We’ve started a Venture Hacks page on Twitter: twitter.com/venturehacks (RSS). We’ll be posting interesting quotes, links, and other things we like. We’ve started with a few quotes: “Common stock is decorative.” – Anonymous Investor → “Valuation is temporary, control is forever.” – Venture Hacks → “You never ask board members what they think. You tell them what you’re going to do.” – Bill Watkins, CEO of Seagate (twitter) If you use Twitter, feel free to send us quotes, ideas, tips, suggest... lire la suite
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We’ve started a Venture Hacks page on Twitter: twitter. com/venturehacks (RSS). We’ll be posting interesting quotes, links, and other things we like. We’ve started with a few quotes: Common stock is decorative. – Anonymous Investor → Valuation is temporary, control is forever.
We get lots of email from people asking for advice. We’re going to start answering the most interesting questions here, so everyone can participate in the discussion. Got a question? Send it to ask@venturehacks. com. We read every question. Names will be changed to protect the innocent.
We took the approach of wanting to get to know the different partners and the different possibilities and to see where there was the best fit. Partnerships take a lot of work—you want to go out on a few dates before you get married. Yes, we dated a few people but didn’t get married… and so there were a few unhappy girlfriends out there.
Once the term sheet is signed, the power shifts away from the startup to the purchaser. The typical term sheet will give the purchaser the discretion to step away from the deal if due diligence is unsatisfactory, or if the necessary internal approvals are not obtained. Suzanne Dingwall Williams, on M&A
Brian Norgard (Newroo founder and Venture Hacks investor) recently interviewed my brother, Farbood Nivi, about his experience raising money for Grockit from Benchmark et al: Brian: Tell me about the funding process. Farbood: I think raising money is great fun. The bottom line is that the money has to be spent.
Summarize the company’s business on the back of a business card. Sequoia Capital Summary: An introduction captures an investor’s attention, but a great elevator pitch gets a meeting. The major components of the pitch are traction, product, and team. If you’re building an interesting company, people will offer to introduce you to investors—it makes them looks good.
Summary: Don’t send long business plans to investors. Don’t ask for NDAs. Don’t share information that must remain confidential. Understand that investors care about traction over everything else. In Parts 1 and 2 of ‘What should I send investors? , we covered the elevator pitch and deck.
PowerPoint plans greatly increase your chance of getting a term sheet, or at least the dignity of a quick no. David Cowan, Bessemer Venture Partners Summary: An introduction and elevator pitch are critical to getting a meeting. You can also provide a “ten-slide” deck that tells a compelling story about your team, product, traction, and plans.
Q: Everybody is telling us to raise smart money. What’s the difference between smart money and dumb money? The best assumption to make is that your VC’s primary value add is the cash they are investing. Then you’ll always be surprised on the upside. Marc Andreessen
Happy New Year and here’s to an effective 2008. Here are the three most effective hacks of 2007. We maintain a Cheat Sheet of all the hacks, but try to apply these three if you don’t have time to apply them all. Create a market for your shares You need strong alternatives to hack a term sheet.
C’mon—you have $500M and I am raising $1. M and you want me to take the first $25K to pay your legal expenses for doing the deal? That’s like your dad giving you your allowance and then asking you to buy him a hot dog. When we were raising money for Flixster I thought that must be a trick—like if I agreed to that term they would pull the term sheet at the last second and say I failed the secret fiscal responsibility test.
I know plenty of VCs that behave the way I do and plenty that don’t. Brad Feld, on keeping decks to himself Summary: A deck can help you get a meeting but it can also get in the hands of the competition. Whether you send a deck depends on who wants the meeting most.
Rich Skrenta, a founder of Topix and the Open Directory Project, recently wrote about Spice Girls VC: So one day a few years ago I’m sitting in a VC’s office having a chat. I had a few ideas rattling around in my head but the VC had his eyes on a then-current space which was hot.
Summary: When lawyers defer their legal fees, they expect equity for the risk of not getting paid. If their risk is low or they’re not deferring fees, you can say no. In any case, offer them the right to invest $25K-$50K in your financing instead of giving them free equity. A reader asks:
Don Valentine from Sequoia Capital and Cisco’s founders, Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, discuss Len and Sandy’s termination in this rare video: We don’t know the actual facts of the matter and we don’t care who is “right”. The lesson here is that, right or wrong, you don’t want to look back and feel the way Len and Sandy do (except for the many millions they made).
Rick Segal’s (a VC in Canada) recent post made me smile with recognition: It’s around 2a in Toronto, midnight here in Edmonton. summaries, plans, ideas, and virtual napkins are staring at me with an evil grin. It can feel like it is hard to get a VC’s attention. I’d like to think that it isn’t because we’re bad people, and it isn’t because we’re lazy people.
Twitter needs help staying up. Maybe that help is you! But before taking that job offer — or an offer from any startup — Venture Hacks has 10 questions you should ask. We've condensed their list down from 1,250 words to a version you can read comfortably on your iPhone 3G before your next interview, below.
Blogger The Repressed Pastry Chef is going on a taste testing tour of LA cupcake bakeries. Follow her progress on her blog and on Flickr. Her reviews are utterly hilarious, whether she's praising or slamming a given bakery, such as her writeup of Violet's Cakes, also quoted below. Oh, and you can follow her adventures on Twitter, an application where you can post updates of up to 140 words.
mars 2008 Dans la série "finalement le canapé c'est branché". je voudrais des blinis, du saumon, des couleurs et des mésaventures Parfois, je me dis que j'ai drôlement bien choisi le nom de mon blog. Si j'arrive globalement a manger a peu près tout ce que je prépare (heureusement les mésaventures ne vont pas jusque la), je n'y arrive que rarement sans encombre.
Twitter, a communications tool for marketers, self-promoters and journalists, is trying to raise a third round of venture capital Silicon Alley Insider reports cofounders Evan Williams and Biz Stone are looking for $15 million, valuing the company at $60 million. Current investors include Union Square Ventures and Charles River Ventures.