Negotiating VC funding? Look beyond ‘the pre’
(Editor’s note: Jeff Bussgang is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. This column originally appeared on his blog Seeing Both Sides.)
VCs have an unfair advantage when it comes to financings. They simply have more experience doing deals.
A typical start-up company will do 2-4 venture capital financings before a successful exit (or, conversely, an ignominious ending). A typical serial entrepreneur may lead 2-3 companies in their career before calling it quits (or checking themselves in… Continue Reading
Will statistics mess kill Digg acquisition by News Corp?
San Francisco news ranking start-up Digg has become a symbol of new-age Internet buzz, ever since its hyped cover story on BusinessWeek several weeks ago.
Now TechCrunch reports Digg has been in recent acquisition discussions with a number of companies, including News Corp. — with a price of $150 million being discussed.
Rumors abound of a possible sale. BusinessWeek cited sources saying Digg was worth $200 million, but that value was so out of whack with Digg’s… Continue Reading
Best time to raise money since bubble-year 2000
Folks, venture capitalists are investing money at the sweetest terms since the fourth quarter of 2000 — which was shortly after the all-time high when the Internet bubble burst.
Now is the time to go raise your money for your start-up: Venture capitalists valued U.S.-based private companies at a median of $23 million while investing during the second quarter of this year, or $7 million more than the same quarter a year ago.
This comes from… Continue Reading