Deal Terms - The Finer Points of Venture Capital Deal Structures, Valuations, Term Sheets, Stock Options and Getting VC Deals Done (Inside the Minds)

Great book, great service

'Deal Terms' is a solid reference for entrepreneurs with 'need-to-read' (as opposed to 'nice-to-read') information regarding venture financing deals. I find Wilmerding's interviews with various relevant players (e.g. legal counsellor, venture capitalist, entrepreneur) to be a good differentiator of the book; the quick analysis of actual term sheet is also pragmatic. The 'Valuation' section is relatively generic & is the weaker part of the book.

This book has a few sample drafts of term sheets and other legal documents. That is not the primary focus of this book. You can hire that kind of talent (legal drafting) on a per hour basis. This book helps the owners make the BUSINESS decisions necessary to avoid hamstring their new venture during this difficult passage. Included is information about what to pay your independent directors, advisory board members and senior management. Also included is what percentage of the company the founders should expect to keep, how to avoid excessive dilution during an unfortunate down round and how to present your opportunity to potential investors. All of these BUSINESS decisions are beyond the discretion of attorneys in this area, they typically instruct the entrepreneur to reflect upon the topic and then the attorney will draft it to suit.Wilmerding interviews individuals that are representative of players an entrepreneur will encounter in getting his business funded. These real world examples of how business (strategy) items are handled or viewed by third parties are the best part of his book.

This book, one claimed by the publisher to fall into the need-to-read category rather than the nice-to-read, is aimed at giving the businessman the information he needs to know to be able to hold an intelligent conversation with a venture capitalist.It's a pretty quick and easy read, but the businessman who has gotten his business up to the stage where outside money is needed is probably not a financial type but an engineer, or scientist or perhaps just plain businessman. This book, written from the venture capitalist standpoint, will explain to him such things as how to value a company, verious types of stock, dilution of the ownership, in short, all of the things that will need to be understood when a big time financial deal goes down.It's not an in depth book, each of these subjects can and has several books describing them 'in depth.' Instead it is a small book that gives you what you need to know quickly.

I did finally receive this book but was quite disappointed in the vendor who did not even have the courtesy to respond to my question on shipment of my item.Other than that the book is good, and provides simple explanation of deal terms. Good for anyone wanting to understand more about this process.

This author definitely knows his stuff - but even better is author's new product called Negotiating Term Sheets and Valuations in Venture Capital Deals (ISBN 1597010987). It is a 100 minute DVD that has a lot of different material in it that is critical for doing venture capital deals. It also covers specific negotiation strategies and roles and motivations for each key deal participant - which is not covered in this book or the authors other book (Term Sheets & Valuations).

This is a great book on venture capital deals. I highly recommend it to every venture capitalist, entrepreneur, investment banker, or anyone else doing deals. The templates in it, with detailed explanations, are first rate and really simplify what to look for. There are also a plethora of deal pointers that can save you an incredible amount of time and money that anyone doing a VC deal (or trying to do a VC deal) needs to be aware of. A must have reference on your bookshelf.

A very brief and concise view of venture capital structures, but also somewhat basic in content. Examples could use more details (e.g., the sample weighted average anti-dilution calculations).Disappointed that the author does not address more complicated security structures other than common and straight convertible preferred. Also, I was surprised given the recent publication date that there was not a comparison on how deal terms have changed from the dot-com boom and bust.Certainly not a must have book for my bookshelf.Sahlman's Entrepreneurial Venture is a much better "reference" book and cheaper too.

I like this book. It is good for quick reference, especially the unusual terms that I haven't seen before this.