fuck it, I'll fund that

Was just sent this hilarious post on t-shirts for VC's. The site is for real. Too funny. I especially liked the story at the end about how David Cowan at Bessemer Venture Partners passed on google. I also noticed that they have an homage to my friend Brad Feld with a "treadputer" shirt.

whoa, did you see that big wave wash over the prow

I just saw my page views rise dramatically today (I'm currently using StatCounter). Many of these are coming from links posted on Brad Feld's blog. If any of you get a chance to work with Brad, he's one of the most knowledgable, level headed, and entrepreneur friendly VC's I've had the opportunity to befriend in this wacky world of the high tech startup. For entrepreneurs just getting started I would highly encourage you to look into TechStars just to get to know Brad and the other outstanding people associated.

Term Sheet Terms: On Good Terms

We've been actively fund raising again, so I think it's time to revisit some of the terms you will encounter in term sheets. Term sheet terms are largely market driven and reflect the availability of capital during the time you raise funds. If you're raising money in a pullback environment (like I did back in 2001-2002) time frame the terms are going to be fairly conservative and not very friendly to existing share holders. If there are a lot of investments being made, then money supply exceeds demand creating competition for deals and friendly terms to existing share holders. I think we've swung back to somewhere in the middle from the lean times of my last company and so, happily, terms are looking better these days.

The interesting negotiating terms are:

• pre-money valuation
• option pool size
• liquidation preferences
• dividend
• seniority to previous round
• no shop clause
• redemption
• drag along rights
• anti-dillution

I'll post on a few of these in the coming days

Me and VC

We've been meeting with quite a few venture capitalists lately in the endless quest for funding. New York, Boston, Austin, San Francisco, Seattle and back home. You start to dream about the pitch at this point. The feedback comes back. Too early, too late, too far away, market is too small, market is too broad to stay focused enough. All the usual no's that come with the territory. The one I can't stand is geography. Why would you even meet if you knew geography would be an issue? I know the real answer to that question is that it's an easy way to say no but it's also a very lame way to say no.

Please give us REAL feedback. We spend a lot of time traveling and discussing our business with you. We deserve a straight answer!