View from Seed

JUNE 11, 2019

At this point, founders find themselves in a luxurious situation of being able to build the best possible syndicate. I believe it’s more important to optimize on the right lead investor vs. the highest valuations at the seed stage (within reason). It’s not necessary to nail down every element of your syndicate simultaneously.

Syndication 202

Syndication Syndicate Seed Stage Lead Investor 202

Gust

JULY 12, 2012

On Wednesday, April 18th, I gave a keynote speech on US Startup Valuation Trends for the 1st Irish Angel Meetup. On May 2nd and 3rd, I led workshops for about thirty Estonian investors on syndication, due diligence, valuation and the post-investment relationship with entrepreneurs.

Community 121

Community Estonia Ireland Finland 121

thebarefootvc

MAY 8, 2012

If there is an opportunity to bring in a syndicate partner that will add exponential value, it would be foolish to not include them. This is also what I advise entrepreneurs when discussing dilution and valuation — think of the bigger picture and the end game of what you are looking to build — and who will help you get there.

Venture Capital 78

Venture Capital Syndicate Syndication Bandwidth 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2020

Typically, individual investments will be less than $100K, but a group of angels may syndicate multiples. Set a realistic valuation for your startup to attract angels. A typical valuation for an angel investment is $2.5M, meaning a $500K investment will cost you 20 percent of your company.

Angel Investor 322

Angel Investor Valuation Syndication Syndicate 322

Gust

OCTOBER 12, 2011

During the summer of 2010, I developed a workshop, A New ACEF Valuation Workshop for Angels and Entrepreneurs. To provide some reference points, I surveyed thirteen angels groups in North American to determine their recent experience in negotiating the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue companies. 2011 Angel Group Valuation Survey.

Angel Groups 125

Angel Groups Valuation Pre-Money Valuation St. Louis 125

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

” Venture debt gives you those options, and particularly for companies that wind up doing well, then on your same cash-out date, you’d likely have achieved a better milestone thanks to fueling your spend, which would translate into a better valuation. NVV: Let’s talk about the seed stage specifically.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I told my friend that I felt that in 2014 too many new VCs feel the pressure to chase deals, to be a part of syndicates with other brand names and to pounce on top of every startup whose numbers are trending up quickly. The number of $200m, $300m, $500m, $1 billion valuations these days is just pure insanity in my mind. I don’t.

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndication Syndicate Early Stage 374

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

See my summary on how lead investors think about building out their syndicate. . See Beyond the Money: Best Practices of Venture Capitalists in Helping Early-Stage Companies Create Value and It’s the People: Improving Private Equity Portfolio Company Valuations by Working with Operating Executives. 5) Manage deal flow.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

See my summary on how lead investors think about building out their syndicate. . See Beyond the Money: Best Practices of Venture Capitalists in Helping Early-Stage Companies Create Value and It’s the People: Improving Private Equity Portfolio Company Valuations by Working with Operating Executives. 5) Manage deal flow.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

This is a fundamental issue that does, indeed, boil down to understanding the post-money valuation of a company. At its core, this issue points to the lack of understanding about the importance of post-money valuation by both entrepreneurs and investors. But it is also a topic that many find esoteric and difficult to grasp.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

The reports showcase raw data, analytics, visualizations, and benchmarking statistics on the company from dozens of sources, including team, intellectual property, technology, product, financial, banking, marketing, customer, risk, valuation, and investment information.”. If you have one, please contact me. 7) Negotiate .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Genuine VC

MAY 29, 2014

Yet even today, whether or not to take a (relatively) small check in a seed round syndicate from a multi-hundred million or even billion dollar fund is still a decision which takes quite a bit of consideration and sometimes consternation. So there is an element of (positive) selection bias in the larger VC syndicate cohort companies.

Syndicate 166

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Valuation 166

Genuine VC

JULY 8, 2014

raised, the first non-friends-and-family capital, comprised of one to three institutional seed investors or larger VC funds, on a priced equity structure (though sometimes convertible note), with a valuation mechanism in place priced in the single digit millions.

Early Stage 188

Early Stage Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 188

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Coinvestors: Flexible VC terms have not been standardized, which may make the investment harder to syndicate. Capacity Capital, Greater Colorado Venture Fund, Indie.VC, Reformation Partners, UP Fund, Versatile VC.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

View from Seed

AUGUST 30, 2019

how much the company is raising, valuation expectations, round/syndicate dynamics, etc.). I can see this being a doable deal at an $X pre-money valuation with a $Y check from us. ” . During the debrief, we would discuss not only aspects of the company (i.e.

Pre-Money Valuation 174

Pre-Money Valuation Syndicate Syndication Valuation 174

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 10, 2022

[Brad Feld] says his “strong belief” that “just doing a clean resetting — at whatever the valuation so that everybody is aligned and dealing with reality — is much, much better for a company.” especially when many existing investors are currently willing to add on additional dollars at the most recent valuation.

Down Round 165

Down Round Ratchet Liquidation Preference Participating Preferred 165

Lightspeed Venture Partners

SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

to fund the company at a $6M post money valuation from a number of investors including Selena Gomez. pre money valuation and planned to use the money to market the app. pre money valuation). pre money valuation. pre money valuation and a $2.7M But eventually two syndicates emerged. to send each postcard.

Pre-Money Valuation 167

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Dilution Distribution 167

View from Seed

AUGUST 20, 2014

If the company is doing really well, the VC will have an incentive to try to do more of the next round at perhaps not the highest possible valuation. It should be noted however that some angels belong to syndicates that allow them to speak for larger amounts of capital. Their aggressiveness sends a signal to the market.

Startup 301

Startup Syndication Syndicate Boston 301

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Close to 80% responded that manual processes, such as tracking down support, preparing reports and pulling data from different sources, are the biggest pain points they face in the valuation process. Kushim , Totem , and VisibleVC focus on serving this need among VCs. 9) Time, market, and exit investment.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 17, 2024

Entrepreneurs also encounter the intricacies of terms and valuation. You can also consider doing syndication, much like how real estate syndicators make money where they pool their resources in order to allow investors to access larger and more profitable deals than they could alone.

Due Diligence 148

Due Diligence Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication 148

Rob Go

MAY 20, 2014

As a result, questions around valuation are less about “what is the value of this company” and more “how much capital is a VC willing to part with to buy 20%?” I find that it’s also pretty typical for an existing VC investor to be willing to syndicate the deal with another outside investor.

Valuation 76

Valuation Dilution Post-Money Valuation Syndicate 76

David Teten

JULY 12, 2017

Although EquityZen is primarily an online marketplace for secondary shares in private companies, they also offer syndicated primary investments. Hence, if Sequoia is the lead and the valuation is reasonable, it’s near 100% chance. Market Insight. Alpha pursues a similar model.

Syndication 60

Syndication Syndicate Institutional Investors LP 60

Genuine VC

JULY 30, 2012

By communicating pricing expectations with potential lead investors, I mean sharing either an “ask” or even stated floor for the pre-money valuation of the company (with a priced preferred round) or explicitly stating a valuation cap (for convertible note round).

Valuation 136

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Angel Investor Syndication 136

View from Seed

JUNE 10, 2020

The dynamics for participation in the next round’s fundraise syndicate is complex, and many accelerators (and VCs) obfuscate their intentions for self-serving interests. We proactively look to build friendly syndicates for our Seed investments, and welcome collaborating to build together.

Cofounder 177

Cofounder Syndication Syndicate Alabama 177

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 10, 2010

In this case neither Niel (nor I) had any interest in creating a traditional syndicate to fund the company. We did a second financing by ourselves at an increased valuation – this was the “Series B&#. The meat of the funding story follows: “Of course coming up with the idea is the easy part.

Syndicate 125

Syndicate Syndication Angel Financing Finance 125

Genuine VC

NOVEMBER 12, 2012

In other words, new investors must use their leverage in the discussions to proactively change those pre-existing terms rather than focus on price, new terms relevant only to this deal, or other aspects of this specific round where they have an interest in influencing (like syndicate composition or allocation).

Finance 128

Finance Mezzanine Valuation Seed Stage 128

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 10, 2014

The deals tend to fall into two categories – easy and immediate, which multiple bidders generating an rapidly escalating valuation or a long slow slog through lots of “almost there but we are passing because of some arbitrary reason.” enterprise software license sales) that is no longer trendy.

Later Stage 143

Later Stage Syndication Syndicate Portfolio 143

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 3, 2014

At what valuation? Would the entrepreneur enthusiastically include them in the syndicate of their next venture? How long ago? Are they making real revenue? Are the exit prospects for the company any good? Even if their record looks good because of that deal, was it really their deal? Did they lead it?

Syndicate 129

Syndicate Syndication Venture Capital Valuation 129

Professor VC

APRIL 1, 2010

One comment made by Jason was that angels tend to be less sensitive than VCs on valuation and can potentially make it difficult to get a venture financing done at acceptable valuation. We are typically looking at either smaller exits or require a lower valuation to get a reasonable step-up to a venture round.

Term Sheet 32

Term Sheet Angel Investor San Jose Venture Capital 32

Duct Tape Marketing

DECEMBER 14, 2017

Basically started as somebody of how do we take photos of cars and the pricing and descriptions of the cars, and put it all in one place, but then syndicate it. Partly what I’m getting is a lot of people want to sell their business, but it’s actually very difficult for somebody to even valuate it.

Kansas City 62

Kansas City CTO Hire Las Vegas Software Developers 62

Professor VC

JANUARY 17, 2008

One of my comments was that we would likely see more institutionalization of angel groups and syndication of deals among groups. Another comment which probably deserves more discussion is around valuation. He also said they typically only invest at a $1 million pre-money valuation or less. My facebook can beat up your facebook.

Pre-Money Valuation 28

Pre-Money Valuation Angel Investor Angel Groups Valuation 28

SiliconHills

OCTOBER 22, 2013

The deals, with a median investment round of $590,000, had pre-money valuations of $2.5 And 74 percent of the deals were syndicated. Texas had 11 percent of all angel group deals in the second quarter of this year, according to the latest Halo Report.

Angel Groups 82

Angel Groups Pre-Money Valuation Silicon Valley Texas 82

Rob Go

APRIL 6, 2017

One question I know investors sometimes ask founders is “what are your valuation expectations for this round?” When I am asked about how I am thinking about valuation, I say something similar. “Our range of valuations for companies at this stage is between $X to $Y (or I say what our median is).

Valuation 44

Valuation Syndicate Syndication Founder 44

Pascal's View

NOVEMBER 1, 2008

We reviewed director legal responsibilities and fiduciary duties and noted some common board misalignments: 42in;text-indent:-.42in;text-align:left;direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed; 42in;text-indent:-.42in;text-align:left;direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed; 42in;text-indent:-.42in;text-align:left;direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed; 42in;text-indent:-.42in;text-align:left;direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed;

Vertical 28

Vertical Syndication Syndicate Forecast 28

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

*. If you are a 20-something tech entrepreneur you could be forgiven for thinking that seed-stage investors, Angellist Syndicates and widely available angel money always existed. It is, of course, a very recent phenomenon. Let me take you back just 10 years ago to 2005 in Silicon Valley where I returned after 11 years of living in Europe.

Seed Stage 150

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndication Syndicate 150

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 1, 2018

We are syndication agnostic, being indifferent between investing by ourselves or with co-investors – especially our partner funds – where we mostly have long and successful relationships. We refer to B and C rounds as early growth – essentially financings with valuations between $50m and $300m pre-money.

Syndicate 17

Syndicate Syndication IRR Canada 17

David Teten

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Each new investor tends to raise valuations and lower returns for all the other competitive investors. This is the psychology that drives VCs to load up a company with more capital, rationalizing that $5m at a $20m pre-money valuation is little different than $10m at a $40m pre-money valuation.

Management 114

Management Pre-Money Valuation Venture Capital New Hampshire 114