Buzz Archive:
How Deal Terms Affect Valuation & Liquidity

by Justin Byers, Business Intelligence Analyst, 7/29/2010

Last week, entrepreneur turned venture capitalist and blogger Mark Suster had an excellent post titled, "Want to Know How VC's Calculate Valuation Differently from Founders?". In his post, he referenced the importance of deal terms to company founders and we wanted to expand upon that discussion. First of all, I do not know Mr. Suster, so any additional observations revealed within this post are simply the result of further analysis utilizing the tools and information available at www.vcexperts.com.

Whether it be "The Encyclopedia of Private Equity and Venture Capital", the "Glossary of Private Equity and Venture Capital", the "Valuation and Terms Database" (VAT), or the "Portfolio Company Analysis Tool" (PCAT), we at VC Experts like to pride ourselves on the data that we provide to the venture capital community. Our data is not bias to any particular side of the table, but in reality, makes both sides of the table more aware on how the negotiations of a deal are going to affect them.

One of our most utilized tools is the Valuation and Terms Database, or what we refer to as the VAT. The VAT is a one of a kind database that provides the specific deal terms and valuations for thousands of private company financings. This is not exactly the type of data that you can find through a search engine on the internet. The data is compiled using publicly filed regulatory documents (both state and federal), such as the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation. We make copies of these documents available with every set of deal terms that we post in the database.

Within the VAT, we report Liquidation Preference as the order in which the liquidation amounts will be distributed. (Ex: Senior, Pari-Passu, Junior, or N/A if there are no other rounds prior to the current. This is assumed that if Preferred is issued, then all Preferred Stock is Senior to the Common Stock unless stated otherwise.)

We report the Liquidation Multiple which dictates how much of their money the investor will get before any other holders get anything.