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Which Lawyer And Bookkeeper To Pick In The Valley?
TheFunded.com Discussion
Posted by Anonymous about 8 hours ago
Joi Is Laser Sharp But Expect To Get Little Face Time
Fund: Neoteny Co. Ltd.
Posted by Anonymous about 8 hours ago
It Can Take Time
Fund: O'Reilly Alphatech Ventures
Posted by Anonymous about 9 hours ago
Kept In Touch, Pretty Good Uk Pitch Experience
Fund: Accel Partners
Posted by Jyri Engeström about 11 hours ago
One Of The Best Small Vc'S
Fund: Xenia Ventures
Posted by Anonymous about 11 hours ago
I worked with Yechiel through the investment process. Yechiel proved himself to be honest, efficient and he can generate over $1M investment if necessary.
My over all experience working with Xenia team this including Anat is very good!!
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Bad Partners
TheFunded.com Advice
Posted by Anonymous about 18 hours ago
Hi all,
By trade im more of a technical/programmer geek than business guru. However just over 11 months ago I took the leap and decided to set up on my own with a small e-commerce website. At the time I partnered with someone who, I assumed would bring the valuable business skills I lacked.I don't know that many so it was great that I found someone with these skills. They invested a nominal amount,used to build my site and came on Board as a company director. Upon suggestion of my solicitor a partnership agreement was created and issued. They refused to sign it and avoided it at all costs. Fast forward 11months and it has become blatantly apparent that they are quite useless. Ie: Not seeking the investment needed to recruit more techy's , not replying to emails, not building the management and sales teams that we need to move forward, not even bring any sales or revenue into the company etc etc. A massive headache. From experience has anybody else here experienced similar, and what would there advice be on dealing with such a nuisance. He obviously has to go but is there a nice way to deal with this problem while still retaining enough integrity needed to attract the right calibre of people that can assist in my companies growth.
Also once the deed has been done where would be the best place to look for a replacement.
A confused techy!
PRIVATE: Members OnlyDue Diligence What To Expect?
TheFunded.com Advice
Posted by fnazeeri about 20 hours ago
You just signed a term sheet for your first round of venture capital. Congratulations! Now what?
While every fund has their own process and each deal works a bit differently, what you can expect between signing a term sheet and closing the round (to which I refer in aggregate as "diligence") basically falls into four buckets:
(1) Confirmatory due diligence. What this means is the investor is switching gears from "why should I do this deal?" mode to "why shouldn't I do this deal?" mode. There is a pretty standard set of items the investor will request. You can go to my blog and download the generic diligence request list that Softbank uses (http://tinyurl.com/4t5nud). Depending upon the stage of the company, there are usually a 100+ documents that need to be collected and delivered. I'm a big fan of using Microsoft Sharepoint to manage document delivery. In fact, I recommend using it to deliver documents from the beginning of the fund raising process. For example, when a VC asks for your "financial model" you should point them to Sharepoint instead of emailing the file. One benefit is you can check who's accessed the file and you can turn off access if they pass. For $40 per month you can buy a hosted version of Sharepoint.
(2) Syndication. For many deals, particularly the first institutional round, the full amount of the raise won't be spoken for. For example, if the raise is $8MM, the lead investor might be committed to $4-5MM. Syndication is the process of finding one or more additional investors to complete the round. If you had the good fortune of receiving multiple term sheets to begin with (and assuming you like one of the others) the easiest way to complete the syndicate is to invite those folks to participate on your newly signed term sheet. Failing that, you should reach out to the firms with whom you got close, but not all the way. The expectation is that the entrepreneur leads and directs the syndication process. The good news is that having a signed term sheet (hopefully from a reputable firm) makes it a lot easier than getting the term sheet to begin with.
(3) Documentation. Generating about 2-inches of legal agreements codifying the investment. Usually company counsel will take the lead on drafting documents; although it's not unheard of for the lead investor to do the first draft. You should ask that the syndicate use one law firm, but if they insist on each using there own, plan on the process taking a week or two longer than it would otherwise.
(4) Closing. Signing the paperwork and wiring the money. Yeah! It used to be that closings were held in person at some attorney's office (at least that was my experience early in my career) but today that almost never happens. The closing is usually held over a couple of days after everything has been agreed and then they sign and fax their signature pages to company counsel. Depending upon how many signatures, it can take a few days to complete.
PRIVATE: Members Only (739 Characters)Feedback On Axel Bichara
Fund: Atlas Venture
Posted by Anonymous about 21 hours ago
trying to get a read on whether he is trustworthy and straight. having a hard tme getting a read. one company i know had a wierd experience.
PRIVATE: Members OnlyDead Heat
TheFunded.com Advice
Posted by msjane about 21 hours ago
Many posts have brought up the risk involved in disclosure of ideas to possible investors. It's implied in most of these posts that the writer feels they have a property of some kind that is unique and vulnerable to duplication if news of its existence gets out.
A tempering argument against uniqueness is at
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/20...
Mal Gladwell cites a sobering argument against eponymy, i.e., naming scientific advances after one person. It seems as if great ideas, are in fact, 10 cents for twelve.
Even though Gladwell argues that his -- and others'-- analysis won't hold up in the realm of "art" I can say that in personal experience, commonality still turns up.
Some time ago, a hotshot literary agent discovered my "notes" on an otherwise OK screenplay had enabled them to close a million dollar "spec" sale. He thought I was Rumplestiltskin and started shoveling (1500+) circulating scripts at me.
Alas, only 10 were worth any work at all. One writer alone was willing to go back and do some more work. What did turn up though, were clusters of themes. Cupid makes Venus a bet about making two unlikely mortals fall in love. A homeless person becomes wealthy. Etc. There were several groups. None of the writers knew each other.
So, protecting one's property is critical -- up to a point. Odds are, others are at work on something very, very similar.
Greed minus fear = deal.
Be prudent but get funded.
The Value Of A Written Business Plan?
TheFunded.com Discussion
Posted by Anonymous about 22 hours ago
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Interesting Prospects
Fund: Altos Ventures
Posted by Anonymous about 22 hours ago
Altos seems to be making a lot of smart steps to be a world-class fund. They are not afraid of investing in companies that have some revenue or companies that are outside of their immediate geography. They appreciate the efforts of a founder that has to scrape by to get the company off the ground. They are open to different kinds of deals, and they provide a quick "no."
PRIVATE: Members Only (236 Characters)The Perfect Email Introduction
TheFunded.com Advice
Posted by Mr. Smith about 23 hours ago
Almost every introduction to a venture capitalist is done through email, and most introductory emails are poorly crafted. The two most common mistakes are: (1) overwhelming a potential investor with too much irrelevant information or (2) avoiding any valuable company information and focusing on the pleasantries.
Companies would be much better served by including a standardized and brief paragraph that described the business in a way that a potential investor can digest quickly. Read on...
PRIVATE: Members Only (1937 Characters)Access Venture Partners
Fund: Access Venture Partners
Posted by Anonymous 1 day ago
Has anyone had any experience pitching and being funded by Access Venture Partners and what was your experience? We are looking at pitching them, but would like to know what kind of experience others have had with them first. Can you be specific by partner also and whether or not a technology or web based business?
PRIVATE: Members OnlyLate Stage Funding Telecom Equipment Manufacturer
TheFunded.com Discussion
Posted by Anonymous 1 day ago
Ryan Is A Very Helpful And Nice Guy
Fund: Storm Ventures, Inc.
Posted by haiying 1 day ago
I pitched my company to him and it was a great meeting. We were early for them and I ended up taking angel money. Since then we have been engaged in many conversations about business model and I have received lots of help from Ryan: sending me related market news, connecting me with domain experts, and introducing partner companies upon my request. He is really a nice guy and very helpful even though Storm didn't invest my company.
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