Secrets of Sand Hill Road

“Vesting” means that you accrue ownership over a specific period of time, such that if you leave the firm before that time expires, you would have earned only that proportion of the carry that equates to your time at the firm.

new round of financing, the new investor will want to see that earlier investors still have faith in you and that they are willing to demonstrate that by putting new, additional capital at risk.

relate your prior accomplishments or experiences to the current business you are pitching—what do they say about your likelihood of success in the current venture?

VC invests in the first round of a company, she “reserves” additional monies beyond that which she invests in the A

“Capped” notes establish a ceiling on the maximum price at which the debt will convert into equity.

Yale’s allocation of 22 percent to absolute return strategies is generally in line with other university endowments and has returned 9 percent annually over the last twenty years

reason for creating a new class of stock is to give it “preferred” economic and governance rights

LPs would expect to see at least 12–15 percent returns from their VC portfolio.

The more challenging aspects of market size estimation come from startups going after markets that do not exist currently or that are smaller markets today because they are constrained by the current state of technology.