 1/11/05 his daughter was born at 8AM, at 6 PM email showing first million dollar rev day for the company and 8 PM term sheet from Experian to buy the company – all on the same day!

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

In many instances, you raise an institutional round to either fulfill a product strategy or go-to-market strategy or you’re increasing sales and marketing hires, so you have better visibility into what needs to happen in the next six, 12, 18 months. In terms of negotiation, there are always hot buttons.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2010

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Sales and marketing strategy. Investors will talk to their own experts on the size of the potential market and the expected growth rate.

Technical Review 229

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Angel Investor 229

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 12, 2017

If you have a sales model that involves relationship selling to high-level decision makers, you can be sure they would prefer a detailed proposal from you with a request to “sign here.” In that case, you are not making a specific offer; you are soliciting a terms sheet. Decide to think big and ask big.

Term Sheet 48

Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence Merger 48

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

Investors typically negotiate from a term sheet, which if not handled properly can create problems that can hurt or kill the startup’s chances when they do their Series A round of funding. Startups bear the costs of their financing, from the first seed investment to the sale of Series A stock. If high U.S.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

It’s marketing 101 for tech companies in terms of how you market to customers. Sales owns the former, the latter get marketing emails so you’ll be top of your prospects’ minds. And I know many stories of Benchmark or similar investors writing term sheets after the first meeting. Neither is the norm.

Technical Review 309

Technical Review Term Sheet Venture Capital Revenue 309

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Womble Bond Dickinson has released a white paper on Performance Aligned Stock and a term sheet on ImpactTerms.org. . (If That said, John Berger observes, “I can easily make a low-risk, debt-like Flexible VC deal, or a high-risk equity-like deal, and I can do it using the same term sheet with different terms.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Company Lawyer

APRIL 22, 2009

Always looking for ways to better serve the entrepreneurial community, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is pleased to announce the release of the WSGR Term Sheet Generator , a publicly available online tool that allows entrepreneurs and investors to generate an initial draft of a term sheet for a preferred stock financing.

Term Sheet 39

Term Sheet Finance Preferred Stock Kentucky 39

Altgate

AUGUST 20, 2010

@altgate Startups, Venture Capital & Everything In Between Skip to content Home Furqan Nazeeri (fn@altgate.com) ← Why Don’t Universities Teach Sales? A couple of years ago I wrote this post on the science and art of negotiating a term sheet , which turned out to be a fairly popular post. Bookmark the permalink.

Term Sheet 39

Term Sheet Venture Capital Angel Financing Framework 39

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 17, 2013

Understand a term sheet. Write a blog post. Deliver a keynote. Build Links. Conduct customer interviews. Segment a market. Recruit and Train. Train an intern. Hire A Players. Replace B Players. Cold call C level executives. Write a novel. Raise Money. Build an advisory board. Tell an investor they’ve lost all their money.

Advisory Board 279

Advisory Board Balance Sheet Term Sheet Entrepreneur 279

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR – disclaimer, I represent the Founders Institute and was involved in drafting this document). This post assumes that you have a basic understanding of Series A financing terms. Co-sale rights. Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR).

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

Austin Startup

JULY 22, 2021

million in funding Houston’s GroupRaise is a marketplace that helps groups of 20–200 people make reservations at restaurants willing to donate a percentage of the sales back to a charitable cause. Apply now to be one of five teams selected to pitch. Austin’s Journey Foods uses AI to create sustainability recipes for food manufacturers.

San Antonio 107

San Antonio Dallas Houston Founder 107

crowdSPRING Blog

JUNE 6, 2013

Sales Leads On A Small Budget – [link]. A founder-friendly term sheet – [link]. Everyone is touting statistics to show they’re the big dog. But sadly, just many puppies – [link]. Four Things To Consider If You Want To Scale Your Startup | Forbes – [link].

Social Media 95

Social Media Small Business Design Media 95

www.readwriteweb.com

DECEMBER 29, 2011

Tip 4: Really Understand Key Terms. Once you get the term sheet make sure you know how to read it. This will give you tons of information on all the terms you'll encounter when raising a venture round and how they could impact your deal. Once you have a term sheet you are happy with, don't over negotiate.

Cap Table 47

Cap Table Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Technical Review 47

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

This is a company that, according to the article, got term sheets from half of the VCs that expressed interest in the company. They're just not very good at raising venture capital--which, in the later stage, has more to do with your own ability to run a sales process. Not a bad close rate, I'd say--and a pretty great pay day.

Venture Capital 114

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 114

Altgate

OCTOBER 8, 2009

The two most popular posts remain this one on term sheet negotiation and this one on venture debt , although this one on convertible debt is giving them a run for their money. Tips: $75 HOT All-Hands Team Meeting Board Management Tips For Startup CEOs Customer Support 2.0

Term Sheet 39

Term Sheet Technical Review Michigan Liquidation Preference 39

Scott Edward Walker

AUGUST 8, 2021

3) Your strongest leverage in any financing/sale is prior to the execution of an exclusivity letter — i.e., an LOI/term sheet which includes a “no shop” provision. Remember – if you’re only negotiating with one party, your only leverage is to walk. . 4) Create a sense of urgency. The longer the process (e.g.,

Investment Bankers 83

Investment Bankers Term Sheet Finance Sales 83

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

Instead of funding, you pay the investors a structured royalty, which is a portion of the sales. It is essential to understand the funding structure stated in your term sheet and the advantages and disadvantages it may have for your business. Royalty based investment. A royalty based investment is an exciting mode of funding.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 15, 2020

million in funding Houston’s GroupRaise is a marketplace that helps groups of 20–200 people make reservations at restaurants willing to donate a percentage of the sales back to a charitable cause. Dallas’ ShearShare has a marketplace connecting stylists with available seats at salons and $2.3

Founder 98

Founder Dallas Houston Term Sheet 98

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Series Seed Term Sheet (v 2.0). Series Seed Term Sheet. Ted - I think if you simply remove the spaces in the file names, that should solve the download problems, e.g. the term sheet doc should be renamed to "SeriesSeedTermSheet.doc" Same with the others. :). Series Seed IRA.

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

Gust

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

For a traditional VC financing round structured as a sale of preferred stock, the best resources I can recommend are the Term Sheet Series by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson and Startup Company Lawyer by Yokum Taku. I’ve posted a sample convertible note term sheet on my website.) There are two principal reasons.

Finance 178

Finance Term Sheet Preferred Stock Bridge Financing 178

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

Five Easy Pieces – The Marketing Mission After a few months of talking to customers , talking to our channel and working with sales we defined the marketing Mission (our job) was to: Help Sales deliver $25 million in sales with a 45% gross margin. Two paragraphs, Five bullets. It didn’t take more.

Silicon Valley 259

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 259

The Startup Toolkit

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

You’re facing two term sheets and have boiled them down to the most relevant facts, listed below. Vision for B2B, sales-driven technology. The financials immediately jump out when we talk about term sheets: what’s the valuation? Deal 1 is a sales-driven company. Which do you choose? 1.25mm total.

Term Sheet 31

Term Sheet Dilution Participating Preferred B2C 31

Scott Edward Walker

JUNE 9, 2019

Over the past few weeks, two of my clients have received financing term sheets in which the investors requested super pro rata rights. Introduction. Accordingly, I thought it would be helpful for founders to discuss these rights and to point out the problems they create for startups. Pro Rata Rights.

Preferred Stock 56

Preferred Stock Term Sheet Dilution Stock 56

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

We’re currently evaluating about 20 companies a month and issuing term sheets to 25% of them; those that fit our investment criteria. The mode purpose for funding is (in order of frequency) Sales, Marketing, Market Expansion, Product Development, and Hiring Employees. The average gross profit margin is 55%.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

www.bothsidesofthetable.com

MAY 13, 2012

Sales & Marketing. I recently did a post for startups on understanding sales people. new features need to go into the sale people’s slides so that they know the latest and greatest about how to differentiate from the competition. Sales & Marketing Advice (2). Term Sheets (1). Start-up Advice.

Fractional VPE 89

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Fractional CTO CTO Hire 89