Not surprisingly, founders spend most of their time building their company, not assessing their market value or preparing for the funding process. When it comes time to address term sheets, where do you need to focus? What will investors expect and where are they flexible? How do you build an effective negotiation strategy? What can you do, prior to asking for capital, to increase the value of your company in the eyes of investors? This month, our experts walk you through the most important questions and issues in term sheet negotiation.
Event sign up: http://foundersspacesvjuly2012.eventbrite.com/
Howard Hartenbaum of August Capital, Bill Reichert of Garage Technology Ventures and Joseph Perkins of Orrick answer your questions.
A Founders Space Roundtable is a monthly meeting where founders get together to share knowledge, solve problems and make connections. Each Roundtable tackles a specific subject, such as raising capital, negotiating term sheets, attracting talent, creating marketing plans, and filing patents. The session begins with industry experts providing detailed advice. Then we roll up our sleeves, gather into small groups, and help each other with issues we’re facing.
SPEAKERS
Howard Hartenbaum joined August Capital in 2008. Prior to joining, he served as a General Partner at Draper Richards LP where he was the founding investor in Skype and a former member of the board of directors where his achievement resulted in his joining the Forbes Midas List of top venture capitalists. Before entering the venture capital field, Howard was at Hughes Electronics, where he was responsible for supporting business development, marketing and sales of satellite, information security and automotive technologies developed by HRL Laboratories. He also worked in engineering positions in ergonomics and user experience at Honda Motor Company and manufacturing at Teledyne Relays. Howard has worked overseas for a total of ten years in Luxembourg and Japan. He is a graduate of M.I.T.
Bill Reichert of Garage Technology Ventures has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and an operating executive. Since joining Garage in 1998, Bill has focused on early-stage information technology and materials science companies. He sits on the Boards of CaseStack, WhiteHat, ClearFuels, cFares, and ThermoCeramix. Prior to Garage, Bill was a co-founder or senior executive in several venture-backed technology startups, including Trademark Software, The Learning Company, and Academic Systems. Earlier in his career, he worked at McKinsey & Company, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., and the World Bank. Bill earned a B.A. at Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. He was a founding board member and a Chairman of the Churchill Club, and a Charter Member of the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs. Currently he is the Chairman of the Small Fund Roundtable of the VC Taskforce and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Joseph Z. Perkins, a corporate associate in Orrick’s Silicon Valley office, is a member of the Emerging Companies Group, which advises emerging companies and venture capital firms. Mr. Perkins’s practice focuses on providing private venture financing and merger and acquisition services to Internet, high tech, and clean technology companies.
