Tag Archives: Venture Capital

The Zen of fundraising

Posted on October 7, 2010 by

When investing in companies through FastIgnite, I usually sell my super-secret value-add as opposed to just cash. See, cash is not that hard to get if you know how to ask for it and there aren’t any obvious reasons for … Continue reading →

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Repurchase agreements: what you should know before you sign

Posted on May 7, 2010 by

This is the second guest post from Dave Broadwin, head of the Emerging Enterpise Center at Foley Hoag LLP, in the area of founding agreements. Part one is on vesting and the other related posts are on improving the performance … Continue reading →

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Founder Agreements – Vesting, Vesting and more Vesting

Posted on April 25, 2010 by

Following my posts on improving the performance of founding teams, founder agreements and strategies for dealing with poorly performing co-founders, I continue to receive many emails at FastIgnite from entrepreneurs having difficulties with managing and formalizing the relationships with their … Continue reading →

Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Startup Founder Agreements

Posted on February 22, 2010 by

I have been thinking a lot recently about how to apply agile development principles to investing and key aspects of startup development such as team building. That’s also the thread connecting my two recent posts on VentureHacks. Both stem from … Continue reading →

Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

The best vesting schedule

Posted on February 2, 2010 by

There is no such thing as the best or optimal vesting schedule in a startup. That doesn’t mean current vesting schedules are really good but it does mean that many of the so-called best alternatives are not much better. No … Continue reading →

Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments

The entrepreneur’s dilemma

Posted on January 22, 2010 by

“The entrepreneurs dilemma” is a term that @azeem came up with in reference to a post on how to raise money without lying to investors on VentureHacks. The point I wanted to make was that entrepreneurs often have to chose … Continue reading →

Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Personality test for entrepreneurs

Posted on November 16, 2009 by

I’ve had several interesting conversation following the article on negotiating a better series A deal. Entrepreneurs write and ask for advice on a specific situation. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to give specific advice in these cases without a fair amount … Continue reading →

Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Which type of investor makes the best board member?

Posted on November 16, 2009 by

A few days ago, WSJ’s startup & VC blog referred to an NVCA study where entrepreneurs complained about the lack of operational experience in some VC board members. I’ve been an entrepreneur as well as a VC. The biggest travesty … Continue reading →

Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

A new spin on pitching and fundraising

Posted on September 20, 2009 by

Every conference having anything to do with entrepreneurship and venture capital has the obligatory “pitching & fundraising” panel. I’ve been on enough of them to have a sense of how disappointing they can be for the audience. Experienced folks hear … Continue reading →

Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Startups VCs are dying to invest in

Posted on July 21, 2009 by

VCs have a big problem. Many entrepreneurs just don’t want to solve big problems anymore. After hearing the fifth socially-responsible-Twitter-client-running-on-fuel-cell-powered-unlocked-iPhones pitch this week, it’s understandable how VCs want to take August off. So, in the interest of helping everyone, I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments