Something Ventured

Why VC Returns Languish

So you see a pattern here? Number of VC-backed IPO's: 1995 205 1996 272 1997 138 1998 68 1999 250 2000 202 2001 22 2002 20 2003 23 2004 67 2005 43 2006 56 2007 76 2008 7 (none in... Read more →

Be Careful Who You Deal With

As these markets continue their chaotic path downward, people's true colors come out. Some people show increasing amounts of fairness and consideration. Others will self-optimize and use every bit of leverage that they can get their hands on. Two entrepreneur... Read more →

Rough Ride Ahead: Buckle Up & Get Your Money Now (if you can)

"Thus far in the second quarter of this year, there have been NO venture-backed IPOs. There has never been a quarter where this situation has occurred (since NVCA has been tracking such data). " -- NVCA Mailing I am pronouncing... Read more →

Money Off the Table

A number of entrepreneurs have asked me recently about how VC's view founders taking money off the table these days as part of a financing. Until the past 5-10 years, this was a non-starter for most VC's. VC's want to... Read more →

Hunting for A VC

Yesterday on the the VC fundraising panel at the TECH cocktail conference, Eric asked the VC's how an entrepreneur can hook up with a VC. (BTW, great job Eric & Frank pulling off a class A event). While there is... Read more →

Ignite Chicago Fundraising Presentation

I am talking tonight (Thurs, Dec 6th) at the Ignite Chicago event (click for the site) at the Debonair Social Club (1575 N Milwaukee Ave). I was originally going to do a talk on Venture vs Angel fundraising. However, I... Read more →

How VC's Determine % Ownership Thresholds

Jason and Brad at AsktheVC forwarded to me a question sent in by one of their readers. Their site is a great site for answering a broad array of questions regarding VC and entrepreneurship. Question: What's a completely generic range... Read more →

Term Sheet 101: Preference

Nearly all VC’s use convertible preferred stock as their vehicle of choice. Most entrepreneurs know this but many don’t fully understand the different flavors and elements of it. Preference refers generally to the seniority of a given class of stock... Read more →

How to Divide the Pie

Sam Martin sent in an email asking about determining founder equity. "What amount/percentage of equity is usually reserved for the founder, CEO, and management team. Is there a rule of thumb for how you determine who should receive equity and... Read more →

Is Your Customer's Money Green?

One of my readers asked me how I viewed companies raising money from customers. The traditional advice is not to take money from customers since it gives them additional leverage. I recently experienced this at a company where our portfolio... Read more →