Raising from the right VC

Filed in archive Venture Capital on January 28, 2005

Jeff Nolan takes on the questionnaire we had here. He provides wonderful insights:

"What do you think the exit will be on this investment? Do you think it will be a financial buyer or a strategic buyer?
You
are going to be asked this question. It's only appropriate that
you find out up front what the expectations of your investors are
regarding this critical issue.

There are 4 possible outcomes,
1) you go out of business and lose all my money, 2) you get acquired by
someone, 3) you go public, 4) this becomes a nice little business that
is run for cash flow. Obviously #1 is bad, but #4 is bad as well
because the only way I'm gonna get my money back is through #2 or #3.
Can I predict when #2 or #3 will happen? No. Will either happen if you
are executing on your business plan and become an opportunity or threat
to other companies (for #3 specifically)? Yes. If it's an A round deal,
well then you have more than a couple of years to figure it out, but if
you are raising your EEE round of funding, then you better have a good
answer for me about how you will achieve #2 or #3 pretty damn quick!"