Convertible Note/ Safe Notes
I’ve been seeing many early-stage VCs / HNIs using convertible / SAFE notes financing.
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Should you be choosing them over Equity or CCPS?
SAFE came into vogue in late 2013 for 2 reasons:
> Reduce legal and administration costs
> Reduce back-and-forth on valuations
Here’s how they can go wrong:
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SAFE instruments can often get abused and may end up abusing you later.
Multiple rounds with multiple caps can make the cap-table extremely messy and founders tend to lose track of their dilution.
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How long will ‘kicking valuation down the road’ help?
Valuation events are healthy. Both discover what gives a business its value and align on the long term objectives.
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SAFE is not great for everything.
SAFE notes are great for bridge rounds, but when used as a substitute to ‘venture financing’, they end up becoming dumb money.
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Is there an alignment problem?
Investors want a low valuation.
Founders want a high valuation.
This non-alignment could mean reduced flexibility to scout/ wait for better deals.
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Lead equity investors do add value.
A Lead equity is a pretty potent role. Validation. Diligence. Deliberations. Don't discount the value of that.
My advice:
👊 Be SAFE in moderation.
Have some questions on how to not make rookie mistakes?
Drop me a hi on nag@prequate.in.
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