Before we talk about the dynamics of the negotiation of the deal, it’s useful to understand the motivation of the person you’ll be negotiating against, namely the venture capitalist (VC). We’ve been asked many times to divulge the deep, dark secrets of what makes VCs tick. One night over dinner we talked through much of […]

Now is your chance to show off their proficiency with a spreadsheet. Even if you know what a cap table is, we’ll give you a simple way to calculate the summary level ownership categories with a calculator (or a simple spreadsheet model).  Now that we’ve worked through all of the specific clauses in the term […]

In this chapter we cover the non-economic and non-control terms in the term sheet. Some matter, some don’t, and context matters a lot. Hopefully we’ll give you plenty of it to use in your negotiation with your venture capitalist. Up to this point we’ve been exploring terms that matter a lot and fall under the […]

Yup – many VCs are control freaks. And they love control terms. In this chapter we tell you which ones matter, why they matter, and what you should pay attention to. We also give you some advice on what is worth negotiating hard for, as well as what you shouldn’t worry about too much. The […]

We are now getting into the juicy stuff – economics of the deal. When discussing the economics of a VC deal, one often hears the question “What is the valuation?” While the valuation of a company, determined by multiplying the number of shares outstanding by the price per share, is one component of the deal, […]

Chapter 3 of Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist is a transitional one that sets up the next few chapters on Term Sheets. At the end of 2005, we participated in a financing that was much more difficult than it needed to be. All of the participants were to blame, and […]