Summary: Raise as much money as possible. With these caveats: (1) maintain control at any cost, (2) monitor your liquidation preference, and (3) act like you don’t have a lot of money. Also understand that if you do raise a lot of money, you will have to (1) “go big or go home” and (2) [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Case Studies'
How much money should we raise?
April 14th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Case Studies, Future Financings
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John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins on building Intuit
March 23rd, 2008 · 3 Comments · Books, Case Studies
There is lots of wisdom in John Doerr‘s (Kleiner Perkins) introduction to Inside Intuit (emphasis added): “Inside Intuit is a tale of missionaries, not mercenaries. It’s about a founding team that prevails through tenacity, frugality, and an obsession with the customer experience… “Kleiner Perkins first learned about Intuit in 1985… But when it came to [...]
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Half-Assed Startup: Start your company and keep your day job
March 12th, 2008 · 15 Comments · Case Studies, Starting Up
“I kept my day job for over six years while working mornings, nights, and weekends to create Dilbert.” – Scott Adams [Ed: I enjoyed Tony Wright's contrarian article, Half-Assed Startup, when I first read it on his excellent blog. Tony, a founder of RescueTime (Y Combinator), argues that you can start a company while you're [...]
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Trust, but verify: Why investors want control
January 30th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Board of Directors, Case Studies, Protective Provisions
“Trust, but verify.” – Ronald Reagan Summary: Investors trust the entrepreneurs they back. But they verify their expectations with contracts and control. You should do the same—with the same tools investors use: contracts and control. Why do investors want to control their investments through board seats and protective provisions? Shouldn’t they just give entrepreneurs bags [...]
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Terminating Cisco's founders
January 3rd, 2008 · 1 Comment · Case Studies, Termination, Vesting
Don Valentine from Sequoia Capital and Cisco’s founders, Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, discuss Len and Sandy’s termination in this rare video: (Update: Google took the video down. Thank you universe. There are still some choice quotes below. If anyone has a copy of the video online or a transcript, please email us at nandn@venturehacks.com.) [...]
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Investors might share your plans with the competition
November 14th, 2007 · Comments Off · Case Studies, NDA
Rich Skrenta, a founder of Topix and the Open Directory Project, recently wrote about Spice Girls VC: “So one day a few years ago I’m sitting in a VC’s office having a chat. I had a few ideas rattling around in my head but the VC had his eyes on a then-current space which was [...]
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Grockit's founder on pitching investors
November 12th, 2007 · 10 Comments · Case Studies, Pitching
Brian Norgard (Newroo founder and Venture Hacks investor) recently interviewed my brother, Farbood Nivi, about his experience raising money for Grockit from Benchmark et al: Brian: Tell me about the funding process. Farbood: I think raising money is great fun. The bottom line is that the money has to be spent. VCs are not in [...]
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How is raising money like buying a car?
September 13th, 2007 · 8 Comments · Auctions, Case Studies, Negotiation
How many similarities can you find between hacking fund-raising and hacking a car purchase? Watch this video: The best answer gets a coveted Venture Hacks mug. (Via Lifehacker.)
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