[thejteam]

The other day I was at a presentation on pitching investors and the presenter, a veteran entrepreneur and investor, recommended having your own set of term sheets ahead of time to present to investors. Is this a good idea? At least for pre-VC investment, which was what this presentation was primarily about.

[iterable]

Hey - by 'pre VC investment' I assume you mean raising a first round of tens or low hundreds of thousands - basically enough to hack out the first version of the product. In this case, yes, you should generate your own term sheet, and make it very reasonable (we give you some guidelines in the article) so as not to deter investors. One reason for this is that due to your stage and the amount you are raising, you are unlikely to have a 'lead' investor in the classical sense. Also - you should definitely raise this round as a convertible note. It is cheaper, faster, and much easier to 'raise as you go'.

[iterable]

Happy to answer any fundraising questions as they arise - hit me at [e-mail] - name is Michael