Summary: A cap table lists who owns what in a startup. It calculates how the option pool shuffle and seed debt lower the Series A share price. This post includes a fill-in-the-blank spreadsheet you can purchase to create your own cap table. A capitalization (cap) table lists who owns what in a startup. It lists [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Convertible Debt'
How to make a cap table
June 19th, 2007 · 28 Comments · Convertible Debt, Option Pool, Valuation
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Supersize your debt with these microhacks
May 30th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Convertible Debt, M&A
Summary: Convert your debt into equity if you can’t pay it on time. Determine your lender’s return if you sell the company early. Reserve the right to raise more debt. Finally, reserve the right to amend the debt agreement. Previous convertible debt hacks have discussed The benefits of debt in a seed round The economics [...]
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Make your debt attractive to investors
May 15th, 2007 · 26 Comments · Convertible Debt, M&A, Valuation
Summary: Seed investors often argue that debt doesn’t incent them to (1) help the business and (2) increase the share price of the eventual Series A. Actually, (1) debt does incent investors to help the business and (2) equity may also incent investors to decrease the Series A share price. That said, you can make [...]
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What are the benefits of debt in a seed round?
May 14th, 2007 · 19 Comments · Board of Directors, Convertible Debt, Valuation
Summary: Convertible debt is often the best choice for a seed round. It is convenient, cheap, and quick. It lets you close the financing quickly and turn your focus back to your customers—that’s good for the company and its investors. When your business is very young, raising a seed financing ($50K-$500K) via convertible debt is [...]
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Keep your Series A options open if you raise debt
May 8th, 2007 · 13 Comments · Convertible Debt, Future Financings
“[Our existing investors] had put in a right of first refusal. Since I was a young entrepreneur at the time, I didn’t understand that this basically meant that you couldn’t go to any other VC… We could not get a higher valuation because [our existing investors] wanted to put more money in the company themselves. [...]
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Comments: Convertible debt and vesting
May 4th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Comments, Convertible Debt, Vesting
As usual, there were many mind-expanding comments this week—here are some of the very best. The very lucky winner of this week’s mug for great contributions in the field of venture hacking is indicated with a subtle ball of fire. Vesting “Anonymous” discusses his experience with getting vested for time served and how his investors [...]
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Should I raise debt or equity?
May 1st, 2007 · 13 Comments · Convertible Debt
Summary: If you raise convertible debt for a seed round, you should negotiate simple and short documents, close quickly and cheaply, and maintain your options for the Series A. But first, determine if you should raise debt or equity—debt is better for small financings with small discounts. Startups often raise their seed round by selling [...]
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Comments: Convertible debt
May 29th, 2007 · Comments Off · Comments, Convertible Debt
Our comments are now threaded! Click the “Reply” link beneath any comment to leave a response. Here’s an example of a threaded comment. As usual, we’ve received many mind-expanding comments—here are some of the very best. The very lucky winner of a mug for great contributions in the field of venture hacking is indicated with [...]
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