Startany webinar with Sean Percival, partner at 500 Startups, that took place on December 14, 2015.

1. Fundraising in Silicon Valley
Sean Percival, Partner 500 Startups

2. 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

3. Fundraising in Silicon Valley Today
Source: Twitter (500 is an investor in AngelList)

4. $80B+ into US Startups in 2015
Source: Mattermark (500 Investment)

5. 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)

6. 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)

7. 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