Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Will Price , October 11, 2010 Georgians Should Vote No - Force of Good: a blog by Lance Weatherby , October 28, 2010 Free Software for Managing a Lean Startup - Platforms and Networks , January 17, 2010 Purpose Driven Life - Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur , July 26, 2010 Two Decade-Defining Acquisitions?

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

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.   Investors sometimes “present” the terms they’d like and expect the entrepreneurs to react.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

In the next post I’m going to talk about “funnel management” and how to handle all of your VC pipeline discussions and how to keep your process alive but the first step is to keep your confidence alive. How do you always manage to get girls to dance with you or give you their numbers? When you finally get a term sheet you get three.

Term Sheet 232

Term Sheet France Technical Review Restful 232

ithacaVC

DECEMBER 9, 2013

We (Cayuga Venture Fund) just signed up a term sheet with a new company (Company X). Rather I want to briefly comment on the process leading up to the term sheet and next steps. We presented our first draft of the term sheet to Company X about a week ago. Dealing with VCs Management Startup Life'

Term Sheet 58

Term Sheet Cap Table Technical Review IP 58

www.founderinstitute.com

MARCH 2, 2010

The Lab manages the shared operational needs of its member organizations, allowing them to better focus on mission and execution. Chris Dixon posted about an ideal term sheet for first round funding, which started an blogosphere discussion about terms. Please contact us or stop by our Adams Morgan or U Street locations.

Term Sheet 40

Term Sheet Liquidation Preference Vesting San Diego 40

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

By September 26th we had submitted a term sheet which was signed on October 4th and financing was closed in less than 30 days. We funded about $2 million, which allowed a full team in Finland to be recruited for building the app and an international management team led from Los Angeles. The results?

Technical Review 373

Technical Review North America Los Angeles Cofounder 373

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 2, 2010

You can also spend time with a newer startup helping them navigate the world of product management, venture capital or team building. His term sheet series helped me at a time when I needed help. Sure, you can get away with less, but why? I’m sure somebody helped you along the way – you can pay it forward.

Europe 352

Europe France San Francisco Chicago 352

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2012

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 245

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Startup 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2013

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 242

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Term Sheet 242

VC Cafe

AUGUST 11, 2022

And Founder-investor fit can be a huge asset if you manage to find it. A bond between a founder and investor is a commitment for a long term relationship – that’s why it is important to have the right partners on your side. In the case of Echo3D, I didn’t wait for the term sheet to be signed to start providing value.

Founder 187

Founder Term Sheet Cofounder Venture Capital 187

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2010

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 229

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Angel Investor 229

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 12, 2014

If you''re looking to make a lot of dough in the short term, microVC isn''t for you. management fee. It''s only a little bit of a performance drag, though, because management fees act like a loan. I send out my own term sheets and review docs myself--especially since I''m in sydicated rounds. That''s a big help.

Investment Bankers 167

Investment Bankers Term Sheet Venture Capital Technical Review 167

Gust

MAY 22, 2012

We have a standard term sheet as a starting point. We’ve never seen that term sheet survive negotiations all the way through signing, but it’s usually a good start. We like the local connection. . We try to make our investments as convertible debt.

Technical Review 111

Technical Review Oregon Due Diligence Term Sheet 111

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 31, 2020

When anyone asks what investors look for in startups , typical answers include an experienced management team, a large market for their product or service, growth potentials, uniqueness. One of the fundamental conditions for picking a startup is that they have a stellar management team.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Startup Term Sheet 175

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 12, 2017

Due to new accounting standards effective for December 2016 year-ends, the future timeline that management must consider for cash flow needs has expanded to one year from the issuance date of the audited financials. Therefore, management’s analysis needs to encompass a larger set of data. What Management Should Consider.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Forecast Early Stage Term Sheet 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2015

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Term Sheet 120

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

After stints as a technology investment banker, a dot-com entrepreneur, and a product manager in Silicon Valley, I moved to Los Angeles in 2006. Encyclopedic knowledge of term sheets and startup buzzwords can be quickly learned, trained, and packaged. Ability” vs. “Knowledge”. The top tier funds see almost all of the best deals.

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

How to manage costs - One of the biggest frustrations that people have with lawyers are unexpected costs. He was the first guy that I saw demystify the legal terms in his term sheet series. But as with consulting, PR, web design and even VC – it’s not just the firm it’s also the individual.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Gust

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Or the in-kind winning includes legal work or management consulting, but the startup that wins has its own providers. Angel investment events where the group investment is supposed to go to the winner, but the winner ends up hating the term sheet. But before the term sheet is signed, problems come up.

Software Review 79

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Angel Investor 79

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

When I asked our trade show manager she looked at me like I was the house idiot and said, “Steve, don’t you know that my job is to set up our trade show booth?” The other departments in marketing gave the same answers; the product-marketing department said their job was to write data sheets. This is a big idea.

Silicon Valley 272

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 272

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

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

Below, we talk to Glen Mello , Managing Director of Silicon Valley Bank’s accelerator team in Boston. In terms of negotiation, there are always hot buttons. Investors have typically seen our term sheets and documents before, and the startup’s lawyers have seen these too, so everyone knows the standard and what to expect.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

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. It's been said that long term returns are bad, but yet, where else are these institutions going to put the money to get growthy returns? Not a bad close rate, I'd say--and a pretty great pay day.

Venture Capital 119

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 119

Up and Running

JANUARY 26, 2012

Finally you need to be very clear on the terms of the investment i.e. above and beyond the headline rates. You may receive a term sheet which outlines the terms of the investment, and this will need to be reviewed by someone qualified to do so. Alan Gleeson is the General Manager of Palo Alto Software UK.

Term Sheet 94

Term Sheet Exit Strategy Software Review Early Stage 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2021

Angel and venture capital money always comes with ownership and management implications, starting with the obvious ones outlined in the term sheet for the deal. Progress milestones become management objectives. Funding can be pulled, and future distributions withheld, if objectives are not met.

Term Sheet 433

Term Sheet Advisory Board Liquidation Preference Startup 433

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 5, 2014

Managing short-term tactical outcomes with longer term relationship cultivation. We’re also being more specific about what our term sheet would look like from a size and valuation perspective, potentially even proactively generating something to show the entrepreneur we’re serious. How do I spend it?

Software Review 124

Software Review Balance Sheet Cofounder Technical Review 124

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

It is essential to understand the funding structure stated in your term sheet and the advantages and disadvantages it may have for your business. Under this category, you have the angel investors who would invest their own money and Venture Capital or VC firms, who manage funds aimed towards specific startup sectors and stages.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 7, 2021

Whether it’s a hiring manager holding some candidates at bay while they continue interviewing. Satya and I have a list in our heads of GPs who we think do this and help our founders manage those conversations accordingly. Ahead of having to make a decision, it’s always in the interest of an investor to stay in the game.

Term Sheet 156

Term Sheet Due Diligence Reputation Early Stage 156

Growthink Blog

MAY 14, 2014

The result has been a “regression to the mean” - with alpha performance by fund managers being driven as much by randomness and luck (as it has been with public market mutual funds for decades) as by coherent design. With now over one thousand active U.S. This all costs money.

Venture Capital 101

Venture Capital Disintermediation Technical Review Term Sheet 101

techcrunch.com

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

It consists of a standard term sheet, automatically generated closing documents, and tools to manage the process including electronic signatures, managing wire information, generating PDFs, and more. AngelList will then automatically generate a term sheet and closing documents.

Term Sheet 70

Term Sheet San Francisco Technical Review Seed Stage 70

OnlyOnce

OCTOBER 31, 2013

And this is true of any negotiation, not just a term sheet. They’ll help you fill out your management team. Always have a BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement – a fancy way of saying Plan B). 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

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2011

There were no explanations for all of the confusing details outlined in a term sheet. He gave me the human explanation for what the term meant. But know that every term in your term sheet is there as a result of some dispute of the past between shareholders or between shareholders & management.

Liquidation Preference 304

Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Cap Table Participating Preferred 304

www.bothsidesofthetable.com

MAY 13, 2012

The best technologists often aren’t amazing people managers. They work on their own schedule and are often hard to manage. The VP of Engineering is the person who still has great technical chops but prefers not to be a coding monkey (that term is meant in the most endearing of ways). Sometimes they are introverts.

Fractional VPE 89

Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE Fractional CTO CTO Hire 89

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

John Borchers, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Decathlon Capital, claims to be the largest revenue-based financing investor in the US. The traditional NVCA term sheet works well for founders who are comfortable substituting VC capital for revenues, running typically at a loss for many years.

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

In fact, choosing the right partner to champion your deal can have a huge impact on whether or not you get a term sheet in the first place. I understand that and actually think it’s ok because that partner gets experience with making investments, sitting on boards, finding co-investors, managing founder relationships, etc.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Detroit Early Stage Partner 150

Gust

DECEMBER 21, 2011

Valuations are generally higher in Silicon Valley; term sheets are different; capital sources are different; building a management team and Board of Directors requires a different strategy; and I’ve just begun to scratch the surface.

Silicon Valley 107

Silicon Valley Southern California Tucson Seattle 107