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Anatomy of a Term Sheet July 18, 2002 Starter Fluid, L.P. Robert von Goeben, Managing Director rvg@starterfluid.com http://www.starterfluid.com SM
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Anatomy of a Term Sheet 1) Vital Parts Shares issued Investors and amounts Capitalization table 2) Operating Terms Board Composition Voting Rights Founders vesting 3) Financial Terms Valuation Liquidation Preferences Antidilution Provisions Dividends & Redemptions Legal Costs
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Part One: Vital Parts “Deal at a glance” Designed to save time and limit legal expenses Always have cap table included on term sheets Clearly spell out investors, counsels and amounts invested
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Part Two: Operating Terms
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Board of Directors Most institutional investors push for board seat, some angels also Typical series A board size is 5 –2 series A –2 common (one must be CEO) –1 outside agreeable to A & common Good practice to name board members on term sheet Strive for “balance of interest”
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Founders Vesting Founders typically seek credit for “past work, investors want to tie founders to company 25% of stock can immediately vest depending on past work Remainder on 4-5 year vesting schedule, with 6 month or 1 year cliff Acceleration for termination w/cause or double-trigger for acquisition
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Voting Provisions Very important to control factors that affect a class of stock Typical provisions: –Transfer of control or liquidation –Any adverse change in rights to class –Creation of senior security –Change in size of board –Declaration of dividends
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Part Three: Financial Terms
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Valuation Some say “valuation is all that matters” “All deals are A rounds” –Current market has valuation equal to financing amount –Today seeing 50% dilution to company Q1 2002 valuation stats* –57% down rounds –10% flat from previous round –33% up-rounds *Source: Fenwick & West LLP
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Liquidation Preferences Who gets money in what order New investors are getting in the front of the line Q1 2002 Stats* –62% of deals had senior liquidation prefs to earlier round –58% had multiple preferences –Of multiple preferences: 66% were 2X 27% were 3X 7% were greater than 3X *Source: Fenwick & West LLP
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Antidilution Provisions Two types of antidilution: –Ratchet – “Price protection”, share price reduced to new round price within 6-12 mos. –Weighted Average – Formula on how stock gets repriced Q1 2002 Stats* –29% ratchet antidilution –69% weighted average antidilution –2% no anti-dilution *Source: Fenwick & West LLP
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Dividends & Redemption 2002 stats on redemptions* –36% of the financings provided for mandatory redemption or redemption at the option of the investor Dividends have historically been “when and if declared by board of directors” Non-cumulative, not mandatory *Source: Fenwick & West LLP
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“Pay-to-Play” Current trend to “wash out” previous investors over and above dilution New investors pushing tough “pay-to- play” provisions Q1 2002 Stats* –20% of financings had pay-to-play –56% converted non-participating to common –22% converted to “shadow preferred” –22% blend of common and shadow *Source: Fenwick & West LLP
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Legal Costs Company usually pays investor legal expenses Company pushes hard to put cap on expenses Typical seed deals: up to $10K Later stages: up to $25-50K Depends on fees in geography
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Other Terms 1.Right of first refusal on new-issue and founders selling shares 2.Information rights is key –Make sure your # shares falls within limits 3.Key-Person insurance on founders 4.Employment, confidentiality and invention agreements with founders 5.Registration, piggy back rights, demand rights: get standard terms through attorneys
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Good Terms Sheet Practices Short (2-4 pages) Designed to reduce legal fees Don’t go it alone: get good legal counsel Term sheet is mostly business terms Be aware you’re setting precedent on terms for later investors!
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Starter Fluid Starter Fluid is one of the only professionally-managed, institutionally-backed pure seed funds. Closed $32M - June 2000 $100-500K initial investments, up to $3M total Investors: –Institutions: Univ Chicago, Searle Trust, FLAG Venture Management, Tucker Anthony, Compaq Computers, Crossroads Ventures, and others
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Anatomy of a Term Sheet July 18, 2002 SM
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