Fundraising in Silicon ValleySean Percival, Partner 500 Startups

About Me

• Sean Percival• Partner, 500 Startups• Ran our MV Accelerator• Investor in 100+ startups• Working on the Nordics next• On Twitter @Percival

Previously • Founder• VP Online Marketing, Myspace• Janitor

Fundraising in Silicon Valley Today

Source: Twitter (500 is an investor in AngelList)

$80B+ into US Startups in 2015

Source: Mattermark (500 Investment)

SV Fundraising: The Good and the Bad

The Good

• Lots of capital available• Well defined milestones• Lots of accelerators and

mentorship available• Efficient investment vehicles

(convertible notes, AngelList and other syndicates)

The Bad

• Lots of capital available• High bar for Seed/Series A• Silly valuations• Saturation in certain verticals• Still difficult for international startups

to get funding in SV (but getting better)

Hacks for Fundraising in the Valley

• Leverage the accelerators for validation• Find brand name investors/advisors• Get customers/clients/users (traction!)• Use AngelList• Have the right corp structure (Delaware C-Corp)• Have a presence in the valley (or fake it)

The Investors You Really Want

• They are “value add” • They are there when things go wrong (and

they most certainly will)• Send the right signals to upstream investors• Their reputation is more important to them

than the capital they provide• They know how make money, and have fun