venturehacks.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

The best sellers can sell to customers, partners, investors, and employees. Partner with someone who is irrationally ethical, or a rational believer that nice guys finish first. Building a great company without a partner is like raising kids without a… Nearly everything I’ve written on this topic applies to dating and marriage.

Cofounder 101

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 101

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

All of my partners at Upfront do. If you have 50 investors on your cap table – I’m sorry but you really don’t know what the f**k they’re telling people about your company or whom they’re tell it to. We fund 10-12 companies per year at Upfront where I’m a partner. I agree up to a point.

Cap Table 150

Cap Table Cofounder Silicon Valley Startup 150

VC Adventure

JULY 27, 2011

My partners and I all have blogs which I think are good indications of our varied personalities, but we also provide a list of references (CEOs, other portfolio execs, other people who know us well) for them to look into how we really are to work with. Aren’t there lawyers involved? How could they let this happen?

Technical Review 121

Technical Review Due Diligence Cap Table Distribution 121

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

Plus, your execs, the rest of your cap table, and your board often will have to deal with this person. The fact this industry is small is a feature, not a bug.

Venture Capital 81

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Memphis Cap Table 81

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. Similar to the explosion of seed funds in the past decade, we (and some limited partners too ) believe these Flexible VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem. 2-5x return cap + path to uncapped equity-returns.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 9, 2012

The idea started some time last year when Katherine McIntyre, my partner Ryan’s wife who is an excellent marathoner and triathlete, said “do you want to do a 50?” So I’ll consolidate the deeper emotional reflection into one post some time in the future. For now, here’s what I remember of the experience.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Cap Table Technical Review Partner 167

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

But in business, you want a lot of partners. In the private equity universe, most Partners have primary training as deal-makers, not as managers. See Bessemer Venture Partners’ A comprehensive guide to security for startups. Cobalt for General Partners helps GPs to optimize their fundraising strategy. 1) Manage the firm

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Your historical trading information including financials and a “customer file” which shows the history of your transactions so that investors can run “cohort” analyses Customer reference, personal references, key team members, compensation, cap table, stock option plan, etc. Some people find this elitist?—?I Entrepreneur : “Sure.

Cap Table 336

Cap Table Due Diligence Forecast Churn Rate 336

VC Adventure

OCTOBER 24, 2018

Also include your cap table, any board minutes you’re asking the board to approve as well as option grants and any other board business you’re planning on asking the board to consider in the meeting. Next up is how to run the meeting itself.

Design 91

Design Cap Table Email Operations 91

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 2, 2014

The acquiring company wants 100% of the proceeds to go to founders whatever the cap table says because buyers care way more about incentivizing and locking in founders than they do about VC returns or legal provisions to protect VCs. It’s not an easy question even thought there are industry standards.

Cap Table 346

Cap Table Cofounder Stock Acquisition 346

techcrunch.com

APRIL 26, 2013

AngelList also partnered with SecondMarket to create an investment vehicle for these investments. That way, startups only have one entity in the cap table, which simplifies documentation and structure. European M-Payments Startup SumUp Partners With Revel Systems, An iPad POS Provider, For Its Push Into Europe.

SEC 61

SEC Accredited Investor San Diego New York City 61

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 11, 2023

HW: In 2021 you partnered with growth firm TPG to bring them on as your primary investor, which I assume gave your current venture capital partners a chance to at least partially exit the business. We ended up partnering with two different funds at TPG; the TPG Growth Fund and the RISE Fund. I will finish here.

Private Equity 90

Private Equity Equity DC Leveraged Buyout 90

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

Assuming you’re working for a particular partner or a specific coverage team, pick something that is of great value to you partner and can be performed repeatedly. Pick something that is matched against the stage and markets you partner is investing in and just become the go-to person for the founders.

Venture Capital 91

Venture Capital Cap Table Founder Cofounder 91

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 21, 2023

It’s this part: “I’m getting inbound from investors…” Nearly all of the inbound VC interest happening out there is from non-partner investors (i.e. A check-writing partner reaches out to you. But back to the cap table. Here’s why VC’s don’t actually care about your prior cap table in most circumstances.

Cap Table 78

Cap Table Term Sheet Database Option Pool 78

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Just as with any company, the most important issue is the team; see “ How to Negotiate a Partner Role at a Venture Capital or Private Equity Firm “ . We also use Carta , which specializes in cap table management and has just launched a fund administration service which we have transitioned to.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Just as with any company, the most important issue is the team; see “ How to Negotiate a Partner Role at a Venture Capital or Private Equity Firm “ . We also use Carta , which specializes in cap table management and has just launched a fund administration service which we have transitioned to.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

Steve Blank

APRIL 8, 2010

Then they had a five-year P&L statement, balance sheet, cash flow and cap table. And it shows your company’s cost structures, how each department interacts with the others and where your company can work with other companies or partners to implement your business. It was an exquisitely crafted plan.

Business Model 332

Business Model Business Plan Customer Cap Table 332

www.readwriteweb.com

DECEMBER 29, 2011

If you're early in the investment process, a small angel round or partnering with an accelerator may be the best approach. Next, if you are going to raise a round, find one or two partners to do it with. Remember, once you screw up your cap table it's really hard to go back. Tip 2: Have A Real Lead.

Cap Table 47

Cap Table Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Technical Review 47

www.informationarbitrage.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Home About Press IA Capital Partners Archives After 17 years in M&A, Derivatives and Trading, Im spending my time with young entrepreneurs in and around financial technology and digital media. So why do inexperienced (as entrepreneurs), ultra-skilled CTOs fall into the trap of engaging a business partner too early? Lack of confidence?

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Founder Cap Table Vesting 40

The Startup Toolkit

AUGUST 29, 2012

If you aren’t taken seriously by customers & partners , a highly credible industry advisor will be able to open every door for you. You probably don’t need to get the cap table involved in that. Just adding their stamp of approval to your pitch can make a world of difference.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review CTO Hire Cap Table Software Review 38

NZ Entrepreneur

DECEMBER 18, 2022

Commercialisation offices take a flexible approach to cap tables structures “We have a mandate to create impact from university research through commercialisation, so we are laser focused on setting new ventures up for success. Naturally, seeking investment once a company is ready to spin-out is a key part of that,” says Pierre.

Cap Table 52

Cap Table Technical Cofounder Artificial Inteligence Marketing 52

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

(written by Philipp von dem Knesebeck , Managing Partner, Blue Future Partners (bluefp.com, @bluefutureteam ), and David Teten ). Based on this paper, Blue Future Partners and PEVCTech recently completed a large-scale survey to find out which tools are most commonly used by venture capital firms.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

In 2019 we partnered with several revenue-based lending providers, effectively creating a marketplace. “. We collect more data on an individual business than, to our knowledge, any other RBI investor, through our application process, data partners, and various public sources online. Bigfoot Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

This is pulled from NextView’s board deck resource, which was compiled using a combination of real startup board decks and input from NextView’s founding partners: Rob Go , David Beisel , and Lee Hower. Here’s an exact, step-by-step breakdown of how we’d recommend structuring it.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Previous venture firms’ specific involvement on the cap table should be noted here, though. My partner Rob has previously written some thoughts on how to approach that conversation. For example, stating “angels” is fine, and even highlighting notable names can be useful, but it’s unnecessary to share an exhaustive list.

Cap Table 211

Cap Table Seed Stage Valuation Dilution 211

View from Seed

MAY 29, 2019

But taken to the extreme, you would have rounds with only one lead and almost no one else on the cap table. Some funds have elaborate platforms or staff to support founders at this stage, but I’ve actually found that the most valuable asset for founders is the time, energy, and capabilities of their lead partner.

Syndication 267

Syndication Syndicate Cofounder Cap Table 267

Board Effect

MAY 10, 2019

Capitalization tables—”cap tables” for those who don’t have time for extra syllables—map the balance of power in a company. If org charts are about people power , cap tables are about money power. In reality, however, cap tables are often far more complex. What is a cap table?

Cap Table 40

Cap Table Liquidation Preference Dilution Liquidity Event 40

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

PEVCTech is partnering with Blue Future Partners to run the first large-scale survey of VCs’ technology stack. Johann Kratzer of Blue Future Partners , a fund of funds, observed, “The majority of the hundreds of funds we’ve diligenced rely predominantly on their relationships to source deals. Greylock Partners.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Version One Ventures

MAY 22, 2018

If you find yourself in the fortunate position of being oversubscribed, you’ll likely look to build the best investor base and find the right partners for your journey. How do you decide who you should have in your cap table? How do all the partners of the fund feel? What is important to you? What’s the investor’s thesis?

Cap Table 60

Cap Table Cofounder Syndication Syndicate 60

Genuine VC

MAY 20, 2013

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. More importantly, a handful of VCs are indeed truly engaged supportive partners with entrepreneurs in building their businesses.

Venture Capital 244

Venture Capital Cap Table Portfolio Early Stage 244

VC Adventure

JULY 27, 2011

My partners and I all have blogs which I think are good indications of our varied personalities, but we also provide a list of references (CEOs, other portfolio execs, other people who know us well) for them to look into how we really are to work with. Aren’t there lawyers involved? How could they let this happen?

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Due Diligence Cap Table Distribution 48

The Next Web

OCTOBER 21, 2013

Neil Rimer is a Partner and co-founder of Index Ventures. In these cases, the equation is basically unsolvable and doing a round with a venture investor risks entangling the founders in endless meetings and conference calls with their angel backers to find a compromise that will allow them essentially to rewrite their cap table.

Cap Table 128

Cap Table Option Pool Angel Investor Entrepreneur 128

Ben's Blog

APRIL 1, 2011

I remember when I first became CEO, an investor asked me to send him the “cap table.” My partner Scott Weiss relayed that it’s so common that there is an acronym for it: WFIO which stands for We’re F#%ked, It’s Over (it’s pronounced whiff-ee-yo). Whenever I see Jason, I like to say: “welcome to the show.”.

Management 78

Management Cap Table Balance Sheet Bankruptcy 78

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Partnering with a source of capital, connections, and expertise for a large equity chunk is often worth it in those scenarios (e.g., I spoke with Thatcher Bell , Managing Partner, CoVenture. We know it’s important to keep the cap table clean, and we want to focus on where/when we add value and then get out of the way.

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

The most serious unintended consequence occurs from “note waterfalls”— converting multiple notes that have multiple valuation caps. Many entrepreneurs lose track of what they have been cooking up in the cap table. They do not recognize that they may have already contractually sold a meaningful portion of equity in their company.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

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.

Dilution 314

Dilution Cap Table Due Diligence Option Pool 314

Hunter Walker

JULY 20, 2019

While this hasn’t happened to any of our portfolio CEOs in a while, there’s one reason for a VC passing on a funding round that just sets me off: “I wanted to do the deal but couldn’t convince my partners.” c) You never believed in the first place, and are blaming your partners versus just passing.

Partner 95

Partner Cap Table Vertical Portfolio 95