Raising money

• Do you really need to raise money? If you don't need money, that's when people will want to give it to you and other great advice from Michael Seibel (YC) on fundraising (min 7.50)

• VCs are not your friends, great reminder by Steve Blank

• Understand investor's incentives and goals (and prevent being skrewed) - excellent discussion Dalton Caldwell & Michael Seibel (YC)

• Demystifying the term-sheet:  Beware the trappings about liquidation preferences

• Demystifying the term-sheet: Drag-along provisions

• Demystifying the term-sheet: Board control

• Excellent blog by Mark Suster (managing partner at Upfront Ventures, largest VC in LA)

• How to raise money - A classic by Paul Graham

• What should you send to a VC before  your meeting

• How to think about equity percentages - another one by Paul Graham

• The dangers of over-optimizing the terms

• A critical HBR article on VC's own incentives/governance structure by Diane Mulcahy (2014)

• 100 question due diligence checklist for investors

• Templates of term sheets

  • YCombinator's template of a "good" Series A term sheet- compare your term sheet to this one to check if it is in line with commonly accepted practice

  • Example Series A term sheet based on National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) model documents 

  • Example from SVB