Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations. Please see later version of this post on May 16, 2010 Entrepreneurs are often not experts in the area of term-sheet negotiations and all of the surrounding issues. and walked through each proposed term and why it is or isn’t important.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

How-to learn about angel/vc term sheets - Gabriel Weinberg , June 28, 2010 I think every startup entrepreneur (and angel investor) should have a good understanding of financing term sheets. You’re Not a Real Entrepreneur - Steve Blank , June 10, 2010 Who is an entrepreneur really? Productivity.

Cofounder 175

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Term Sheet Startup 175

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

Many entrepreneurs let the early rejections get to them and it’s normal because when you hear “no” you think “what’s wrong with me!?” What you don’t know is that MANY of these financings have been a months’ long series of no’s, compromises, hard terms, heartaches, arguments, self doubt, followed by a “yes” that saves the day.

Term Sheet 232

Term Sheet France Technical Review Restful 232

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2012

It sounds obvious, but the majority of entrepreneurs who pitch me have obviously never thought through many of the major issues surrounding their companies. This person will be critical in rounding up other investors, drafting a term sheet, and generally getting the deal done. Understand your business.

Software Review 164

Software Review Term Sheet Technical Review Angel Investor 164

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

It’s why raising a round of capital often feels like a hollow victory because it almost feels like a temporary reprieve from the Grim Reaper and in a way every new round just sets the bar higher to clear for the next round of financing or the hope of reaching profitability. The best VCs follow up but then so, too, to the best entrepreneurs.

Burn Rate 238

Burn Rate Term Sheet CTO Hire Fractional CTO 238

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. The Traditional VC Pitch Entrepreneurs who pursue the traditional product development model don’t have customer data to answer these questions. How many are there? Is there a profitable business model?

Customer Development 270

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 270

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

I have often been asked about Startup Funding by entrepreneurs. Here is Startup Funding, a Comprehensive Guide for Entrepreneurs. It is essential to understand the funding structure stated in your term sheet and the advantages and disadvantages it may have for your business. Pre-Requisites of Funding. Inception stage.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

www.founderinstitute.com

MARCH 2, 2010

He has been actively involved in merger, acquisition and disposition transactions with a combined value of over $1 billion, and financing/investment transactions and securities offerings worth over $600 million. Chris Dixon posted about an ideal term sheet for first round funding, which started an blogosphere discussion about terms.

Term Sheet 40

Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Vesting San Diego 40

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

The fundraising stage is vital for any entrepreneur, but you can’t wing it through your meetings and expect to be taken seriously. As an entrepreneur, your goal when raising financing is to get several term sheets — the documents describing the terms and conditions of financing.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Remember a term sheet agreement is not a deal until the check clears. Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. However, there is no set pattern of terms an entrepreneur might be able to anticipate from an angel, either.

Term Sheet 227

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

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

. × At Greylock , my partners and I are driven by one guiding mission: always help entrepreneurs. It doesn’t matter whether an entrepreneur is in our portfolio, whether we’re considering an investment, or whether we’re casually meeting for the first time. Entrepreneurs often ask me for help with their pitch decks.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Viral Revenue Networking 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2012

Remember a term sheet agreement is not a deal until the check clears. Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an Angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. However, there is no set pattern of terms an entrepreneur might be able to anticipate from either.

Term Sheet 223

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Angel Investor 223

www.seriesseed.com

MARCH 2, 2010

SeriesSeed.com Series Seed Financing Documents Blog Home Documents Blog Archives Subscribe 09/02/2010 Version 2.0   That’s because there are not that many issues to negotiate in a simple equity financing. In sum, Series Seed creates a level playing field between capped debt and equity documents in terms of speed and cost. 

Finance 58

Finance Term Sheet Equity Aggregator 58

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

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. Tip 4: Really Understand Key Terms.

Cap Table 125

Cap Table Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Technical Review 125

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Venture Capital Venture Capital Term Sheets Startups Term Sheets What are examples of good startup term sheets? Ycombinator open source term sheet is a good start for Seed deals. Brad Feld does the best blog term sheet series.

Term Sheet 41

Term Sheet Startup Angel Investor Wiki 41

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 31, 2020

According to Ben Narasin , “in 2020, investors will require firmer governance and oversight structures to safeguard against negative impact and ensure these protections are mandated in their term sheets.”. This may probably drive entrepreneurs to alternative funding options, such as equity crowdfunding.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Startup Term Sheet 175

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

This is a company that, according to the article, got term sheets from half of the VCs that expressed interest in the company. David's firm most recently participated in the $77 million second round financing of SoFi, a one year old startup focusing on student loans. Not a bad close rate, I'd say--and a pretty great pay day.

Venture Capital 130

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 130

K9 Ventures

APRIL 27, 2011

In August/September 2009, the founders and I agreed to work together to raise a round of financing for the company. We pulled together about $600K of commitments and interest, for a $500K-target financing round. The lawsuit completely killed the financing prospects for Ugmode. At this stage, the team had had no prior financing.

Software Review 134

Software Review Technical Review IP Finance 134

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 12, 2017

However, as a condition of financing they may require annual audited financial statements. No entrepreneur wants to think that their business won’t last, but as they burn cash in the developing years they need to consider future implications — particularly funding. What are the company’s obligations?

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Forecast Early Stage Term Sheet 133

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

As an entrepreneur himself, founding and operating printed circuit board factories in Taiwan, my father was debating between two places to immigrate to and build his next new venture: Los Angeles (“The Valley” aka San Fernando Valley) and Santa Clara (“Silicon Valley”).

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Gust

OCTOBER 17, 2011

Remember a term sheet agreement is not a deal until the check clears. Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. However, there is no set pattern of terms an entrepreneur might be able to anticipate from either.

Term Sheet 158

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Angel Investor 158

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

This past summer, the Lightspeed Summer Fellowships program invited selected guests to provide aspiring entrepreneurs a perspective into all aspects of starting a new company. The program provides entrepreneurs the resources and mentoring they need to build their companies and develop their skills. ” The Cost of Financing.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Genuine VC

APRIL 29, 2013

all talk about the best way for entrepreneurs to optimize their fundraising process with the end-goal of receiving a term sheet. It’s often spoken as if the second that magical term sheet document is in hand, the process is over. Agreement of key terms between entrepreneur + VC firm.

Term Sheet 150

Term Sheet Valuation Partner Conversion 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

If you do a capped note it’s bad for the entrepreneur. But Paul Graham really did have a point in his “ high resolution fundraising ” post – that there is a problem – particularly in angel financing – with herding cats. You simply draft up a series seed term sheet. Price the round.

Pre-Money Valuation 294

Pre-Money Valuation Finance Liquidation Preference Warrant 294

Scott Edward Walker

AUGUST 25, 2011

Introduction I’ve been doing deals as a corporate lawyer for 17+ years, and there are certain fundamental mistakes that I’ve seen entrepreneurs make over and over again. Sadly, there are a lot of bad apples out there, and entrepreneurs need to be careful whom they are doing deals. Will he add significant value (e.g.,

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Term Sheet Los Angeles Entrepreneur 63

Up and Running

JANUARY 26, 2012

Raising finance is a time consuming process and can also be quite stressful (particularly as time progresses). Venture Capitalist, Mark Suster suggests in his blog post ‘ How do you reference check a VC ’ that: ‘First, I would say that most entrepreneurs do almost no reference checks or at least do them very informally.

Term Sheet 94

Term Sheet Exit Strategy Software Review Early Stage 94

OnlyOnce

OCTOBER 31, 2013

And this is true of any negotiation, not just a term sheet. But as an entrepreneur, you can mitigate the number of times you have to walk away by developing good alternative options to a particular deal. This is probably the most important piece of advice I can offer. It’s often said that good choices come from good options.

Valuation 133

Valuation Term Sheet B2C Security 133

Rob Go

DECEMBER 14, 2016

When a VC invests in a startup, the two parties usually sign a term sheet that lays out the major terms of the investment round. 90%+ of term sheets result in a closed deal that is more or less equivalent to what was discussed. In the M&A process, an LOI feels an awful lot like a term sheet.

Term Sheet 28

Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence Private Equity 28

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.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Does the traditional VC financing model make sense for all companies? Though RBI will displace some traditional equity VC, its much bigger impact will be to expand the pool of capital available for early-stage entrepreneurs. . 2018 also had the fewest number of angel-led financing rounds since before 2010. Absolutely not.

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

To begin with, it is important to understand some basic facts about the world of entrepreneurial finance: There are many more entrepreneurs than there are investors, with the result that only one company out of every 400 that seeks venture funding actually receives it.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

The Next Web

AUGUST 26, 2012

We are currently in the middle of a restart and would like to share our seven lessons learned in the hopes that other entrepreneurs can benefit from our experiences and increase their chances for success. Make sure you check and understand the term sheet and overall deal. Think big, start small and stay focused.

Bankruptcy 121

Bankruptcy Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence 121

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. It should therefore come as no surprise that an asymmetry of information exists, mostly gleaned from experience, between founders and investors in a venture financing deal.

Finance 178

Finance Term Sheet Preferred Stock Bridge Financing 178

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Series Seed Financing Documents Blog. Series Seed Financing Documents. Series Seed Term Sheet (v 2.0). Series Seed Term Sheet. Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Series Seed Financing Documents : 1 Reblog. SeriesSeed.com. Blog Archives.   Series Seed COI (v 2.0).

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2012

Every entrepreneur seeking funding loves the challenge of getting customers and investors excited, but dreads the thought of negotiating the terms of a deal with potential investors. On the other hand, when negotiating a financing for your company, you should never present your term sheet first. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 248

Entrepreneur Term Sheet Finance Bootstrapping 248

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

This is something I think entrepreneurs don’t totally understand and it’s worthwhile they do. 5 million was always the classic definition of an A-round between the late nineties (crazy financings aside) and say 2007. Why the latter? and there''s always a but]. I saw this myself a few times in a row.

Cap Table 399

Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Finance 399