Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

After the recent announcement of the Series Seed Financing documents by Marc Andreesen, Brad Feld points out that there are now four sets of “open source&# equity seed financing documents: TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents (by Cooley). Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). under $500K).

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Many of the start-ups my various angel funds have financed died a slow death , not because of poor concept but because of poor execution, wasting fixed overhead and draining the financial resources from the company coffers. And professional investors often penalize the company with lower-priced down rounds or expensive loans as a result.

Silicon Valley 118

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 118

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

And there are many reasons why a not-as-blue-chip investor would be in a company with real promise: prior relationships he has with the entrepreneur, specific domain expertise/understanding of a sector, capital requirements for the business, or other dynamics around the round (price, hustle).

Startup 146

Startup Burn Rate Technical Review Down Round 146

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2017

Many of the start-ups my various angel funds have financed died a slow death, not because of poor concept but because of poor execution, wasting fixed overhead and draining the financial resources from the company coffers. And professional investors often penalize the company with lower-priced down rounds or expensive loans as a result.

Silicon Valley 97

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 97

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 26, 2020

If you are building a startup, you’ll find no shortage of people who are willing to give you advice, particularly when it comes to raising financing. For some entrepreneurs, raising financing can seem like a full time job, particularly in these trying times. Unfortunately, much of this advice is wrong. Well not, wrong exactly.

Finance 205

Finance Silicon Valley Valuation Startup 205

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

At an accelerator … Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago. A down round?

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Steve Blank

APRIL 26, 2022

For existing investors, sometimes it was a “pay-to-play” i.e. if you don’t participate in the new financing you lose. A cram down is different than a down round. A down round is when a company raises money at valuation that is lower than the company’s valuation in its prior financing round.

Cram Down 417

Cram Down Founder Venture Capital Recapitalization 417

Berkonomics

MARCH 30, 2010

Many of the start-ups my various angel funds have financed died a slow death, not because of poor concept but because of poor execution, wasting fixed overhead and draining the final resources from the company coffers. . Email readers continue here.]

Silicon Valley 85

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 85

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 7, 2012

As Cuban pointed out, this is a “down round” Zomm is seeking $2M for 10% of the company, implying an $18M pre money valuation today. The company likely will run out of money well before it hits its projected Q4 sales ramp, which is why it needs an emergency financing today. The entrepreneur was clearly desperate.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 110

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

If you are facing any problem you can always check out this: Business Loan vs. Equity Financing. But, in subsequent rounds of funding inflated valuation will be normalized resulting in a down round. You might have seen that valuations of several unicorns were suddenly slashed down. Inception stage.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

I watched, participated, and suffered through every type of creative financing as companies were struggling to raise capital in this time frame. I suffered through the next financing after implementing a complex structure, or a sale of the company, or a liquidation. Then, if you end up doing a down round, it suddenly matters a lot.

Cap Table 70

Cap Table Down Round Liquidation Preference Founder 70

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

As the company grows and the second or third group of investors comes in, the terms of each subsequent financing grow in size, scope, and the number of lawyers’ fingerprints on them. These “IV drip” financings may reduce risk for investors, but put more pressure on founders. Anti-dilution protection.

Term Sheet 227

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Post-Money Valuation 227

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2012

As the company grows and the second or third group of investors comes in, the terms of each subsequent financing grow in size, scope, and the number of lawyers’ fingerprints on them. These “IV drip” financings may reduce risk for investors, but put more pressure on founders. Anti-dilution protection.

Term Sheet 223

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Angel Investor 223

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

What micro VCs need to consider is what happens when several of your companies want to grow and require VC financing? Or when the economy turns downward and they all need financing extensions? You have to be careful about “getting ahead of yourself&# or you make the next financing more difficult.

Silicon Valley 308

Silicon Valley Liquidity Event Seed Stage Finance 308

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Why the Unicorn Financing Market Just Became Dangerous…For All Involved. By the first quarter of 2016, the late-stage financing market had changed materially. Investors were becoming nervous and were no longer willing to underwrite new Unicorn-level financings at the drop of a hat.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 22, 2010

The survey looks at the valuations and the terms of financing for over 100 technology companies in Silicon Valley that reported raising capital in the third quarter of this year. According to Barry Kramer, a partner in the firm and a co-author of the survey, during the third quarter, "up rounds exceeded down rounds 52% to 30% with 18% flat.

Silicon Valley 115

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Valuation Down Round 115

Gust

OCTOBER 17, 2011

As the company grows and the second or third group of investors comes in, the terms of each subsequent financing grow in size, scope, and the number of lawyers’ fingerprints on them. These “IV drip” financings may reduce risk for investors, but put more pressure on founders. Anti-dilution protection.

Term Sheet 158

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Angel Investor 158

VC Cafe

JANUARY 2, 2023

On a global level, venture financing of private companies dropped 33% year over year, from a record $733B in 2021 to $490B in 2022. Down rounds, especially for growth stage companies, and bridge rounds galore. We started to see down rounds taking place especially in growth stage. ” Fred Wilson.

Valuation 158

Valuation Down Round Israel Venture Capital 158

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago. It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs.

Liquidation Preference 153

Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet Stock 153

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

.” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. They point to some widely known facts: financings & valuations are up massively over the past 7 years and non-VC money has entered the system.

LP 150

LP Valuation Burn Rate Pre-Money Valuation 150

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 22, 2014

Investors who paid up for your financing are not happy. You fall into the spiral of death: head of sales gets replaced (at least once), CEO gets replaced (at least once), a down-round financing happens (if lucky).

Venture Capital 102

Venture Capital Down Round Valuation Lean 102

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

But if you’re a seed investor and you’re worried that the A-round won’t get done if your post-money is too high you suddenly start paying less. Why Financing in Falling Markets is So Damn Difficult. Why Down Rounds are Harder Than You May Think. Down rounds are hard. And so it goes.

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

Ben's Blog

JULY 16, 2013

When you go to fundraise, you will need to consider the possibility of a valuation lower than the valuation of your last round, i.e., the dreaded down round. Down rounds are bad and hit founders disproportionately hard, but they are not as bad as bankruptcy. Yes, we did a down round.

Down Round 73

Down Round Marketing Preferred Stock Post-Money Valuation 73

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

The typical wisdom regarding the appropriate financing course for a new company goes as follows: 1. This venture capital financing - usually between $3 and $10 million - is the first of a number of rounds of outside investment over a period of three to five years.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

Great companies get financed. Most investors still believe in the winner-take-most attributes of a market and Invoca’s financing will in itself help act as a continued moat as smaller competitors will struggle to match our R&D pace or to globalize as we take our platform abroad.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Valuation Forecast 150

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

That wasn't a bubble bursting issue--that was a poor financing strategy issue of people getting caught with their pants down, hands in the cookie jar, and all the metaphors you can think of at once. If you're doing seed deals, how often does a down round in a seed deal even happen? Down from what?

Later Stage 99

Later Stage Down Round Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 99

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

So in companies with high burn rates you can find the following: Seed funds wanting to sell the company / get a return or growth investors pushing for a recap or massive down round. I’ve seen this a bunch in the past 12 months. Lack of Conviction / Follow Through.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Burn Rate LP 150

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 8, 2023

Restructures, Down Rounds, and Pay to Plays. The reality is lots of companies – many of them quite promising – have already undergone, or will be facing, next financings which “clean up” old cap tables. Whatever gets reported is just the tip of the iceberg.

Portfolio 116

Portfolio Cap Table LP Valuation 116

Berkonomics

APRIL 6, 2012

If so, the VC will contemplate a “down round” – that is: offering an investment where previous investors find their investments instantly worth less than their original value, even if the investments were made at high risk and years earlier.

Limited Liability Company 79

Limited Liability Company Post-Money Valuation Valuation Down Round 79

ithacaVC

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

Hopefully, it’s in high demand for good reasons, otherwise you risk a down round in the future. The latter won’t be enough money to grow and without the capital to grow, could risk failing or a down round. Don’t risk a down round. Map out multiple stages of financing. Accelerator.

Valuation 69

Valuation Startup Down Round Early Stage 69

OnlyOnce

JANUARY 18, 2022

I lived one of my favorite metaphors last week as we announced the closing of Bolster’s Series B financing and had our first post-round Board meeting, and I realized I’ve never blogged about it before: that raising rounds of financing is like having a good night at the blackjack table.

Down Round 62

Down Round .Net Finance Startup 62

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 21, 2016

Bill Gurley wrote an incredible post yesterday titled On the Road to Recap: Why the unicorn financing market just became dangerous … for all involved. Also, they have a strong belief that any sign of weakness (such as a down round) will have a catastrophic impact on their culture, hiring process, and ability to retain employees.

Marketing 70

Marketing Down Round Startup IRR 70

www.quora.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Even if your company succeeds, there is absolutely no guarantee your equity will not be wiped out in a down round. Even better, executives will negotiate the acquisition price of their company down; in exchange for a larger amount of post-acquisition retentio n equity and accelerated vesting.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40

The Equity Kicker

JULY 9, 2015

I’ve been here before too, when implementing anti-dilution clauses after down-rounds. And we still have to get all parties to understand and buy into our spreadsheet so it isn’t over yet. It shouldn’t be necessary.

Dilution 60

Dilution Down Round Finance Software 60

ithacaVC

FEBRUARY 23, 2012

Luckily, I am not in charge of the internal finance function at our fund. My easy solution for VC firms would be to mark up or down the valuation of investments based only on new independently led outside rounds of financing. While not as bad as water boarding, this exercise always makes my stomach turn.

Valuation 49

Valuation Institutional Investors Marketing Down Round 49