VC Adventure

OCTOBER 24, 2018

These can be event driven – for example discussing an M&A opportunity or an upcoming financing. Or they can be company specific topics, such as a demo of a new product that’s in development or a deep dive into marketing or sales. or get bogged down in things that are ultimately unimportant to the company’s future.

Design 91

Design Cap Table Email Operations 91

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

In liquid markets, most of the calories expended on technology and analytics are focused on trade selection, or “ origination ”. I use another live Google doc to maintain my database of companies I’m marketing to other VCs. 2) Market . Many tools designed for B2B marketing in general are also relevant to investors.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Examples of housekeeping include the following list, though not every item will appear every time: Finance: Cash out date, burn rate, 409A valuation, cap table, common/preferred stock dashboard. Finance is mission critical, for instance – it just appears on a recurring basis.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Since 2017 we’ve managed $3 million in revenue-based financing, which helps cash-strapped technology companies grow. The mode purpose for funding is (in order of frequency) Sales, Marketing, Market Expansion, Product Development, and Hiring Employees. “ You qualify if you have $5k+ MRR. Bigfoot Capital. Decathlon Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

VC Adventure

AUGUST 15, 2018

As is true today, there was a requirement that options be priced at or above the “fair market value” of the underlying stock (otherwise there would be tax consequences to the optionee and sometimes to the company as well). Similarly I assumed that later stage companies would also show a smaller gap. I was wrong.

Valuation 48

Valuation Common Stock Cap Table Software Review 48

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

Once again, as we find ourselves in the middle of a significant public market correction, especially around technology stocks, there’s an enormous amount of noise in the system, as there always is. I suffered through the next financing after implementing a complex structure, or a sale of the company, or a liquidation.

Cap Table 70

Cap Table Down Round Liquidation Preference Founder 70

Genuine VC

MAY 20, 2013

Compared to most other areas of finance, venture capital is practiced as more of an art, as opposed to a science. VCs who swear publicly that they’ll never make an investment with less than 20% ownership show up on cap tables in the teens… the 20% pronouncements are just posturing for negotiation.

Venture Capital 244

Venture Capital Cap Table Portfolio Early Stage 244

keen.io

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

And if the CEO says, “Salaries will be adjusted to market value soon,” that’s probably a best-case scenario. To begin answering this question, I started on a quest to understand startup financing. We asked the founders to talk us through the financials, help us complete the detailed cap table, and discuss the offers together.

Salary 50

Salary Equity Startup San Francisco 50

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

But knowing the right people and knowing a market only works well for angel investors in bullish tech markets in which IPO’s happen quickly (97-99) or where larger companies are actively scooping up little tiny companies at sub $50 million valuations to drive innovation (05-08, 10-?). Obviously I agree. So where are we now?

Angel Investor 284

Angel Investor Early Stage Cap Table Deal Flow 284

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

While VC deals remain marketed on a pre-money basis, sophisticated investors know that what matters most is the post-money (how much of the company will I own after all of the new shares have been issued). Many entrepreneurs lose track of what they have been cooking up in the cap table.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

www.informationarbitrage.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Read more » Recent Press The New York Times April 22, 2009 - A Company Plans to Market Illiquid Assets CNBC.com April 8, 2008 - Social Stock Picking Reuters April 6, 2009 - Bit.ly It is helping with recruiting by leveraging my networks and experience in a particular domain.

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Founder Cap Table Vesting 40

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Are they consistent with your founding team, are they competitive in the market, and will they not create precedents that you’ll regret in the next round of hiring? Your Cap Table is something that deserves constant care and attention. Messy cap tables can come back to haunt you when you do a financing or sell the company.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Cautionary note: No competent VC is actually fooled when you show up after raising $6M in seed financing and say you’re now raising an A! 5 million was always the classic definition of an A-round between the late nineties (crazy financings aside) and say 2007. It is less about actual money and more about structure of your Cap Table.

Cap Table 136

Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Non-Compete 136

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

I wont bother going into details on start-up financing terms ( see this post for an overview of typical VC terms) except to say if you dont know and understand: the firms cap table and valuation. Cash is king and it's a developer's market out there right now. CRM Magazine: 2011 CRM Market Leaders.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 5, 2021

Startup CEOs Should Test Strength of Cap Table Every ~6 Months To Know Where They Stand. As a venture fund I might have a strategy which says “for every dollar I invest into companies, I will hold one dollar in reserve for additional financings.” Instead my recommendation is to ask every ~6 months or so in-between financings.

Cap Table 127

Cap Table Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 127

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

And finally, a more robust (but still somewhat opaque) secondary market emerged for transacting equity among parties. You don’t bring investors on to the cap table via a secondary transaction that are going to be problematic. As we’re recently reminded, markets go down, not just up. Pigs get fat but hogs get slaughtered.

Venture Capital 154

Venture Capital Cap Table LP Equity 154

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

I understand the appeal of having many VC firms on your cap table. You may feel as I did in 1999 that the more smart people around the table the more intros you’ll have, the more sage advice you’ll receive and the more impressive you’ll seem to outsiders. The Perils of Many. But it happens.

Dilution 314

Dilution Cap Table Due Diligence Option Pool 314

View from Seed

DECEMBER 11, 2019

Yes, there are intermittent points of feedback along the way, like valuation marks from subsequent rounds of financing. In both up and down markets, the extended feedback cycles, low signal-to-noise ratio, and backwards looking economics create a dynamic which facilitates forced and unforced turnover.

Venture Capital 204

Venture Capital Cap Table Partner LP 204

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

I pointed out that their market reputation was that they didn’t do seed investments nor did they do many Series A investments. And, in each case, his firm had decided not to follow on, took themselves out of the cap table, and the three companies were able to raise additional financing (in one case from a different VC firm.).

Cap Table 134

Cap Table Reputation Finance Programming 134

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 12, 2011

When we were last with Dick and Jane on Finance Fridays, our fearless entrepreneurs were figuring out how to split up their founders equity and account for an investment from Jane. QuickBooks and other accounting software programs will do this for your finances, but you should also implement tools for tracking other key metrics (e.g.

Balance Sheet 137

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 137

OnlyOnce

DECEMBER 1, 2021

As startups scale, they are likely to hire a more senior accountant, maybe an AR/AP/Collections staff member, or even a Controller or VP Finance. Are you way under market in compensation and trying to overcome that by offering equity or “perks” to attract top talent? Is it concerning that you’re tight when it comes to payroll?

Hiring 117

Hiring Cap Table Finance Equity 117

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 8, 2023

At the time, this is last quarter and the stock market has trended upwards nicely since then (a potential leading indicator of private tech valuations), we all agreed venture portfolios were probably still 25-40% overvalued. Soft Acquisition Market. Whatever gets reported is just the tip of the iceberg.

Portfolio 118

Portfolio Cap Table LP Valuation 118

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

US-based seed VCs rarely invest outside of the country (500 Startups is one exception) leaving a potential gap in the market for folks with international expertise. Instead a series of AngelList Syndicates could serve as complements or substitutions for local in-market dollars overseas. 2) The Bundled Expertise Syndicate.

Syndicate 121

Syndicate Syndication South America Cap Table 121

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

But knowing the right people and knowing a market only works well for angel investors in bullish tech markets in which IPO’s happen quickly (97-99) or where larger companies are actively scooping up little tiny companies at sub $50 million valuations to drive innovation (05-08, 10-?). Obviously I agree. So where are we now?

Angel Investor 152

Angel Investor Cap Table Early Stage Deal Flow 152

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 11, 2019

Eventually, I joined Jenny Lefcourt in the initiative called Founders for Change, where we’re amplifying the voices of the founders who are demanding greater representation and diversity not only within their organization, their cap table, and their board rooms, but also in terms of the makeup of all of these organizations.

Founder 68

Founder Lean Venture Capital Cofounder 68

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

So when I tell you what I’m seeing in venture financing these days if you disagree with me, it might just be that we’re touching different parts of the elephant. Haystack’s Semil Shah wrote up his POV on what this has all meant for the seed market and one point in particular caught my eye. It’s just math.

Cap Table 117

Cap Table Valuation Salary Seed Stage 117

Haystack

DECEMBER 17, 2019

Coming from an ethos where most information is free and that Google’s offerings are good enough for most users, growing markets and shifting generational preferences make this type of consumer business model possible. Email is a tool nearly everyone uses daily, across devices, from their personal to work life — obviously.

Cap Table 113

Cap Table Finance Database Software 113

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

This leads to the second non-obvious thing about the profession: one has to have long-term faith in our ideas and approach to the market way in advance of real success. To the outside, all VC firms pitch founders on essentially the same product—there’s a range of check and fund sizes, wrapped in some kind of marketing.

Venture Capital 106

Venture Capital LP Cap Table Portfolio 106

Haystack

OCTOBER 2, 2019

Part of being a founder is simply about being able to finance the operation. Maybe an accelerator should take lower cap table ownership unless they deliver investors who convert? However, that doesn’t mean founders in those programs should assume their accelerator will help them land financing.

Deal Flow 106

Deal Flow Cap Table Early Stage Institutional Investors 106

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

Plus, if the business doesn’t raise enough the capital in the first round to become self-sustaining, the crowdfunding round’s cap table and/or terms may make the deal unattractive or not doable for follow-on, institutional investors. How to market your company as an investment. What kind of business is being launched?

Equity 100

Equity United Kingdom Cap Table Oklahoma 100

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 21, 2017

That’s because there’s no money in solving them (otherwise the market would have been solved already). We need massively successful companies like Facebook, and even Uber to generate growth, employment and the profits needed in the venture industry to finance the next generation of companies.

San Francisco 90

San Francisco Cap Table Angel Investor Valuation 90

Eric Friedman

JUNE 27, 2016

I have seen what I call “predatory advisors” come in and really mess up a cap table by promising big intros and sales contracts only to disappear after the first 6-12 months. Setting The Option Strike Price Above Fair Market Value. Remember when I talked about getting an advisor that can 10X a business?

Equity 98

Equity Vesting Cap Table Common Stock 98

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 2, 2010

That being said, is it me, or do more and more entrepreneurs seem to out there in the market essentially skipping the 500k-ish angel round? You try to do too much, overhire, overmarket, and you start to believe that your market is a landgrab. “We That doesn’t seem like a good reason to change your financing and product strategy over.

Cap Table 106

Cap Table Seed Stage .Net Venture Capital 106

David Teten

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

That said, venture capital is just one of many options to finance your business, and it’s typically the most expensive. The first step is to decide the right capital structure for your financing. These options provide you capital and also market validation for desire for your product. . Most important, reference checking.

SBIC 60

SBIC SBA Cap Table Database 60

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

15 years ago we were at the peak of Internet hype with the launch of many over-capitalized businesses with a market size & opportunity was limited. The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). But markets value high growth over short-term profitability. Where are we today?

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 24, 2014

It’s also nice to have some other deep pockets beside you in case things go wrong, or markets turn sour. This financing probably came out the Sequoia US Venture fund and Growth fund, which are separate entities, but I believe represent a pool of capital somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.2B. in mid 2013.

Cap Table 78

Cap Table Valuation Finance Institutional Investors 78

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 3, 2020

Diversification Finance 101 would tell you that, in the public market, you want to be in at least 20-30 names to eliminate a good chunk of the risk (as defined by the standard deviation of return) that you don’t actually get paid for. Less than that and you need something else to bring to the table. So is everyone else.

Portfolio 103

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Deal Flow 103