Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Generally speaking in venture capital financings the legal documents will specify that only “major investors” (a threshold set in the agreement – which can be $500,000 investor or more). We are doing what we do – writing larger checks and playing an active role at the company. You betcha.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Why you should set up a board at the seed round of funding I know these days with SAFE documents and rolling convertible notes many founders prefer not to set up a board early on. What happens at the A-round of venture capital? Is it possible that you still retain board control after raising a C-round of venture capital?

Startup 236

Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Or if you’re a VC raising from LPs you have to list all of your deals, your investment value, your carrying value, your multiples, your IRRs, TVPIs, DPIs, etc along with net cashflows plus your previous LPAs. These collective sets of documents form the basis of what somebody looking at investing would call “financial due diligence.”

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2010

In today’s post I want to talk about the concept of a VC flightpath. This is my description of a VC process, not one I’ve heard from other VCs so don’t expect it to be accepted nomenclature. Even when you’re getting the VC love this reality I imagined couldn’t be further from the truth.

Venture Capital 275

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Capital Ideas 275

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

As the authors make clear in the book’s preface, their goal is to create a “definitive guide to venture capital deals” and “demystify the venture capital financing process.” Brad and Jason have been exposing venture capitalists’ secrets since 2005, when they began writing a blog series on Term Sheets at AskTheVC.

Venture Capital 205

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Writing Guide 205

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2017

Ultimately the Goldman Sachs report gets picked up by a journalist who writes a hyperbolic headline with emphatic conclusions because nobody wants to read that tomorrow will be just like today. I read it just after I entered the Venture Capital industry more than a decade ago. I see this often in investors.

Venture Capital 182

Venture Capital Statistics Writing Report 182

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Riot Ventures , the Los Angeles-based, early-stage and deep technology investment firm is going out to market to raise a $75 million second fund to finance the development of startups in LA and beyond, according to fundraising documents viewed by TechCrunch. Oculus, Snap, Tinder and others. Oculus, Snap, Tinder and others.

Los Angeles 126

Los Angeles Artificial Inteligence Invest Angel 126

socalTECH

AUGUST 20, 2018

Marlon Nichols: We are a three year old, early stage venture capital firm. When I joined Intel Capital, it was the largest and most active venture firm in the world. It was a great training ground to learn the business of venture capital. Talk about Cross Culture, what your investment areas are?

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Invest Capital Startup 100

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2013

Yesterday, I was talking to a startup founder about their MVP and they said something that finally got me to write this post: "I have a few investors interested but they want to see a product." What The Heck Does “Traction” Really Mean To A VC? Great analysis from John Greathouse: Do You Speak VC?

Metrics 264

Metrics Venture Capital News Product 264

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Frankly, I think venture capital is that way, too. How do VCs break out of group think when they are shuttling from one board meeting to the next, from one conference to the other and talking with all the same people? How does the world in Los Angeles intersect differently with venture capital?

Venture Capital 400

Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

And yes, VC’s, too. You thought it was going to be as easy as just having term sheet transferred to a longer form document. But every freakin’ week there are delays in getting the lawyers to “turn around&# the documents. Negotiate directly with your VC or acquirer with lawyers present in the room.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 27, 2014

With the proper tax planning, your company can greatly benefit from tax write-offs. These milestones become a tool for you to seek funding, if necessary, whether that comes in the form of VC capital, a bank loan. Your finance partner needs to be on top of new tax laws and credits to help you to maximize your finances.

Venture Capital 93

Venture Capital Outsource Help Writing 93

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

And precisely because buyers usually prefer to have limited money go to investors – investors almost always have the ability to say “no” to transactions in the terms of their funding documents (aka “blocking rights”). Acquihires and Venture Capital. I’m a VC. Change industries.

Press 357

Press Startup Yahoo Venture Capital 357

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

There’s one attribute (coming soon) that I need to have in order to write a check but I don’t believe is vital for success. My first company launched in 1999 and we were offering a SaaS document management in the cloud (we were called ASPs back then). It will be controversial – I know. I know this stuff cold now.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Many people start companies arse backwards.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. They write into their investment documents that they will occupy a seat on the board for as long as they are invested in the company, thinking of this as a protection for their investment and tool for them to influence growth.

Class 179

Class Coach Invest Sales 179

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. Oh, yeah.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. This is the dreaded “due diligence” process.

Technical Review 94

Technical Review Startup Writing Competition 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2010

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. This is the dreaded “due diligence” process.

Technical Review 90

Technical Review Writing Competition Tips 90

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Additionally, we standardized the “allowance rates&# for services such as document storage, maximum numbers of users and we created more standardized packages of features that constituted an “up-sell&# to a our premium offerings. The problem is that we started with an SLA that was too favorable to us.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

I’m writing this post to make sure you’re all on that same playing field. 18% of all errors come from people using the wrong documents. hours are spent every day by workers searching for documents. So, where is this all coming from, Mark? What are you on about? It becomes folklore. I encourage it.

Statistics 415

Statistics Startup Report Research 415

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

This is important because when you have too many VCs on a board you only bring one kind of thinking to the board. Independents are critical to avoiding “VC group think.” They also get huge value from somebody who has run a large business and dealt with scaling challenges more than any VC on the board ever has.

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

This is a story of one of the risks of venture capital. But some companies have entrepreneurs that seem talented on paper, are in a space that seems interesting to investors and are able to raise venture capital early in the company’s existence. 2 weeks later and we may never have raised any more VC.

Startup 299

Startup Venture Capital Technical Review Training 299

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. You’ve found a VC partner or principal who has invited you to the Monday partners’ meeting. tip: write it down when asked / parked).

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Frank Addante

MAY 20, 2007

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? StrongMail Systems (Digital Messsaging Infrastructure Software) Status: VC-backed (Sequoia Capital, Globespan and Evercore) Lesson: Trust your gut. ► July (1) ► June (3) ► May (5) the Rubicon Project The Journey Startup 6.0: Zondigo, Inc.

Entrepreneur 40

Entrepreneur Blogging Startup Venture Capital 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

.” I applaud all efforts by people to take on this issue and especially be Adeo who – let’s be honest – was really the first champion of trying to make the VC world more transparent by launching TheFunded, which didn’t exactly endear him to VCs initially. They’ll get priced soon enough by a VC.”

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Frank Addante

DECEMBER 5, 2006

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? StrongMail Systems (Digital Messsaging Infrastructure Software) Status: VC-backed (Sequoia Capital, Globespan and Evercore) Lesson: Trust your gut. ► July (1) ► June (3) ► May (5) the Rubicon Project The Journey Startup 6.0: Zondigo, Inc.

Outsource Development 40

Outsource Development Develop Development Product 40

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

9) In Getting The Band Back Together , I write about the power of serial Founding teams. When we raised our Series A, we put a lot of effort into meeting with VC’s to find the right fit for us. We met with a ton of VC’s and angels. and long project release cycles measured in months or years.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2010

VC’s Want to Help! To understand what most VC’s want between board meetings I think it’s useful to start with a quote from Mark Solon ’s blog for which I’m in complete agreement (along with agreeing with his entire post, which was brave, honest and accurate ). Most VC’s want to help.

Startup 301

Startup Venture Capital Software Review Email 301

Frank Addante

JANUARY 23, 2007

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? StrongMail Systems (Digital Messsaging Infrastructure Software) Status: VC-backed (Sequoia Capital, Globespan and Evercore) Lesson: Trust your gut. ► July (1) ► June (3) ► May (5) the Rubicon Project The Journey Startup 6.0: Zondigo, Inc.

Outsource Development 40

Outsource Development Develop Development Product 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

I would never as a VC fund a round and then expect somebody else to pay a higher price right after me. I also would never expect another VC to do that to me. The trouble is, nobody has an incentive to agree to write the first check. Especially if it was memorialized in the documents why you were doing it. why buy me?

Pricing 294

Pricing Venture Capital Writing Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2015

I write about sales often both because it’s the lifeblood of any organization and because in my experience it is the area in which more startups are least experienced or inclined. I also write and talk about it frequently because raising capital is a part of sales and this is important for entrepreneurs to understand.

Sales 150

Sales Startup Venture Capital Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC “ There’s a great meme developing this morning on the need to simplify funding terms and documents. 2006 was the last time I went out to raise venture capital. They eventually took money from non-traditional VC based in the UK.

Funding 252

Funding Venture Capital Startup Blogging 252

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

One of the questions I’m most often asked as a VC is what I’m looking for in an investment. This post covers the first out of 10 that I’ll write about. I once had a debate with a prominent VC on a panel. What attributes am I looking for during the process? Excite, Ask Jeeves and Lycos? Yeah, right.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 22, 2010

This week I was preparing for my weekly This Week in Venture Capital web show and was researching some of the deals that were announced for the week. I had expect a Q&A style session and as I asked the first question – BOOM – he went straight to screen sharing using his term sheet write-ups on VentureHacks.

Screening 266

Screening Screencast Web Yammer 266

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Steve Blank , January 25, 2010 10 Tips for Adding Game Mechanics to a Non-Gaming Service - ReadWriteStart , September 21, 2010 Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own. - First Principles.

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

Part 1: Inside the mind of an angel investor and how it differs from professional seed investors and VC. A typical VC (A round) will reserve at least 100-200% of initial investment. You can write an angry email to get your emotions out but you shouldn’t necessarily send it (or wait 1 hour and then make a decision).

Angel 302

Angel Startup Ideas .Net 302