Chapter 12
Negotiating Your Terms
In This Chapter
The fundamentals of negotiating for venture deals
Inviting players to the table
Identifying and negotiating the most important terms
When you go into a negotiation with anyone about anything, you need to know what you want. You cannot argue for your goals if you don’t know what they are. Therefore, negotiation is about self-discovery first and foremost. Although the mandate to “know thyself” seems like an easy task, deeply understanding your interests and the interests of your company isn’t always easy. You have to do a lot of research. When people think that they are bad at negotiating, the real issue is that they haven’t dug into the details of their own interests.
When you negotiate your deal with investors, you have to make guesses, predictions, and plans far into the future, and you have to understand the implications behind pricing your company and dividing the control of your business with shareholders.
Negotiation isn’t about fighting, aggression, anger or acting rude. It’s about trying to find out whether everyone at the table can be happy. It’s also about maximizing the potential outcomes for everyone. This chapter describes ...
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