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How much time should a fund manager spend advising founders while closing Fund I?

How much time can a fund manager spend helping founders to gain trust? Considering all the time needed for closing Fund I, how should time be allocated? 

Top answer:

A fund manager probably needs to spend 20 hours per top Rockstar company, spread over a few months.

 - 
Community Member
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Can Accelerator Portfolio Companies Be Moved to a New Fund Without Involving Passive Shareholders?

On *Warehousing* ...Adeo Mike and anybody with experience in *Accelerator related funds*: If the passive shareholders of the *accelerator* are not necessarily LPs of the new fund were you able to move the portfolio/part of the portfolio to the new fund? And if so how (any suggestions)? Thanks!

Top answer:

It’s virtually impossible/very difficult for you to transfer an interest that you don’t own 100%.

 -  Mike Suprovici
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How to Cover Legal Expenses for a First Fund Before Closing Without Paying Out of Pocket?

Any insights on covering legal expenses for a first fund prior to closing the fund? Local VC estimates $50-60K for initial legal work all of which are recoupable from post-close admin fees. But are people just paying this out of pocket or what?

Top answer:

Legal fees can be an organizational expenses and paid by LPs. It can cost a lot more for legal work depending on the setup etc… You should only work with law firms that specialize in VC fund formations.

 -  Mike Suprovici
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How Should We Quantify the Attractiveness of Past Deals for Limited Partners: Exact Valuation or Descriptive Terms?

In the #4 question it's not clear how to quantify how each Past Deal will be attractive to Limited Partners. Should we write a valuation of the future rounds of the Deals in exact numbers or just write 'very attractive' or 'not attractive'?

Top answer:

You need to use numbers, preferably exits or markups. If you can't get these metrics, then look for revenue increases or some other clear indication of value creation and growth.

 - 
Community Member
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Is a 25% Fund of Funds Proposal with These Terms Typical, Aggressive, or Worthy of a Counteroffer?

We had an interesting fund of funds proposal for 25% of our fund. *Do you know if the proposal is typical or aggressive or have advice for a counter?* This is the offer at a high level: • 40% of commitment allocated to initial investments of our fund. • 60% of commitment allocated to co-investments in subsequent funding rounds within our portfolio ventures as selected by the FoF (we don't receive any carry) • Option for FoF to lead subsequent funding rounds (for individual portfolio companies) as Lead Investor • 1 IC seat (we're okay with it)

Top answer:

You’re not going to be able to honor these terms because they are dependent on the company. What if the company doesn’t want them to lead? These are definitely NOT standard terms.

 -  Mike Suprovici
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Do Anchors Seeking Favorable Terms Align with HBS Study Findings on Traditional Private Equity?

Is it worthwhile or advisable to politely push back on anchors requesting favorable terms with resources we find that suggest that 'In contrast to traditional private equity settings none of the interviewed [for this HBS study] anchors sought fee breaks or other preferential economic terms. Some were attracted by the ability to shape the direction and legal structure of the fund or serve on the LP advisory board?' Mike made mention in a previous AMA that such favorable terms actually don't meaningfully move an LP closer to investment anyways which was interesting.

Top answer:

Avoid anchors in Fund 1s and avoid favorable terms for any LP

 -  Mike Suprovici
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Is it Safe to Use High-Multiple Fund Model Results Before Thorough Validation and Scrutiny?

My fund model is coming in really high multiples. I am suspicious. Have sent to my team for additional layers of extreme validation and scrutiny but I’m afraid to put these numbers in the deck until I can really really defend them. Does anyone else have this issue? I feel tempted to pull some standard off the shelf numbers and put them in for now until we can validate these further and I feel more solid in them…but they’d be wrong. Thoughts?

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What is the Optimal Way to Display a Single Management Fee Rate on Slides for a 10-Year Fund?

What is the best way to present management fees as a single number on slides? For example we want to front-load the fees for our 10Y fund at 3.5% for the active investment period (3 years) and then drop them to 1%. Average over 10years comes to 1.75%. What would be the management fee rate that goes on the slides?

Top answer:

Put 2% average on your terms page. In parentheses next to it you can briefly describe the front loading.

 -  Mike Suprovici
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Do You Assign All Due Diligence Costs to LP or Deduct Them from Management Fees in Fund Expenses Modeling?

Hi Everyone when modelling fund expenses are you assigning all due diligence costs to LP or do they go from the management fees?

Top answer:

You should assume that they will come from management fees. In general, it’s good practice to reduce the additional expenses to LPs.

 -  Mike Suprovici
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Where to Allocate Expenses for Attending Port Co Board Meetings: Management or Fund Expenses?

Where should we bucket expenses (travel+frugal entertainment) associated with attending port co board meetings? Management Co Expenses or can that be pushed to Fund Expenses?

Top answer:

You can _technically_ charge stuff like this as a fund expense, but some/most LPs would have a problem with that because that’s part of your job and they are commonly paid from management fees. So, typically those are done at the ManCo l...