VC Cafe

JANUARY 30, 2023

It’s also worth checking YC’s series A due diligence checklist. A data room is a secure repository of information that is shared with potential investors during due diligence. Today, I want to share another resource that is a bit underrated – the data room.

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Due Diligence Cap Table Startup 79

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

While certainly not every business needs to raise venture financing, it is the path for many high-growth technology startups. Therefore, going down the fundraising path is something many technology entrepreneurs will need to do and a critical step in the development of their business.

Cap Table 125

Cap Table Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Technical Review 125

venturehacks.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

He can be technical, but he must be able to wield the tools of influence. What you don’t know Business founders who don’t code use bad proxies for picking technical co-founders (&# 10 years with Java!&# ). Technical founders who don’t sell also use bad proxies (&# Harvard MBA!&# ).

Cofounder 101

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 101

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Another critical design consideration is your tech stack. On Copper (our deal board), a due date of two business days is automatically set for us to review the opportunity. We also have created a proprietary tool, Oasys, which programmatically identifies very high-caliber technical teams. 6) Due diligence.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Another critical design consideration is your tech stack. On Copper (our deal board), a due date of two business days is automatically set for us to review the opportunity. We also have created a proprietary tool, Oasys, which programmatically identifies very high-caliber technical teams. 6) Due diligence.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Much has changed in the past four months of the technology startup world and how outsiders value the business. If you need to clean up your own cap table first – while very hard to do – it will make outside funding easier. New investors often prefer to back newer companies that have never been through this drama.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Startup Dilution 150

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

VCs are at the forefront of technological disruption, funding many of the latest cutting edge productivity tools. Clint Korver, Partner at Ulu Ventures , remarked: “I’d compare this technology transformation as akin to what happened in public company investing. But what tools are they using themselves to automate their own processes?

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

Know your industry’s standards and keep a controlled cap table. In the eleventh hour of the due diligence process, we discovered a one-page agreement between a company founder (before incorporation) and a consultant, promising the latter 5% of the company’s capital. Think of the shares in your company as your currency.

Technical Review 90

Technical Review Cap Table Due Diligence Non-Compete 90

ithacaVC

DECEMBER 9, 2013

So our diligence and exploration process took us 4 months. The diligence involved us learning a great deal about Company X’s industry because we have not done a deal in this space previously. It involved Company X finding a technology lead during our process. First, the process: 1. It is now mid December.

Term Sheet 58

Term Sheet Cap Table Technical Review IP 58

Hunter Walker

MAY 17, 2024

“Admirer from outside of the cap table” is how I approached Kieran Snyder , Cofounder of Textio. I was publishing quite a bit of original research about bias in workplace documents like performance reviews and job posts, a bunch of it went viral, and I got to know a lot of people who eventually became Textio customers.

Cofounder 131

Cofounder Founder Technical Review Seattle 131

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

Here’s Part II: While the venture and tech community is incredibly collaborative, VC is an inherently lonely role. From the outside, VC looks like a glamorous gig – you get to prognosticate about technology all day and write million-dollar checks. Reporting out in batches of five. It’s a sales job!

Venture Capital 87

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Memphis Cap Table 87

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Our categorization is not a technical one. Additionally, Flexible VC can accommodate all types of companies, not just asset-lite, tech-enabled companies.”. Early-stage: Cofounder with engineering/ product background from top-tier university or major technology company. Technology-centric businesses. Minimum requirements.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 9, 2012

It was a technical trail run – not the hardest I’d been on, but there were some gnarly parts. Every now and then Kelly would say something to jolt me out of my stupor – one that I remember was “Do you want to talk about cap tables for a little while?”

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Cap Table Technical Review Partner 167

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

VCs tout themselves as frontier technology investors, but most are using the same infrastructure tools they have used for the past 20+ years: Excel and recent college grads searching Google. According to Knowledge.VC , under 5% of US VCs have a full-time team member focused on technology. . But we’re doing it slowly.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Eric Friedman

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

I have been on both sides of the cap table of advisors. I caution everyone to use the questions and diligence techniques provided here to make sure there is a fit for both sides. They can help with technical challenges they have faced. I have seen some good things and some bad things, and some things in between.

Early Stage 103

Early Stage Equity Vesting Cap Table 103

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Since 2017 we’ve managed $3 million in revenue-based financing, which helps cash-strapped technology companies grow. Investment Criteria: B2B SaaS or tech-enabled services with proven, recurring contracts. We have reviewed the application process of other RBI lenders and have not found one that has more API connections that ours.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

VC Adventure

JULY 27, 2011

Before Foundry makes an investment we perform extensive due diligence. While this process varies, we’re always diligent before entering into what we view as a long term partnership with the company. One of those recently sold off a significant piece of technology for quite a bit money.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Due Diligence Cap Table Distribution 48

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

I wassurprised recently when I realized that all the worst problems wefaced in our startup were due not to competitors, but investors.Dealing with competitors was easy by comparison. Angels whove made money in technology are preferable,for two reasons: they understand your situation, and theyre asource of contacts and advice.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

adamac.blogspot.com

MARCH 9, 2010

If youre highly technical and drive the technology vision of the company, people will get it without you tacking on the CTO title. Maybe the CEO got his cousin from Omaha to be their lawyer or theres been some serious messing around with the cap table. This means there MUST be a technical founder in a startup.

Technical Review 41

Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup 41

The Startup Toolkit

AUGUST 29, 2012

You don’t need to collect the full set (tech, industry, product, customer, etc). If the founding team is non-technical and you can’t figure out whether you are being screwed by your developers or whether your potential new CTO is amazing, a tech advisor can help by joining you in interviews and reviewing commits.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review CTO Hire Cap Table Software Review 38

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

You’ve got a great idea and domain expertise, but limited money and insufficient technology resources. They’re well aware of the conventional VC bias against funding companies which externally develop their technology, but they do have relevant skills. Should you co-found your company with a software development shop?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Small Business Labs, from Emergent Research , covers the key social, technology and business trends impacting small business. New Communications Review. Interest in this waned when the Internet bust resulted in most tech start-up equity becoming worthless, but it seems to be coming back. Most tech start-ups fail.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

LegalVision employs technology to streamline legal processes, making high-quality legal services more efficient and cost-effective for various industries including tech, retail, and manufacturing. LegalVision’s membership includes unlimited contract drafting, amendment and review.

Intellectual Property 52

Intellectual Property Cap Table Technical Review New Zealand 52

techcrunch.com

APRIL 26, 2013

That way, startups only have one entity in the cap table, which simplifies documentation and structure. First Hands-On With The Incident Tech GTar. HTC One Review. Also on AOL Tech. More on Engadget , TUAW , Joystiq , HuffPost Tech. Google Crashes Facebook Home's Easy. More in Gadgets. with a $3 sale.

SEC 61

SEC Accredited Investor San Diego New York City 61

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

These are people that didn’t make their money through a tech startup or startup investing. Some of these folks are founders and CEOs, but not at high-growth tech startups. This is a business and the goal should be to get the best people at every position, regardless of their position on the cap table.

.Net 88

.Net Cap Table Startup Technical Review 88

Altgate

JUNE 25, 2012

Instead, the dead equity languishes on the cap table, weighing down the startup and making it harder to attract and motivate the people who could impact its growth. Facebook’s situation is far from unique, even among recent tech IPOs. A Significant – and Growing – Problem. Anticipating and Avoiding the Dead-Equity Pitfalls.

Equity 44

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 44

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

There are many ways to measure technical skills and check work histories and achievements, but assessment of team chemistry is a high art form. 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

www.readwriteweb.com

DECEMBER 29, 2011

While certainly not every business needs to raise venture financing, it is the path for many high-growth technology startups. Therefore, going down the fundraising path is something many technology entrepreneurs will need to do and is a critical step in the development of their business.

Cap Table 47

Cap Table Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Technical Review 47

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

Andrew Krowne and I recently co-wrote an article in Tech Crunch , Why SAFE Notes Are Not Safe for Entrepreneurs. 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.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Covenant Cap Table 49

venturehacks.com

MARCH 21, 2008

You need an agreement from day one that protects the company by: (a) indicating that anything that advisor provides to you (written amterials, technical assistance) belongs to the company, and (b) representing that the provision of advisory services does not breach or interfere with any other commitmetn of the advisor. Learn more.

Advisory Board 44

Advisory Board Cap Table Vesting Equity 44

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2012

Another VC called the co-founder & tech head – Parker Harris. They want to see your cap table, your legal documents, your major contracts, your full financial model, etc. ” Heading into a Term Sheet – Final Due Diligence. He forwarded an annoyed email to my main contact at Salesforce.

Technical Review 316

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Cap Table 316

keen.io

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

I recently left my job as a technical consulting manager and joined my best friends and my fiancé, Kyle, at Keen.io (I wrote about that here ). This time, I was looking more closely at Keen’s cap table and various financial events, like raising Series A, becoming profitable, and company acquisition. Follow @michellewetzler.

Salary 50

Salary Equity Startup San Francisco 50

Altgate

AUGUST 25, 2012

Instead, the dead equity languishes on the cap table, weighing down the startup and making it harder to attract and motivate the people who could impact its growth. Facebook’s situation is far from unique, even among recent tech IPOs. A Significant – and Growing – Problem. Anticipating and Avoiding the Dead-Equity Pitfalls.

Equity 28

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 28

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

In late 2015, many public technology companies saw a significant retrenchment in their share prices primarily as a result of a reduction in valuation multiples. In Q1 of 2016 there were zero VC-backed technology IPOs. You can no longer simply look at the cap table and estimate your return.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2020

Eric Ries : You're not like a lot of other tech folks. Eric Ries : And pretty unusual among tech platforms, if we're being honest. That's not usually the way that tech companies have thought about people they derisively call users. Now a cynical host would say, "Well that was my money that was due to me." I can't travel.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Hosting Cofounder Employee 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 4, 2021

Brian is the CEO of Coinbase, a successful tech company, and one of 2021's most successful IPOs. The company's market cap at the time of their entry into the public markets topped $100 billion dollars. I don't see any big tech companies that have great cultures that are doing fully remote. But I couldn't get it out of my head.

IPO 113

IPO Cofounder Technical Review Government 113

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

A typical VC thesis: “we invest in tech startups in Europe at an early stage” However, our experience shows that in many cases: . “Tech” means B2B Saas/Fintech or Consumer apps. Technical” Companies (i.e. any mention of a focus on tech companies). Technical founders . Occurrences.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital B2B 78