Financial Planning Archive

Randy Churchill and his team at PricewaterhouseCoopers meticulously prepare a quarterly report detailing the venture landscape, called Shaking The Money Tree. The data consistently confirms...

Three Factors Which Intoxicate Venture Capitalists
August 29, 2011 | 4 Comments
Randy Churchill and his team at PricewaterhouseCoopers meticulously prepare a quarterly report detailing the venture landscape, called Shaking The Money Tree. The data consistently confirms that: (i) venture capitalists are typically not adventuresome, and (ii) most startups lack the three intoxicating factors which cause venture capitalists to pull out their checkbooks.

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Startup blogger and venture capitalist extraordinaire Fred Wilson recently published a great article on Venture Debt, which I strongly suggest you review HERE. Go ahead,...

When Does Venture Debt Make Sense For Your Startup?
July 11, 2011 | 2 Comments
Startup blogger and venture capitalist extraordinaire Fred Wilson recently published a great article on Venture Debt, which I strongly suggest you review HERE. Go ahead, I will wait… …welcome back. As Fred points out, many entrepreneurs hear the word “debt” and promptly run the other direction. In the past, venture debt was often viewed as a funding vehicle of last resort. When the current investors were tapped out and a bigger fool could not be brought into a venture, all eyes turn towards debt. However, when deployed judiciously, venture debt can mitigate investors’ and founders’ dilution. At Rincon Venture Partners, we are in the midst of negotiating a term sheet with a cash-positive startup that is growing aggressively. The nature of the company’s business model requires it to fund certain costs before it is paid by its customers. Thus, even though the company is cash flow positive, its growth is constrained by the amount of payables it can fund. Enter venture debt. By combining our equity investment with a tranche of venture debt, the company has avoided a larger equity round, which would have significantly diluted the Founders’ ownership share.

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Below is a talk on New Venture Investing from the University of California Santa Barbara's Technology Management Program, by Jim Andelman. In this video Jim...

TMP Talks: Jim Andelman on New Venture Investing
September 16, 2010 | No Comments
Below is a talk on New Venture Investing from the University of California Santa Barbara's Technology Management Program, by Jim Andelman. In this video Jim Andelman explores venture capital investing and the emergence of capital efficient businesses. Bio: Jim Andelman, co-founder and General Partner of Rincon Venture Partner Jim is a co-founder and General Partner of Rincon Venture Partners. In this capacity, he is responsible for driving the fund’s investment activities, as well as the firm’s operations. Jim has more than fifteen years of experience in venture capital investing, technology investment banking and advisory services and strategic business consulting. Previously, Jim led software investing at Broadview Capital Partners, a $250 million expansion-stage venture capital firm. Jim was responsible for developing investment themes, sourcing investment opportunities, performing company assessments, negotiating and executing transactions, and advising portfolio companies. Jim led the assessment of over 300 investment opportunities, participated in the deployment of $78 million across five portfolio companies, four of which exited via acquisition despite a challenging macroeconomic environment.

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True, Venture Debt is often the funding vehicle of last resort. When the Board is tapped out and a bigger fool cannot be brought into...

Venture Debt - The Other Green Money
October 23, 2007 | 1 Comment
True, Venture Debt is often the funding vehicle of last resort. When the Board is tapped out and a bigger fool cannot be brought into the venture, all eyes turn towards debt. But wait, debt can be your friend… if deployed wisely. When does venture debt make sense? To answer this question, let’s analyze a real-world example.

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It was the biggest day in the young Beatles’ fledgling career: an audition with Decca Records. However, rather than showcase such high-energy Beatle originals as...

Brian Epstein is Not John Lennon, and Neither is Your VC
June 19, 2007 | 6 Comments
It was the biggest day in the young Beatles’ fledgling career: an audition with Decca Records. However, rather than showcase such high-energy Beatle originals as “I Saw Her Standing There”, or “The One After 909”, Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ Manager, focused the group’s efforts on sappy show tunes and languid pop standards. The result was a listless audition and the ultimate rejection of the world’s most successful recording act by the otherwise astute Decca Records. When you complete this reading, you will be able to answer the following question: a. Sports writers are to athletes b. Theatre critics are to actors c. Band managers are to musicians d. All of the above VC are to Entrepreneurs as ________ are to _________:

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Along with Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham” and Marcia Brown’s “Stone Soup”, the seemingly innocuous board game “Monopoly” has played a pivotal role in...

Monopoly
June 19, 2007 | 2 Comments
Along with Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham” and Marcia Brown’s “Stone Soup”, the seemingly innocuous board game “Monopoly” has played a pivotal role in the United States’ rise as an economic superpower.

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