Navigating the Venture Capital Due Diligence Process

Congratulations! After months of networking, pitch meetings, phone calls, and negotiations, you’ve finally signed a term sheet for your company’s first round of venture financing. What you face next could be one of the biggest hurdles to successfully closing your round—the due diligence process. Read on for […]

You’ve Got VC Money: The Punchlist

As outside counsel to thousands of VC-backed startups, we are often asked the same questions about what startups need to do after raising their first round of VC financing. Here is a quick and dirty list of those next steps. The action items below are described in […]

Getting Ready to Raise Series Pt. 3: Investor Pitch Decks: Dos and Don’ts

Below are a few guiding principles to keep in mind when creating a pitch deck for investors. Please note that these considerations are not meant to be comprehensive and are only intended to provide general, high-level guidance with respect to the antifraud provisions of U.S. securities laws, […]

Getting Ready to Raise Series Pt. 1: Is Venture Capital Right for You?

One of the many misconceptions when creating a company is that the terms “startup” and “small business” are easily interchangeable. They are not. In the venture capital industry, a startup has many more requirements and expectations of being a hypergrowth endeavor that can generate at least 10x […]

Writing an Executive Summary

Key to any early stage fundraising effort is a well-crafted Executive Summary, or Exec Summary. This succinct document describes your new venture and preemptively addresses fundamental questions that prospective investors will have. I have read hundreds of executive summaries over the years. And, the few good ones […]

Back to Basics: What Should Be Covered in Your Executive Summary?

Potential investors usually request an “Executive Summary” prior to meeting with new startups. The Executive Summary is a one- to two-page document that covers the aspects of the startup that investors care about most, including the concept, the market need and opportunity, and the startup team.