Don’t blow up your Series A term sheet by over-optimizing terms | A View from the Valley

Let’s say you’re a first-time entrepreneur and you’ve hit on an idea that is getting some traction and attracting the attention of VCs.  You do some research online to familiarize yourself with customary terms and finally get a term sheet from a reputable VC at a valuation you think is fair.  Next comes the fun part – negotiating the term sheet.  Negotiating term sheets should be straightforward, but sometimes when you combine first-time entrepreneurs with inexperienced counsel, the results can be toxic.

This is a good reference on where to start when dealing with negotiating term sheets.

The 20 Hot New York City Startups You Need To Watch

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How to Not Suck at a Group Presentation

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Most people suck at presenting to big groups. It’s a shame because the ability to nail these presentations at key conferences can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to influence journalists, business partners, potential employees, customers and VCs.

This was evident at the Twiistup pre-event company pitch last week at UCLA. Francisco Dao came up with the idea of letting 10 companies that weren’t selected for Twiistup to do a presentation the night before to a group of people and let the audience pick one company to win the final slot at Twiistup. I was the judge. It was mostly painful. I’m not saying the companies were bad – many were not. But their presentations were not well prepared, not well delivered and lacking in a compelling story that captured the imagination of the audience (or me).

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http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/01/31/how-to-not-suck-at-a-group-pres…