247. You Need a Term Sheet Before Thanksgiving Artwork

VC Minute

Quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better. Founders, do you feel like you're fundraising on an uneven playing field? You are. The VC minute is here to help you level up. Venture capitalists navigate pitches and negotiate investments every day. They know the ins and outs and are up-to-date on the current funding environment. But as a founder, it may be your first foray into fundraising, and no matter how much success you've had in other areas nothing truly prepares you for the fundraising journey. The VC Minute was created to help founders close this gap. While it may seem like securing an investment at the seed stage is mostly driven by luck, there are steps founders can take to increase the odds of successfully raising a round. And that's what we're going to cover on the VC Minute through a series of short episodes. I'm going to share with you insights to help navigate the seed stage financing dynamics. I'm Rich Maloy, Managing Partner at SpringTime Ventures with 25 years business experience a dozen years in the startup ecosystem. I've applied my experience from sales, finance, and venture investing, to help startup founders fundraise better.

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VC Minute

247. You Need a Term Sheet Before Thanksgiving

August 19, 2024 • Rich Maloy • Season 4 • Episode 247

Text your thoughts directly to Rich.

There are 14 weeks between now and Thanksgiving. If you don't have a term sheet by then, you're not going to get one until Q1 next year.

About AVL Growth Partners
AVL Growth Partners, founded in 2009, is the leading fractional Finance and Accounting firm supporting organizations in pivoting from growth to scale. AVL brings an experienced team of CFOs, Controllers, and Accountants to your organization, delivering transparent, strategic actions for short and long-term success. Transform your financial approach affordably with AVL, supporting companies coast to coast - get to know AVL Growth Partners at avlgrowth.com. (Sponsored)

About SpringTime Ventures
SpringTime Ventures seeds high-growth startups in healthcare, fintech & insurtech, and logistics & supply chain. We look for founders with domain expertise, forging a path with a truly transformative technology. We only invest in software-based businesses in the USA. We bring a people-focused approach, work quickly, and reach conviction independently. Our initial check size is $600k. You can learn more about us and our approach.

Rich: 0:01

This is Rich Maloy with SpringTime Ventures, bringing you the VC Minute, quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better. Welcome back everybody and happy August. When I left off in June, I was talking about the summer, slow down. I hope you use that time productively to focus on the business, bump those numbers up and to get ready for your next deadline. You have three and a half months to get a term sheet. If you don't have a term sheet, or are negotiating one, by Thanksgiving, you're not going to get one before the end of the year. That gives you 14 weeks to get a funding round done. Okay, wait a sec. Why Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving to end of year is a scramble to get deals done. Nearly the whole industry shifts to focus on finishing up the term sheets that they've already signed before Thanksgiving. This means investors are neck-deep in emails and phone calls and zoom calls with the founders and the lawyers and the founders' lawyers dealing with the negotiations on deal docs and allocations, and last minute changes, and then getting the wires done, all before the end of the year. There are always exceptions, but don't ever plan on being the exception. This week, I'm going to go through some of the logistics on how you can execute your raise over the next three months, cap it off with a term sheet and celebrate before the end of the year.. Or should you put the focus on the business for the next four months and push a fundraise out to Q1? And we'll talk about that at the end of the week. But first, Outsourcing your finance and accounting function is a no brainer for startups. And you need to work with a firm that specializes in high growth companies. Founded in 2009. AVL has fueled the success of over 1200 early stage companies. Specializing in raising capital, M&A, financial modeling, scaling, and bringing financial transparency and a disciplined approach to the companies they work with. AVL works seamlessly as a member of your team and has the experience to support both VC-backed and bootstrapped companies. Head to AVLgrowth.com and explore how they can be pivotal to your growth. AVL Growth Partners. Your success. Their expertise.

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