Publications

March 2010 (Revised December 2012)
Background Note

A 'Rich-vs.-King' Approach to Term Sheet Negotiations

By: Noam Wasserman, Furqan Nazeeri and Kyle Anderson

This note offers a new approach to venture capital term-sheet negotiations, with actionable steps based on insights from Professor Wasserman's "Rich-vs.-King" approach to founder decisions. A core thesis of this note is that trying to negotiate all terms in a term... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Framework; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry

May 2012 (Revised October 2012)
Supplement

H-Soft (B-2): Vikram Sharma

By: Ramana Nanda

Siddharth Kapoor, the Founder and CEO of H-Soft Mumbai, reflected on his meetings as he walked out of VC Ventures' offices in Mumbai. After a few months of intensely pitching his startup to several different investors, he finally had a term sheet in hand. Despite this... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Venture Capital Term Sheet; India; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Investment; Contracts; Partners and Partnerships; India

September 2011
Background Note

Term Sheet Negotiations: A "Rich-vs.-King" Approach

By: Noam Wasserman, Furqan Nazeeri and Kyle Anderson

To give students and entrepreneurs a framework to guide their term-sheet negotiations with Venture Capitalists. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Framework; Negotiation

August 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

DexAI

By: Jo Tango and Christina Wallace

During a challenging fundraising environment, the DexAI founders received two term sheets with nearly identical economic terms but very different legal ones. The entrepreneurs had to navigate: representations and warranties (their personal guarantees that the company's... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital Term Sheet; Term Sheet; Term Sheets; Founders; Legal Aspects Of Business; Seed Financing; Founders' Agreements; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Intellectual Property; Entrepreneurial Finance; Contracts; Business Startups; Agreements and Arrangements

May 2012 (Revised October 2012)
Supplement

H-Soft (B-1): Siddharth Kapoor

By: Ramana Nanda

Siddharth Kapoor, the Founder and CEO of H-Soft Mumbai, reflected on his meetings as he walked out of VC Ventures' offices in Mumbai. After a few months of intensely pitching his startup to several different investors, he finally had a term sheet in hand. Despite this... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Venture Capital Term Sheet; India; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Investment; Contracts; Partners and Partnerships; India

May 2012 (Revised October 2012)
Case

H-Soft Mumbai

By: Ramana Nanda

Siddharth Kapoor, the Founder and CEO of H-Soft Mumbai reflected on his meeting as he walked out of VC Ventures' offices in Mumbai. After a few months of intensely pitching his startup to several different investors, he finally had a term sheet in hand. Despite this... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Venture Capital Term Sheet; India; Business Startups; Investment; Venture Capital; Contracts; Partners and Partnerships; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Offer; Decision Making

February 2014
Background Note

Raising Startup Capital

By: Jeffrey Bussgang

Entrepreneurs typically focus their full energies on business-building. But raising capital is a core part of building a valuable business. Developing expertise in raising capital is more than a necessary evil, it is a competitive weapon. Master it and you will be in a... View Details

November 2005 (Revised November 2011)
Background Note

Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital in Healthcare Fall Term 2011: Course Outline and Syllabus

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Robert F. Higgins

Provides an overview of the second-year MBA elective course Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital in Healthcare. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Health Care and Treatment

17 Aug 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Venture Capital Data: Opportunities and Challenges

Keywords: by Steven N. Kaplan and Josh Lerner; Financial Services; Banking

2021
Article

Venture Capital Booms and Startup Financing

By: William Janeway, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We review the growing literature on the relationship between venture capital booms and startup financing, focusing on three broad areas: First, we discuss the drivers of large inflows into the venture capital asset class, particularly in recent years—which are related... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Policy

05 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Venture Capital Goes Boom—or Bust?

Ninety percent of new entrepreneurial businesses that don't attract venture capital fail within three years. A software engineer at the government contractor EG&G, Don Brooks had been working on computer... View Details

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers & Josh Lerner

September 1998 (Revised November 1998)
Case

Walnut Venture Associates (D): RBS Deal Terms

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Business Plan; Research; Software; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry

23 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

The Future of the Venture Capital Cycle

in the development of what economists term "agglomeration economies" in the regions with the greatest venture capital activity. The efficiency of the View Details

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers & Josh Lerner; Financial Services

06 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Success

Corporate-sponsored venture funds first appeared in the 1960s, about two decades after the first flowering of the venture capital industry. Ever since, they have mirrored the... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner

26 Jan 2004
Research & Ideas

How Women Can Get More Venture Capital

recently sat down with HBS Working Knowledge to share her latest thinking. Her new book, Clearing the Hurdles, co-written with Candida G. Brush, Nancy M. Carter, Elizabeth Gatewood, and Patricia G. Greene, will be out in May 2004 from Prentice Hall. HBS Working... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark & Martha Lagace

November 2005
Background Note

Deal Structure and Deal Terms

By: Michael J. Roberts and Howard H. Stevenson

Describes the general principles of crafting financial deals around the provision of capital to entrepreneurial ventures. Discusses in more detail some of the specific aspects of venture capital term sheets. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Governance Compliance; Negotiation Deal

2010
Book

Mastering the VC Game: A Venture Capital Insider Reveals How to Get from Start-up to IPO on Your Terms

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang

An essential, insider's guide to the secrets of the world of venture capital, written by one of the few people who have played on both sides of this high-stakes game. In it, you will find detailed insights, colorful stories, and practical advice gathered from... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Initial Public Offering; Personal Development and Career

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