There have been many great posts about the various terms that go into a termsheet for a venture investment. As a result entrepreneurs are much better informed which is a good thing all around. I am still puzzled at times though at the approaches taken by both VC firms and entrepreneurs when it comes to actually negotiating a term sheet. Here are a few things that I have learned. For VCs (I have written about the VC side before, but this seems worth repeating): Behavior during the term sheet p...

There have been many great posts about the various terms that go into a termsheet for a venture investment. As a result entrepreneurs are much better informed which is a good thing all around. I am still puzzled at times though at the approaches taken by both VC firms and entrepreneurs when it comes to actually negotiating a term sheet. Here are a few things that I have learned. For VCs (I have written about the VC side before, but this seems worth repeating): Behavior during the term sheet p...

This is the second in my occasional series on negotiating. When negotiating a term sheet or a biz dev deal it’s important to keep in mind that the end goal of the negotiation is establishing a partnership. This is very different from say buying a house where post closing you (hopefully) have nothing to do with the seller. For a partnership to get off to a good start it helps for both parties to feel good about the process of the negotiation. I have found that an important ingredient is to set...

This is the second in my occasional series on negotiating. When negotiating a term sheet or a biz dev deal it’s important to keep in mind that the end goal of the negotiation is establishing a partnership. This is very different from say buying a house where post closing you (hopefully) have nothing to do with the seller. For a partnership to get off to a good start it helps for both parties to feel good about the process of the negotiation. I have found that an important ingredient is to set...