anyone has drafted a term sheet before?
VC intern. was just assigned to draft a term sheet for an investment. i swear this baby is gonna give me a few all nighters. i hope i can learn something out of it. if not, well...
VC intern. was just assigned to draft a term sheet for an investment. i swear this baby is gonna give me a few all nighters. i hope i can learn something out of it. if not, well...
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Doesn't your fund have a set of standard terms / a template or can't you at least recycle previous sheets?
I only started drafting term sheets 1 year into private equity and even then, the first 3 term sheets were drafted multiple times to be vetted by the deal leads (either VP or Principal level).
The reality is that re-creating the term sheet is a grunt job because the full-time analysts have "better" things to spend their time on. Unfortunately this is what you have to do as an intern. Like others said, use this opportunity to learn the intricacies of a term sheet because structuring one takes a shit ton of brain cells if you're doing it for the first time.
Nice. It will take a while but don't get too worried. You can get through this. Firstly, 20 pages seems really long. I don't think I've ever seen one over 10, and my fund did some VC rounds valued over $1B. Maybe the reason it's so long is because the startup has pre-drafted all the Reps & Warranties that will eventually be the Stock Purchase Agreement... IDK
Regardless, take a look at the NVCA's term sheet template: http://www.nvca.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=108&It…
Key things that you need to make sure you have right are: Purchase Price / Price per share -- This needs tie to your fully diluted cap table
Pre-money valuation (which + all money invested in this round should = Fully diluted post financing valuation on the Cap Table)
Dividends: Make sure you know what your firm wants these to be. Often they are 8% and simple interest but that is a fund by fund number and interest method
Liquidation preference: (Extremely Important) -- Are you -Non-Participating Preferred (sometimes called convertible preferred) which means you either get the value of your liquidation preference (=amt invested + accrued dividend assuming 1.0x liq pref) or the amount if you converted all preferred shares into common stock. -or Participating Preferred which means you get your liquidation preference + full participation when converted into common stock
Voting Rights: Check with your senior guys. How do you want to do this? Your firm may prefer a specific voting policy for board members. Or they may prefer a certain majority % of shareholders must vote to pass something.
Protective Provisions: The NVCA one is pretty comprehensive and most startup lawyers will try to strip out some of these. Essentially this is trying to say without the new investors authorization, you cant do these things. Generally the most important are: ii) amend, alter, or repeal any provision of the Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws [in a manner adverse to the Series A Preferred];
(iii) create or authorize the creation of or issue any other security convertible into or exercisable for any equity security, having rights, preferences or privileges senior to or on parity with the Series A Preferred, or increase the authorized number of shares of Series A Preferred; (iv) purchase or redeem or pay any dividend on any capital stock prior to the Series A Preferred, [other than stock repurchased from former employees or consultants in connection with the cessation of their employment/services, at the lower of fair market value or cost;] [other than as approved by the Board, including the approval of [_____] Series A Director(s)]; vii) increase or decrease the size of the Board of Directors]
These provisions keeps your fund from getting diluted without your say. As well, they limit board numbers keeping your ability to control the board decisions constant
Anti-Dilution: You need to find out what your senior guys want to do here. This clause basically means if the next round of investment is at a lower valuation than this one, how will existing shares be treated so they don't get over-diluted. The math behind doing this on a cap table is messy but the most common way is to do the weighted average (exactly whats on the NVCA template)
Those are, in my opinion, the big ones. Regarding Reps and Warranties, that's a much bigger thing and I don't have a template to send your way. Let me know if that sections been heavily populated or not.
Hopefully that helps... Good Luck
read Venture Deals by Brad Feld
I agree with TheBigBambino. As an IB and VC intern I have had to make a couple term sheets, none of which exceeded 10 pages. As for the specific content of the term sheet it is dependent on the structure of your fund.
Good luck with the project!
The nvca docs are a bit long. Techstars and Brad Feld's blog have some shorter/easier templates. There is no need for a 20 page term sheet in a VC deal.
As others have noted, there is a ton of information floating around tech and vc blogs about term sheets. The industry is incredibly transparent, you just need to know where to look. Here's a good compendium of resources: http://www.quora.com/What-are-examples-of-good-startup-term-sheets
what term sheet is 20 pages long? wtf
Curious as to how much stuff you had to add into the document that the original source tried to skate by without?
VC Experts has some interesting data and templates as well. I agree that 20 pages is a bit too long, and somewhat cumbersome to navigate.
Sample term sheet (Originally Posted: 05/17/2010)
Hello,
I am new to the forum and I am looking for a sample term sheet/joint venture agreement template. I cannot find anything I like on google. Could someone point me in the right direction?
Thank you.
That's because term sheet refers to the general terms set out in a deal; you have to look for a specific one. For example: Term Loan B Term Seet, Revolving Credit Facility Term Sheet; Acquisition of Equity Terms, etc.
http://www.archadvisors.com/webdocs/Term-Sheet-Private-Equity-Cross-Bor…
http://www.archadvisors.com/webdocs/Term-Sheet-Mezzanine-Debt.pdf
Look here and you'll see the vast amounts of "term sheets" there are. I'd go ahead and search for some through this website.
http://www.realdealdocs.com/DocumentCategories.aspx
Sources for Term sheet & Valuation (Originally Posted: 08/24/2009)
Hi,
Any good source for term sheets and valuation ? I read a lot of theory around PE but I am looking for realized valuations and due dilignec einformation leading to transactions. Any advice ?
type function ddis or crpr.
What's a term sheet? (Originally Posted: 03/08/2011)
I cold emailed a small wealth management firm for an internship and they emailed me back asking for a resume and a term sheet. What's a term sheet?
That's an odd request given you are seeking an internship. Is there a chance they asked for a resume and cover letter?
A term sheet is typically used by lenders/investors to summarize the key terms of a proposed deal. For example, a lender term sheet would include things such as the borrower, amount, maturity, rate, use of proceeds, covenants, etc.
If they're literally asking you for a term sheet, they may want you to submit something that would described what you are asking of them. Job description, internship timing, expected compensation. But, like I said, that would be a very unusual ask.
They could be asking for your transcript.
I would just ask for clarification-I personally have no idea.
Term= semester. So transcript
Yeah, I think they want your transcript.
But generally in the AM industry, a term sheet refers to the "terms" of a deal. For example, you would find a term sheet in any hedge fund or private equity offering memorandum (OM). The term sheet would state "terms" such a minimum investment amount, closing dates, fees, expected size of the fund, expected IRR, etc.
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