View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

7 Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make in VC Pitches and How to Fix Them “Different partners in a VC firm are different. Entrepreneurs should know their audience, and most importantly, how savvy it is about the company’s particular market segment.” Magic Graph: How Much Seed Capital Should You Raise?

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Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

Agile VC

DECEMBER 4, 2014

As a result, one of the trickier things co-founders tackle is determining the equity split amongst the founding group of individuals. Across both the startups I’ve personally been involved in (PayPal and LinkedIn) and the startups in which I’ve been an investor, I’ve seen a broad range of co-founder equity splits.

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Cofounder Equity Founder Sweat Equity 173

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

In a world of pre-seeds , seeds, seed extensions, super-seeds , and more, figuring out the right amount to raise for a startup’s seed round can seem like a moving target. Conventional VC wisdom says entrepreneurs should raise 18 months of runway. The post How Much Seed Capital Should You Actually Raise?

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Seed Capital Seed Stage Demand Finance 120

Feld Thoughts

JULY 29, 2011

Finance Friday’s gets off the ground with today’s post by introducing you to an imaginary startup, the entrepreneurs that we’ll being following throughout the series, and their first challenges: splitting up the founders’ equity and addressing the case where one of the founders provides the initial seed capital for the business.

Equity 138

Equity Finance Denver Pre-Money Valuation 138

David Teten

JULY 10, 2019

pre-launch, BIG equity, big peeps involved–ANY TIPS?? Do you have a great team at your seed startup, but your product just isn’t working? I am only interested in talking with people who want to work full-time on this, once we have raised capital (or ideally before). And how do you split the equity? Sounds great!

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

David Teten

MAY 7, 2019

I am only interested in talking with people who want to work full-time on this, once we have raised capital (or ideally before). The CEO is ideally a successful serial entrepreneur who has taken a startup all the way to an exit. We agree on an equity split, vesting, and initial compensation structure. This work is unpaid.

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. It’s true that angel investors typically do not present entrepreneurs with overly complicated deal structures, especially when compared to venture capitalists. Define equity type.

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2012

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an Angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. It’s true that Angel investors typically do not present entrepreneurs with overly complicated deal structures, especially when compared to venture capitalists. Define equity type.

Term Sheet 223

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Angel Investor 223

Gust

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

The most successful serial entrepreneurs in the world may found three or four, perhaps even eight or ten venture-backed startups over the course of their careers. A group led by Ted Wang is trying to change that with the innovative Series Seed documents , which I’ll discuss in a future post.) There are two principal reasons.

Finance 178

Finance Term Sheet Preferred Stock Bridge Financing 178

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 15, 2013

Provide some sort of seed capital to their founders. Take a small amount of equity (usually ~6%) and overall have terms that are favorable to entrepreneurs. Have a strong management team who are typically proven entrepreneurs. Take no less than 5 and no more than 12 companies at a time.

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Global Networking United States Seed Money 184

Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2013

It is a high net-worth individual who invests his or her own money directly into promising startup businesses in return for mostly equity share of the company. Angels are often former or current entrepreneurs themselves, as well as business professionals and corporate leaders. What is an angel investor? What is an angel group?

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Angel Groups Angel Investor Software Review Accredited Investor 40

Growthink Blog

MAY 10, 2012

When seeking equity investments, the source of capital is, for the most part, tied to the stage of capital being raised. You see, equity capital is raised in stages or rounds. Pre-Seed Funding 2. Seed Funding 3. The five main stages include the following: 1. Series C, D, etc.

Equity 88

Equity Mezzanine Later Stage Venture Capital 88

Gust

OCTOBER 17, 2011

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. It’s true that angel investors typically do not present entrepreneurs with overly complicated deal structures, especially when compared to venture capitalists. Define equity type.

Term Sheet 158

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Angel Investor 158

The Startup Lawyer

OCTOBER 9, 2010

But this morning I read a Dallas Business Journal article that I found amusing: A new accelerator is planning to invest $200,000 and provide up to 45,000 square feet of office space to about 10 mobile app startups in exchange for 15-20% equity in each startup. (a) a) That’s $20,000 per startup for a 15%-20% equity stake.

Dallas 91

Dallas Seed Capital Incubator Post-Money Valuation 91

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. In contrast, Josh was an experienced entrepreneur who had started several companies and likely learned his lessons through experience.

Balance Sheet 137

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 137

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

Raising Seed Capital. Most startup founders do not have enough capital to launch their companies and need to raise money at some point. Since investment in a startup is risky and most people are reluctant to contribute funds, startup entrepreneurs can use different ways to make funding from FFF look less risky.

Finance 93

Finance Accredited Investor Angel Investor Seed Capital 93

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 28, 2017

Instead I will make a few observations about how an investor might think about the impact of ICOs / token launches on the venture capital industry, in particular, and some of the downstream ramifications that need to wrestled with. Need for growth capital. Shift of value from equity holders to token holders. Fuzzy Governance.

Early Stage 20

Early Stage Equity Venture Capital Government 20

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 28, 2017

Instead I will make a few observations about how an investor might think about the impact of ICOs / token launches on the venture capital industry, in particular, and some of the downstream ramifications that need to wrestled with. Need for growth capital. Shift of value from equity holders to token holders. Fuzzy Governance.

Early Stage 20

Early Stage Equity Venture Capital Government 20

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

We want to create the go-to hub for entrepreneurs and startup teams going from zero to one in absolutely anything important. – Original Research: Should we take Harvard MBA entrepreneurs seriously? (A – Flowchart: Seed VC Decision Tree (how one seed investor gets to yes or no). A study of classes 08-14).

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Seed Stage Seed Capital Syndicate Syndication 120

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 12, 2016

Most businesses – online or offline, need seed capital to get established and without access to these funds, launching a business can seem like an improbable dream. Sometimes, even the smaller component you want to kick-start your startup with can require capital investment and this does not have to come from a seed investor.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Sweat Equity Startup Seed Capital 100

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

An entrepreneur starts a company in classic " bootstrap " fashion - with a combination of sweat equity and their own financial resources. The angel then introduces the entrepreneur to his or her wealthy friends and business connections who, based on the good reputation of the referring angel, also invest.

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Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 20, 2019

Often entrepreneurs and business owners create their daily, weekly, quartely or yearly goals around their business. We asked entrepreneurs to share their BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) and here are the insightful responses. #1- A lot of great entrepreneurs who start here almost never end here. Photo Credit: Paige Arnof-Fenn.

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Papua New Guinea Hawaii Churn Rate Advisory Board 89

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2021

For many fledgling entrepreneurs, trying to start up their own business can be an admittedly exhausting and arduous task. Not only are they trying to get their inspired endeavor up and running, but they also are struggling to acquire the much-needed capital to actually successfully fund the startup. Crowdfunding.

Security 92

Security Finance Angel Investor Incubator 92

Gust

OCTOBER 5, 2011

In case it isn’t clear by now, angel investors aren’t in the business of making risky early stage investments in order to earn 6% interest on their money, or even 10%— the upside is all in conversion to equity—so the interest rate isn’t a major point of negotiation. These deal terms are simple but significant.

Finance 79

Finance Preferred Stock Term Sheet Early Stage 79

Feld Thoughts

JULY 14, 2015

A company raises $1m of seed money from angels in a convertible note with a $6m cap. Assuming equity is raised at or above that cap, the total dilution, before the new money, is 16.6% (equivalent to an equity financing of $1m at a $6m post money valuation. Here’s the scenario. ” They are running out of money.

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Recapitalization Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Angel Investor 70

Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 10, 2013

The most important principle of startup fundraising that every entrepreneur needs to know is: raise enough capital to achieve a set of milestones that will allow the company to attract the next round of investment. The Milestones Angel Investors Care About. Founding Team, Key Hires, Advisory Board. Market Validation.

Angel Investor 55

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Seed Capital Advisory Board 55

Steve Blank

JULY 20, 2015

Today he is the founder of M34 Capital , a seed capital fund that focuses on early-stage projects being spun out of academic and corporate research labs. Up until then] the capstone class – meaning the best class you could take for being an entrepreneur in a university – was how to write a business plan.

Government 120

Government Channel Southern California Lean 120

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

Survival or Establishment Stage: Once initial seed capital is drying up and no profit has yet been earned, the challenge for a social enterprise will be to expand the customer base and increase the market penetration while preserving capital.

Subordinated Debt 45

Subordinated Debt Seed Capital Equity Finance 45

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

How To Allocate Friends & Family Startup Capital. The most important principle of startup fundraising that every entrepreneur needs to know is: raise enough capital to achieve a set of milestones that will allow the company to attract the next round of investment. Market Validation.

Intellectual Property 55

Intellectual Property Advisory Board Startup Seed Capital 55

Austin Startup

APRIL 28, 2019

I put that in quotations, because, as I’ll expound, there is a start-up industrial complex that is designed to fleece novice founders from their seed capital with predatory fees, terms, etc. Some accelerators take equity in exchange for providing services like desk space, credit on cloud services, or “free” consulting.

Incubator 50

Incubator Equity Programming Cloud 50

Campus Entrepreneurship

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

million jobs in the three quarters ended in March, 15% less than in the first three quarters of the last recovery, when investors and entrepreneurs were still digging their way out of the Internet bust. The article highlights some bootstrapping entrepreneurs who are, by necessity, taking longer to grow their new ventures.

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Bootstrapping Seed Capital Lean Global 31

www.thestartup.eu

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Posted by Stefano Bernardi On June - 21 - 2010 It’s a known fact that seed capital is very scarce in Italy. Entrepreneurs, which by definition are stubborn entities are therefore finding creative and cheap ways to bootstrap their startups. TheStartup.eu Meet Tipsandtrip. CEO Marco Magnocavallo. Total cost: $100.

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Bootstrapping Italy Sweat Equity Europe 49

The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

It can be very tempting to take in a little bit of seed capital, and start to operate as if you’re a big company. Note: I’m not talking about equity. Growing Too Fast : This is, I think, the biggest killer of post-funding startups. And consider this: when your company is three people (e.g.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

If you’re an Entrepreneur, you can do it from any place in the world. How important is education when I know I want to be an entrepreneur? When you are a young entrepreneur and you have a project (say a new age TV show) and you need to raise capital for the project. If you’re a young entrepreneur, than congrats!

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Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

Because you’re a startup he cuts you a deal (these sales guys are so good at this to work for only $120k basic in exchange for some equity [no, I'm not sales person bashing - I think sales reps are the lifeblood of any company - I'm just offering my realistic sense of a sales person's salary negotiation strategy!].

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Channel Startup Sales Partner 293

Software By Rob

JANUARY 8, 2019

In general I'm eager to see people explore new ways of supporting entrepreneurs. And in exchange for this $6k-$18k and mentorship, YC asked for 7% equity. We are happy to speak with you at any revenue level, but somewhere in the $150k-range is when founders may start to look for seed capital.

Early Stage 46

Early Stage Valuation Seed Capital Revenue 46

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Researchers polled experts in lending, mezzanine capital, private equity, venture capital and private businesses themselves. Not a big shock, but things don’t look pretty, especially in the venture capital world. in britain your considered an entrepreneur if you start a corner shop, which isnt good. Translation?

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Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62