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Noon to 1:00 p.m. Luncheon on the Veranda
1:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. Agenda Review and Introductions
1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Investing in the Current Environment
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INVESTMENT PACE / PRICING
According to Venture Economics and other industry resources,
venture investing decreased 26% from last quarter and 53% from
a year ago. What is the pace of investing for each fund? How
many deals have you completed in the last six months? What do
we think of the current quality of deals in the pipeline? How
long is your due diligence cycle? Have the valuations changed
proportionally with other stages? Discuss the valuations for
each of your fund’s last three deals.
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INTERNAL TERMS AND FINANCING STRUCTURES
How do you approach structuring insider rounds? What are the
risks and trade-offs? How are prices set for internal rounds
and what kinds of terms are being used? Two times liquidation
preferences – do they help or hinder?
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What are creative strategies being used to mitigate risk of
down rounds and insider financings in the future? How many funds
traunch investments based on milestones? What are the pros and
cons? How many funds will do cross fund investing?
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SYNDICATION
Which firms prefer not to syndicate initial rounds? Why? For
those who syndicate, when do you start the syndication process,
whom do you include, and how do you divide the financing? Has
anyone experienced syndicates that fall apart?
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COMPETITIVE CLIMATE
What is the competitive climate for seed and early stage deals?
What strategies are we employing to cope with the competition?
How are the large funds impacting the seed and early stage venture
industry today, and what will be the impact in the future?
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CREATIVE STRATEGIES
What other creative strategies are we using?
2:15 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Managing the Portfolio
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PORTFOLIO COMPANY MANAGEMENT
What percentage of time and resources are being focused on existing
portfolio companies? Are funds deploying strategies and/or policies
across all portfolio companies? How are you managing burn rates?
How far will funds consider cutting companies back? What is
the profile of companies that are able to secure follow-on funding?
When is the right time to make an investment versus liquidate
decision for a portfolio company? When is it prudent to put
a company into hibernation versus write-off the investment?
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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Has there been any impact on funds because of the Enron, WorldCom,
etc., scandals? Has the role of a board member changed? How
do you balance the needs of the management and the employees
with your fiduciary responsibilities as an investor? What strategies
are being used to ensure accountable and transparent governance?
2:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Break
3:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Speaker
Mr. William F. Meehan III
Director
McKinsey & Company
3:45 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Managing the Portfolio (Continued)
4:15 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Limited Partner Relations
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THE FUNDRAISING CLIMATE
How many fund managers have recently finished fundraising? What
is the current environment for early stage funds? Who is investing?
Who isn’t? What is the general perspective on smaller early
stage funds versus larger funds? How much time and cost is required
to raise a new fund?
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NEW TERMS AND DEMANDS
What are the significant new terms required by Limited Partners?
4:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. The Future
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VENTURE CAPITAL
What will happen to early stage investing over the next 12 to
18 months? When will the VC market recover from the "devastation"
of the past year and a half?
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BEST SECTORS FOR FUTURE INVESTMENT
What do we believe to be the most promising industries/sectors
for investing? What strategies do funds use to find the next
exciting sector?
5:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wrap up
5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception
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