Venture Capital
           What you need to know... and no one will tell you!!!

          Below are links to a series of messages that were originally published in the May Report. They arose from a letter by attorney Curtis Sahakian (cpart2@corporate-partnering.com) to Tom Alexander (tom@eprairie.com) correcting and clarifying information in Tom's article "When Dot-Coms Strike Out, Will Startups Strike Back Against VCs?" in the ePrairie newsletter.

         These letters read as a whole, explain in simple terms how the inside game of VC investing really works and discloses common VC tricks and and gambits that to my knowledge have never been openly discussed before.

Curt Sahakian cpart2@corporate-partnering.com

• The Letter that Started it All - Sahakian
  • How the game works - a dirty little secret
  • The first round valuation is the real red herring
  • It's the last round that counts
• The game isn't crooked but its not fair either
• How the insiders work together at the expense of the outsiders
• Reality
• The chickens may come home to roost
• SAY WHAAT???? - Bob Geras's Response
• How The VC Ecosystem Really Works - Sahakian (If you are going to read only one of these links, this is the one worth reading)
  • Three Basic Funding Scenarios
  • Staged Investment = Dangerous Burn Rates
  • High Burn Rates = Venture Capital
  • Do You Feel Lucky Today?
  • The First Round Valuation Doesn't Count
  • Don't Take my Word For it
  • It Can and Does Happen
  • From Founder to Contract Employee
  • Venture Capital Agreements
  • Capital Raising Links
• "Venture Capital Contracting in the Information Age" by Law Professor D. Gordon Smith supports Sahakian - Chris Sorensen
  • Sahakian's Supplement
• The Real Life Experience of a Founder - Anonymous
  • "You've Almost Got it" - Sahakian
    • Initial Valuations
    • Kabuki Dance Negotiations
    • Sucker Punched Founders
    • VC Whining
    • a Jim Clark Quote on Being Squeezed by VCs
• Dialog Between Bob Geras and Curt Sahakian - Geras and Sahakian
• Disrespectful Investor Attitudes - Anonymous
  • Andrew "Flip" Filipowski on the Proper Investor Attitude - Filipowski
  • Nothing wrong with Geras's Guidelines for Private Investing - Sahakian
  • Miscellaneous Messages - Investment Banker and several Entrepreneurs with money raising experiences
  • More Miscellaneous Messages
  • Anonymised Miscellaneous Messages
• VC Ratchets and Liquidation Preferences
  • Seeing the Forest for the Trees (Understanding Ratchets and Liquiditation Preferences - what counts and what doesn't)
  • Fortune Article on "Ratchets", "Cram Downs", "Washouts" and "Hiding the Baloney"
  • Messages on "Ratchets" and Liquidity Preferences

Raising Money

• Raising Private Capital: Vcapital.com; MeVcFund; Garage.com; StartupsMarket.com; Startup.com; WhoDoWeKnow.com; InternetVCwatch; CapitalKey.com; NVST.com; vFinance.com; Venture-Capitalist.com; CapitalistDirect; vfrogs.com; Capital.com; SeekingCapital; Capitalventure.com; vfinance ; (Venture Capital Resource Library with links to VC firms, law firms, etc); Accel Entrepreneurs Section (VC advice for entrepreneurs); SeekingCapital.com; OffRoadCapital; Oracle Venturenetwork; KnockNow List of VCs who fund startups (nice, thorough and detailed); CapitalIQ (for Venture capitalists);
• Angel Financing: Ron May's List of Chicago Angels; AllianceofAngles (Seattle); Atlanta Technology Angels; TechCoastAngels; TheCapitalNetwork (Texas); Silicon Alley Venture Partners; Angel Investors; FirstStageCapital; svAngel; angelsociety (services for Angels); ChgoAngels.com; PrairieAngels (Chicago); InternetAngels (New York);
• Women Angel Networks: angel2angel.com; Breakthrough.com; Renaissance Ventures; Seraph Capital Forum; WomenAngels.net; AngelTips.com; WomenAngels.net; WomentsTechCluster.org; IsabellaCapital;
• Business Plans: Bplans.com; Business Resource Software; BusinessTown.com; BizPlanIt.com;
• Other: Josh Lerner's links on VC investing (author on VC books and Harvard Business Professor)

Local High Tech Industry Newsletters and Sites

• MidWest: TheMayReport; iStreetCentral; ePrairie.com; CraigsList - Chicago; TheChicagoBrainTrust.com; LaunchChicago; Schmoozemonger; TannedFeet; KnockNow;
• New York : SiliconAlleyDaily; DutyFreeGuide (internet launch party mailing list); CocktailsWithCourtney (networking parties);
• SanFrancisco: Epicentric.com (internet launch party alert list); TheCyberScene; CraigsList - San Francisco;
• CraigsList Sites (jobs, events, community): Boston; New York; Washington DC; Portland Oregon; Seattle; Los Angeles; San Diego; Chicago; San Francisco; Sydney Australia , Melbourne Australia;
• Metrovox;