Ask The VC: Archive Index

Are Eyeballs Good Enough?
Intent, Term Sheets, and Off Limit Questions
Where Are My IPOs?
How Did We Get Our Idea For Our Startup?
I've Got Angels Who Want To Invest But Not Lead - Now What?
What's An Appropriate Equity Package For A Founding Board Member?
More Thoughts on Structuring an Angel Investment
Founders Termination Clause In Term Sheets?
What Kind of Benefits Can I Expect Working at a Startup?
Getting Into The VC Business
Should You Expense or Capitalize Your Engineering Costs?
Should I Be A Shareholder Representative?
Term Sheet Glossary
A VC's View on Why Startups Fail
Should I Protect My IP Before I Try To Build My Product?
Do VCs Fund Entrepreneurs Who Have Failed At Previous Ventures
Should I Send My Business Plan To Every VC Firm I Have An Email Address For?
Get Rid of the Friction
How An Angel Financing Works
How To Get A Job In Venture Capital
I Cut The Wrong Deal With An Advisor - Should I Kill It?
VC Perspective on Intellectual Property
How Do Startups Find Early Hires?
After The Term Sheet
Do I Need a Team To Raise Venture Capital?
Does Having a H1B-Visa Founder Preclude Venture Investment?
Do I Pick A Venture Capitalist Based On Money or Guidance?
Tranched Financings
What Do I Say When I Don't Think A Founder Will Be An Effective CEO?
What's The Best Material for the Pre-Pitch Introduction to a VC
Do You Know What You Don't Know?
How A VC Thinks About Marketplaces
What's the Difference between a CEO and COO?
How Does A Small Angel Investment Impact a Future VC Round?
Communicating With Your Board
Are Venture Capitalists incompetent or just inconsiderate?
It's My Fault
Saving Money When Running A Startup
Do You Have Conviction and Discipline?
Choosing Board Members
Power and Spooky Minds
Why Isn't There A Network or Hub Connecting Venture Capitalists With Startups?
Pondering Bridges
Do Venture Capitalists Demand Audited Financials?
This Downturn Will Be Different
A VCs Thought On A Potential Downturn
What Is The Effect of the "Pending" Recession on Venture Capital Financings of Private Companies?
The CEO Review
What Happens to Unvested Options in a Merger?
Angel Funding Toolkit
What Is A CTO?
VCs to Avoid
Do Venture Capitalists Always Get Veto Rights On A Company Raising More Money?
Mid-Atlantic Venture Capital Funds
Do Venture Capitalists Fund A Company With An Intent To Steal It?
Do All Venture Capitalists Come From Harvard or Stanford?
Equity Comp in Turnarounds and Consolidations
My Lawyer Wants Equity in My Startup
I've Got A Huge Vision for Something, Now What?
What Skills Do You Look For In Founders?
Are Watermarks On Presentations Useful?
Can Employee #1000 Get Rich Off of Stock Options?
Mark Davis - Get Venture
Will A Talented Entrepreneur Make $1m From His Startup?
What Valuation Are You Looking For?
Should I Outsource My Fundraising?
Sales is a Science, not an Art
What Happens If Convertible Notes Are Called By Angel Investors?
Should Venture-backed Companies Require Non-Competes?
Ad Revenue Models
The Wizard on Early Stage Board of Directors
Should Startups Invest In Patents?
What Are Typical Employment Contract Terms and Severance Benefits for a Startup?
SEC Announces Rule Change for Private Companies
Furqan Nazeeri - EIR Blogger
Compensation In A Very Early Stage Company
Should You Exercise Your Stock Options
Don't Ask For An NDA
Generic Range of Equity Desired By a VC for Round 1 or 2
Term Sheet for an LLC vs. a Corporation
Litigation Sucks
Should You Exaggerate Your Size?
What Is The One Common Element You've Seen In Successful VC's?
What Should You Send To Prospective Investors?
Fun VC Phrases That Mean Nothing
How Good Angel Groups Work
Eek - A Competitor Just Raised $50 Million - Now What?
Places to Find Developers in Exchange for Sweat Equity
How Much Equity Should an Early Stage COO/CFO Get?
The Next 20 Hires
The Role of an Early Stage Board of Directors
How Can An Entrepreneur Fundraise Without Getting In Trouble With the SEC?
Getting To No - Quickly
When A VC Says "I Need 20% Of The Company"
Great Book on Legal Issues Affecting Entrepreneurs
Do Credit Market Problems Affect the Venture Capital Industry?
More on Potential Tax Law Changes for Venture Capitalists
Emailing Your VC
Pondering Your Exit Strategy
You Can Fire 10% of Your Company Anytime And Not Notice
Why Are Venture Capitalists So Hard To Deal With?
How Does One Structure a Business to Pursue Other Business Lines?
How Much Equity Should I Get In My Startup?
Handling a Poor Reference on a New CEO Candidate
How Will the New Tax Laws on Carry Affect Venture Capitalists?
Does My Company Have to Exist to Get Funding?
Why Doesn't My Question Get Answered on Your Website?
What's the Climate for Venture Fundings In China?
What Are The Costs Associated With Changing a Company's State of Incorporation?
Creating a Board of Directors During an Angel Round
Quick Overview of Preferred Stock
Can You Conduct A Confidential Venture Capital Job Search?
Latest and Greatest on Stock Option Practices
Raising Money From Venture Capitalists Versus Investment Banks.
Check Out Our Lijit Search!
How Much Should I Pay Lawyers To Complete My Financing?
Sometimes VCs are Crazy
How Much Should You Raise in a Series A?
Good Fundraising Story and Perspective
An Investment Bankers' View On Brokers in Early Stage Fundraising
When Should We Start Seeking Our Next Round of Funding?
Is There A Distinction Between Seed and Early Stage
How To Do A Layoff
All That You Wanted to Know About GPLv3 and Open Source Issues
How Do You Value "Sweat Equity" in a New Restaurant Concept?
What Are The Appropriate Information Rights for Angel Investors?
Launching Into Specific Verticals and Geographies
Critical Marketing Activites For A Startup
10 Pragmatic Steps to Raising Venture Capital
What Do Venture Capitalists Think About Venture Debt?
Asymmetric Risk
Did You Make Your Expense Plan?
How Do Venture Capitalist Justify Doing Angel Deals To Their Investors?
Do Venture Capitalists Still Invest In "Old Folks?"
Why Don't Venture Capitalists Invest In Real Estate?
Selling a Company: To Auction or Not Auction
Options, Options, and More Options
Merger and Acquisition Due Diligence - The Seriousness of the Acquirer
How Do You Negotiate a Carve Out With Investors?
What Is the Standard Number of Shares to Create in a New Company?
How Can You Replace the CEO of a Struggling Angel-Funded Company?
What are Supra Pro-Rata Rights?
Should Entrepreneurs Be Worried About Convertible Notes as a First Financing Event?
Can I Be Creative In My Financing Approaches Without Committing a Securities Violation?
How To Start A Company Like Schilling Pitches
Board Member / Advisory Member Compensation
The Re-emergence of Venture Debt
Venture Capital / Lawyer Term Sheet Humor
Do Venture Capitalist Like To Change Pre-existing Employment Contracts?
Merger and Acquisition Due Diligence - What To Expect
Should I Take Money From Unaccredited Investors?
Do Venture Deals Include Control Premiums?
Marc Andreesen on Venture Capitalists - Part 2
How To Get A Gig as a VC Associate (or Analyst)
Marc Andreesen on Venture Capitalists
What Should I Pay a Recruiter?
Do Venture Investors Require Business Plans?
What are typical compensation numbers?
Can Founders Cash Out At Time of Venture Investment?
What Are Standard Legal Fee Arrangments For Un-Funded Startups?
Trends in Compensation Packages in Venture-Backed Companies
Do Venture Capitalist Ever Use Their Redemption Rights?
Budgets in Early Stage Companies
Decision Making Using Noninstrumental Information
How Important is Brand Image at The Early Stages?
Burn Rate for a Seed Financing
What Percentage of A Company Does a Typical Entrepreneur Own at Exit?
Equity Compensation Terms
Open Source Discussion
Deferred Cash Compensation
Compensation in Venture-Backed Companies Before They Raise Money
The Widget Economy
Microsoft - The New Destructor of Innovation?
Compensation Packages in Venture-Backed Companies
Defining the Anti VC
How Do You Calculate Operating Cash Flow?
What is the Best State of Incorporation?
The One Page Board Summary
Kedrosky's Top 10 Limited Partner Lies
Supreme Court Issues Two Important Patent Decisions
Concluding Thoughts about Good Board Packages
Common Stock Carveouts In Acquisitions
Josh Kopelman on "Catch and Release" vs. "Catch and Keep"
Board Package Series - Overview and CEO Critical Thoughts
Boulder OpenCoffee Club Update: New Website, New Location and New Attendees!
Final Regulations Under Section 409A Released
Board Package Series - Business Reporting
Fred Wilson on Reserves
Board Package Series - Board Administrative Issues
Is Quality of The Team The Most Important Thing?
Communicating with Your Angel Investors
Book Review: Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation
What is the Minimum Amount of Investment Should I Take From an Angel Investor?
A Founders View on Stock Vesting
How to Create A Good Board Package
A VC's Typical Day
Creating a Good Board Package Series
Boulder OpenCoffee Club Clarification
Convertible Warrants In A Series A Round?
Stock Options from an Entrepreneurs Point of View
Boulder Open Coffee Club Open for Business
How Do VCs Discount For Lack Of Marketability of Stock?
Location, Location, Location
Should An Angel Investor Invest in Friends?
What Should I Consider With Management Carve Out Plans?
Okay, I Got A Job At A Venture Firm: What Do I Do Now?
Are Advisory Boards Helpful?
How to Fill Early Board Positions In A Pre-Seed Company
New VC Blogger - Todd Jaquez-Fissori
How Do You Plan for M&A?
Hedge Funds and Early Stage Venture Capital
Patent Rant
Should Entrepreneurs Avoid Examining Patents? - The Sequel
Should Entrepreneurs Avoid Examining Patents?
The Power of Free
Introduction to Venture Capital
Do All VCs Have Degrees From Top Schools?
Failure and the Loser's Curse
How Do I Best Deal With the Due Diligence Process?
How Do I Create Projections For My New Web Service?
Are "Letters of Intent" Useful in VC Meetings
What Do Venture Capitalists Think About Founders Looking For A New CEO?
Tim Wolters on The Liquidation Preference
What's A Reasonable Starting Point For An Option Pool?
Example Term Sheet
How Do Venture Capitalists Spend Their Day?
Should You Hire Someone To Write Your Business Plan?
Dealing With All Those Early Shareholders
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
Everything You Need To Know About Venture Capital
VC (or Entrepreneur) Madlibs
More Thoughts on Don't Be Casual
What Do Venture Capitalists Think About Founders Leaving and Starting New Businesses?
Equity Dilution Math
Should A Company Use A Founder's Spouse As Legal Counsel?
The Value of No
More On Conferences
How Targeted Should An Early-Staged Company Be?
Which Conferences Should I Attend?
When Is It Appropriate To Bring Your Lawyer Into Your Deal?
Why Do Companies Fail?
Do Venture Capitalist Care About Immigration Laws?
The IRS Is Urging Companies To Pay Liabilities Of Workers With Backdated Options.
Nothing Is Standard
How Is Intellectual Property Split Between Separating Founders?
What Do Venture Capitalists Think About Offshore Development Offices?
What Is The Difference Between "Venture Capital" and "Private Equity?"
Founder Promotions
White Paper: A Simple Guide to the Basic Responsibilities of VC-Backed Company Directors
Say What You Mean
How Do You Find A Good Law Firm?
I Want Control - Pretty Please
Do VCs Care About Product Managers?
How To Craft A Term Sheet?
How To Become a Venture Capitalist
How Do VC's Think About Open Source?
How Expensive / Dilutive is VC Money?
What To Do With An Alcoholic Business Partner
How Do VC's Determine Company Valuations?
Should We Talk To VCs If We Aren't Interested In Raising Money?
I Was "De-VC'd" What Do I Do Now?
How Do Limited Partners Feel About "Fair Valuation" Guidelines?
Do IRR's Matter?
When Do VC's Prefer to Invest In Companies?
What Is the Impact of Private Equity and Hedge Funds on VCs?
Should Companies Solicit Multiple VCs, or Just One While Fundraising?
VC Primer from an Entrepreneur's Point of View
Do I Pitch A Better Mousetrap or A Different Version of Star Trek?
Are There Venture Capital Brokers?
More on NDA's
VCs and Non-Disclosure Agreements
Annotated Term Sheet
Raising Startup Money Through a Public Shell Company
Attack of The VC Bloggers
What Kind of People Do VCs Like to Back
What Are Standard Terms and Valuations?
Are There Any VCs Running Their Firms as a Web 2.0 Business?
How Do You Decide How Much To Raise Per Financing Round?
California Gone "Mad" In Enforcement of 409A
What's a Good Venture Capital Terms Dictionary?
Is This Offer a Good One for My Company?
What Are Standard General Partner Terms in Fund Agreements?
How Many Boards Can A VC Handle?
Why Don't Companies Issue Non-Voting Stock To Employees / Investors?
How Do You Raise A Little Bit of Capital - Part 2
How Do You Raise A Little Bit Of Capital?
Coming Soon To This Blog: New Series
Can VCs Invest In S-Corps or LLCs?
Do Companies Ever Buy Back VC Shares?
Investing In An Angel Deal Without A PPM?
Questions You Should Ask Yourself During Fundraising
MIT Enterprise Forum "Brave New Web" Conferences
How To Incentivize Employees in a LLC context?
What Is The Relevance of Life Terms of VC Funds?
Check Your Sketchy "Business Coach's" References
How To Earn Frequent Flyer Miles on US Airways
Fred Wilson's Predictions for 2007
Learning Your Way Around AsktheVC
What are Some Good VC Media Sources?
How Do You Deal with Founders Stock When Some of the Founders Leave the Company Early?
What on Earth is 280G? What is a Parachute Payment?
What is a Typical Capital Structure Like?
What do VC Titles Mean?
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