Let’s Talk Angel Investors
What are Angels?
Angels are individuals that invest their own personal money in private companies, typically at a very early stage. They are generally Accredited Investors under Reg D of the Securities Act of 1933 (meaning they have a net worth of at least $1M or that they made more than $200k the past three years [...]
Q2 2009 Venture Financing Term Trends
Much thanks to Cooley Godward Kronish LLP and Fenwick & West LLP for their recent reports on Q2 2009 venture financing term trends. This is a long post, but full of info helpful to people in the venture deal space.
My summary: The typical round in Q2 2009, irrespective of series, was most likely a down or flat [...]
Overnight Success May Equal Short Lifespan – But Should it?
Recently read an interesting article put out by Knowledge@Wharton titled The Long-term Downside of Overnight Success. Relying on Wharton research, the article indicates that “products that catch on too quickly may end up being less successful overall.” The researchers relied mainly on a study of first name popularity. Names that soar into popularity fastest also tend [...]
Read more →Is the Law Firm Business Model Changing?
I am writing this entry in reference to Jason Mendelson’s recent blog entry “Adam Smith – The Wealth of Lawyers.” Jason argues that we are going to see the end of big law firms as we know it. He references a recent op-ed piece from the Wall Street Journal that argues the same point. Apparently, however, [...]
Read more →You Are Either Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution
I got a kick out of this article by Seth Godin. It’s about the classic situation where you are looking for help from a customer service rep that frankly admits that their employer sucks, the company sucks and even though they are admittedly nice and wanting to help you, they are handcuffed by their evil corporation. [...]
Read more →Pennsylvania Budget Woes Hit Ben Franklin in the Chin
For those of you that don’t live in Pennsylvania, for the past five weeks or so the state has been operating without a budget. Not that this is uncommon right now, but it hits harder closer to home. Taking a direct hit from this (to the tune of up to a 60% slash in budget) [...]
Read more →Some Interesting Articles (7/28/09)
I really enjoyed Seth Godin’s short entry entitled The Reason Riding a Unicycle is Difficult. In fact, I generally enjoys his entries – as he posts often and even the short ones can be packed with thoughtful ideas. Back to the entry – I can really appreciate his view of the binary nature of riding [...]
Read more →Negotiating Term Sheets: Should Entrepreneurs Focus on Valuation or Everything Else?
To some, liquidation preference may sound like a bankruptcy term of art and drag along rights may sound like a move in mixed martial arts. Venture finance term sheets consist of many unique terms and moving parts, some of which will sound foreign to an entrepreneur raising outside capital for the first time. Whether by design or misfortune, however, [...]
Read more →Venture Conference Presentations
I recently attended the 2009 Early Stage East Venture Conference. Very exciting day spent networking and listening to 8 minute pitches from 21 companies seeking funding at different stages. On the whole, I thought the presentations were well done (although a few presenters seemed to forget that they only had 8 minutes).
During the conference lunch I met [...]
Some Interesting Articles
Here are a couple of good articles I’ve recently read:
‘Super Angels’ Shake Up Venture Capital (Business Week)- this one is centered around one of our hometown greats, Josh Kopelman (First Round Capital). He is very insightful. I believe in his current model.
Nothing Ventured (The Deal Magazine)- this one is written by two more hometown VCs, [...]
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