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. Pragmatic cost cuts are always possible and often productive.” Then use the down round to clean up your preference overhang.

Cap Table 70

Cap Table Down Round Liquidation Preference Founder 70

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I wonder whether LinkedIn’s stock market plunge in January 2016 might have a similar effect (to a lesser magnitude because the underlying company is still great). But it was a shock to the system to see such a beloved tech stock get so ravaged on valuation in a single day. Why Down Rounds are Harder Than You May Think.

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

www.quora.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Type to Add and Search Questions; Search Topics and People Startups Startup Compensation Entrepreneurship Compensation Stock Options Major Internet Companies Silicon Valley Why is there such a large founder to early employee equity drop-off? The risk to the entrepreneur is that he loses several tens of millions of dollars in opportunity cost.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

forward revenue for public comps (comparable stocks). We cut price and doubled down on an aggressive campaign to call back people who had been on the fence given the economic climate of prices dropping. FOMO was NOMO. As in no more. SaaS valuations had completely reverted to the mean and were now trading at 4.2x

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Valuation Forecast 150

David Teten

AUGUST 7, 2019

The second strategy is Value Investing , a strategy which “seeks to maximize returns by finding stocks that are undervalued by the market…Investors assess a stock’s intrinsic value…and compare that value with the stock price. Running your own analytics and sourcing process has real financial costs.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Valuation Stock NDA 60

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

If you’re wildly successful early on or if they help you achieve a great valuation they actually pay a significant price for their eventual stock even though they took much more risk than a future investor and backed you early. Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? A down round?

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

A lawyer I asked about it said: When the company goes public, the SEC will carefully study all prior issuances of stock by the company and demand that it take immediate action to cure any past violations of securities laws. Unfortunately,its impractical (if not illegal) to adjust the valuation of thecompany up and down for each investor.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

The same thing happened to many Internet stocks. In Silicon Valley boardrooms, where “growth at all costs” had been the mantra for many years, people began to imagine a world where the cost of capital could rise dramatically, and profits could come back in vogue. Late 2015 also brought the arrival of “mutual fund markdowns.”

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

If you’re wildly successful early on or if they help you achieve a great valuation they actually pay a significant price for their eventual stock even though they took much more risk than a future investor and backed you early. Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? A down round?

Liquidation Preference 153

Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet Stock 153

Reid Hoffman

JUNE 8, 2021

The burden [should] just be that we care; that if we learn something, we improve it, and that we don’t only use single output metrics and its growth at all costs. We took nearly 2% of the company’s stock, and we put it aside and we created, it was actually 9.2 A lot of times with creativity, you can do things that don’t cost money.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Hosting Rhode Island Design 69

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

As I’ve argued for ages there has to be a correlation between public tech stock valuations and private market valuations. 61% of VCs said valuations were “marginally down” in Q4 of 2015 but 91% expect price decreases in the next two quarters. Most flat rounds. More down rounds. So what happened?

LP 150

LP Valuation Burn Rate Pre-Money Valuation 150

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

When the need is high… For the rest of us, desiring to build large, valuable enterprises quickly, the need for outside capital is high on our list of requirements and even the source for some sleepless nights as we worry over the availability and cost of capital. These include Y-Combinator and TechStars, among others.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

For the rest of us desiring to build large, valuable enterprises quickly, the need for outside capital is high on our list of requirements and even the source for some sleepless nights as we worry over the availability and cost of capital. It is for this group that we explore the implications implicit in raising money for growth.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

Scalable Startup

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

All you need is for one of the new enterprise companies to completely whiff a quarter and their stock will collapse and then everybody will get all freaked out. We are already invested in these companies; we can’t sell our stock. We don’t have to sell our stock. People get confused about — it’s really funny watching the stock.

Software Review 22

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Stock 22

Reid Hoffman

JUNE 8, 2021

The burden [should] just be that we care; that if we learn something, we improve it, and that we don’t only use single output metrics and its growth at all costs. We took nearly 2% of the company’s stock, and we put it aside and we created, it was actually 9.2 A lot of times with creativity, you can do things that don’t cost money.

Silicon Valley 36

Silicon Valley Hosting Rhode Island Design 36

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2010

For the rest of us desiring to build large, valuable enterprises quickly, the need for outside capital is high on our list of requirements and even the source for some sleepless nights as we worry over the availability and cost of capital. Do not expect grand valuations of your enterprise from these professional angels.

Private Equity 69

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 69

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 18, 2015

Mutual funds have poured large amounts of capital into what they perceive as the next peer group of public companies and one insider described it to me as simply “buying their IPO allocations now since they will need to own the stock once it’s public.” 25% “down rounds? is pretty pathetic.

IPO 150

IPO Venture Capital LP SEC 150