It’s been a decade of good to great times in the high risk/reward entrepreneurship and investing space. Ten years is a long time in the sector, and there are a fair number of entrepreneurs and even VCs who can’t say they’ve ever lived through a...
My first two posts in this short series on liquidation preferences began by noting that the entrepreneurship and investing world is in for some rough sailing, and that entrepreneurs should brush up on the sometimes-arcane subject of venture capital liquidation preferences (see Part 1, and...
APRIL 22, 2020 | BLOG In Part I of this three-part primer on liquidation preferences, we covered the why’s and wherefores of the liquidation preference concept, and the ins and outs of the entrepreneur’s choice in preferences, “non-participating” preferred (see here: The New Normal: A Primer on Liquidation...
The last few years have been exceptional in the high risk/reward entrepreneurship and investing business. Venture investors have raised record piles of capital, and have been throwing more of it at more entrepreneurs at higher valuations and on friendlier terms than ever before. The COVID-19...
Convertible financings, be they of the conventional convertible debt variety or the more recent SAFE form, have become a staple of the seed/startup financing scene. Unfortunately, these days Convertible financings are known as much for their abuse as for their utility. Too many startups (and...
Paul A. Jones, writing for Michael Best's Best Venture has some advice on whether to take your startup to Silicon Valley in search of venture capital. While on one hand, Silicon Valley might be the fastest way to determine whether your startup is "venture-worthy" by Valley...
First the good news. If you get a signed term sheet with a reputable angel or venture investor, there is a very good chance you will get a deal done. Unless, of course, you don’t. Probably the most common element of every term sheet is the...
Technology often marches ahead of the ability of government regulators to keep up. A prime example is the internet, which surged ahead in its formative days in part because there was an absence of red tape to hold back its pioneers. Autonomous vehicles are another example....
In 2003, Keith Rabois, a longtime Silicon Valley investor and executive, had an ambitious idea: He wanted to start a website that would instantly offer a fair price for your home. If you accepted the offer, the site would agree to buy your house immediately,...
There are some specific steps Wisconsin policymakers can – and should – take to improve its business startup rate, which once again anchored the bottom of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s annual index. The real reasons for Wisconsin’s quasi-permanent status as a Kauffman bottom-feeder,...