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1.8

Volition Vapita

 

$$$$$ Boston, US East

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4.4

Foundry Group

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$$$$$ Boulder, US Central

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4.8 3.5 4.1 4.3 4.1

4.2

Silverton Partners

 

$$$$$ Austin, US West

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3.9 4.7 4.2 3.9 4.3

4.2

Rincon Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Santa Barbara, CA, US West

Rated by 20

4.3 4.2 4.1 3.6 4.4

4.1

New Atlantic Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Reston, US East

Rated by 10

4.3 4.3 4.0 4.0 3.0

3.9

Andreessen Horowitz

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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3.3 4.1 4.1 3.9 4.0

3.9

Leapfrog Ventures

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 40

3.5 3.9 4.3 4.0 3.8

3.9

True Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

Rated by 11

3.9 4.2 3.2 3.6 4.0

3.8

Mangrove Capital Partners

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$$$$$ Luxembourg, Europe

Rated by 43

3.8 4.1 3.4 3.6 4.1

3.8

RRE Ventures

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$$$$$ New York, US East

Rated by 32

3.9 3.8 3.7 3.4 4.0

3.8

Altos Ventures

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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3.9 4.1 4.0 2.8 4.1

3.8

406 Ventures

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$$$$$ Boston, US East

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3.9 3.8 3.8 3.4 3.9

3.7

First Round Capital

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$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 27

3.8 3.6 3.8 3.8 3.6

3.7

FLOODGATE

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$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

Rated by 105

4.7 3.7 3.7 3.0 3.5

3.7

Sequoia Capital

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 11

3.5 3.8 3.7 3.5 3.8

3.7

IDG Ventures SF

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$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 11

3.6 3.7 3.6 3.8 3.4

3.6

Flywheel Ventures

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$$$$$ Santa Fe, US West

Rated by 20

3.5 3.3 3.8 3.6 3.9

3.6

DFJ Mercury

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$$$$$ Houston, US Central

Rated by 16

3.6 3.5 3.8 3.5 3.5

3.6

August Capital

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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4.0 3.8 3.9 2.8 3.7

3.6

Updata Partners

 

$$$$$ Red Bank, US East

Rated by 62

3.7 3.6 3.4 3.4 3.9

3.6

Trinity Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 21

3.5 3.6 3.6 3.2 3.4

3.5

Wellington Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Munich, Europe

Rated by 12

3.2 3.6 3.4 3.0 4.2

3.5

DN Capital

 

$$$$$ London, Europe

Rated by 19

3.8 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.3

3.4

Draper Richards

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 14

2.8 3.5 3.7 3.2 3.7

3.4

Merus

 

$$$$$ US West

Rated by 48

3.7 3.5 3.1 3.4 3.2

3.4

Menlo Ventures

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 31

3.3 3.3 3.2 3.6 3.7

3.4

Clearstone Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Santa Monica, US West

Rated by 16

3.9 3.7 2.9 2.9 3.6

3.4

Versant Ventures

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 11

2.9 3.6 3.7 3.3 3.6

3.4

OpenView Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Boston, US East

Rated by 10

3.6 3.4 3.9 2.7 3.3

3.4

DFJ Esprit

Certified

$$$$$ London, Europe

Rated by 13

3.0 3.8 3.5 3.2 3.4

3.4

Fidelity Growth Partners Europe

Certified

$$$$$ London, Europe

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When negotiating your term sheet, pay particular attention to issues around the stock option plan. For a series A deal, you will want to have about 15% of the total (fully diluted) shares available for your management team. This is a clever way that VCs will try to add more shares and dilute existing investors. E.g. by making you reload the pool to, say, 22% they are lowering the price per share as they will fund after the reload. They then avoid dilution later when you want/ need to reload the pool.

Basically, never let a VC to skip taking a board seat because this means they might be an evidence they want an option to dump the startup or do a Round A on miserable terms.

http://www.greggretsch.com/2010/05/do...

If a fund asks you to go exclusive in the term sheet - AVOID IT LIKE THE PLAGUE. The usual reasoning by the fund for the exclusivity is the difficulty of due diligence. I have had a venture fund pull out after the company signed a completed set of closing documents, and the company was left high and dry with no other warm prospect. You have no control over the decision making of a fund, and, therefore, you should never sign something that limits your options without compensation.

One of my board directors proposed to help us fundraise using his influence in the VC community. He suggested a 3% finder's fee with a few stock options on top for funds raised through his introduction. I understand the typical finder's fee for investment bankers is in the range of 6% to 7%. Is my board director's proposal reasonable?

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.

Commonly included in term-sheets and sometimes only revealed in longer-form documentation...but effectivley way for Series-A to get their cake and eat it too, by essentially cashing out...and getting paid again before the pie is carved up for founders, management etc....definitely worth learning about.