If You Provide a Strategic Technology or Outsourced Service, Consider Taking Some Equity in Your Fee Structure
I remember the mid to late 90’s well. Everyone was high on the hog and sniffing Internet glue. Kids that couldn’t even shave had a paper net worth in the millions, if not billions in some cases. And some of the most ridiculous deals of the century got funded. The atmosphere was such that everyone believed [...]
Doing It Right the First Time: The 15 Most Common, but Avoidable, Mistakes Made by High Growth Start-ups
Imagine you are half-way through due diligence on your Series A round and the venture fund’s counsel realizes that you never complied with federal and state securities laws when you raised angel money. Or, imagine your early CTO hire does not have the level of experience he/she professed in the interview or on his/her resume and the company is [...]
Board of Directors vs. Board of Advisors
The basic difference between a board of directors and a board of advisors is that the former is a legal requirement and has fiduciary duties to the shareholders of the corporation and the latter is not a requirement and bears no legal responsibility to the shareholders of the corporation. The board of advisors concept was [...]
FashInvest Conference and Presenting to Angel Investors
On November 10, 2009 I attended the inaugural FashInvest conference in New York entitled “From Concept to Capital.” Karen Griffith-Gryga and David Freschman, the founders of FashInvest, put on a wonderful event and are definitely heading in the right direction to bring venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and branded and fashion company executives together under one roof. The [...]
Should you Take Money from a Strategic Investor?
The fact that anyone is offering you money is a good thing, at least in times like these. But wipe the smile off your face and realize that you have some tough decisions ahead of you - you need laser focus! Not all money is good money, or smart money for that matter. This issue is not [...]
Being the First Mover or Having No. 1 Market Share Isn’t Everything
I don’t care if your company is bigger than the competition or has what some like to call the “first mover advantage,” beating out the competition is all about differentiation and playing to your strengths. What recently got me thinking about this was an older podcast I was listening to from Stanford University’s Entrepreneurial Thought Leadership program. The [...]
Hiring the Right Start-Up Lawyer – No Posers Allowed!
If you are an entrepreneur or the founder of a start-up or emerging growth company, one of the most important decisions you will make is hiring the right lawyer. Like all things in life, there are good lawyers and bad lawyers and telling the difference up front can be difficult. The service they sell (advice) [...]
Intuit Buys Mint.com for $170M
I was surprised today to hear that Intuit bought Mint.com for $170M. Maybe surprised is the wrong word. From a deal and synergy perspective, I can certainly understand why Intuit would want to do the deal. Reportedly, Mint.com had 1.4M users, tracked $175B in transactions and $47B in assets and identified $300M in potential savings for [...]
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 [...]
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