Naficy: Lack of online transparency let 1990s VCs abuse term sheets
Mariam Naficy · Minted: Mariam Naficy · Jun 4, 2018 · at 16:40
Mariam Naficy recounts venture capital firms colluding to slash Eve.com's valuation from $6 million to $4 million after signing a non-binding term sheet.
0:00 / 0:28exact quote · 28.2s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“It's a term sheet is, unfortunately, not binding. It's a indication of interest that's really a buildup of good faith, and so you could do it and get away with it, absolutely, and it happened a lot in, you know, in the late nineties when you didn't have online Transparency and reputation where other entrepreneurs could learn about what people were doing to you, and so there was no consequence, and so you could become, as an investor, much more abusive.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Mariam Naficy
Naficy: Competitor acquired supplier to force a buyout of Minted
“So I went in for the meeting, and after a little bit of chatter he said, we'd like to buy you. We'd like to buy your business. And I realized in that moment that that whole thing had been constructed to basically force us to sell our business.”
Naficy: Male founders receive more VC credit for past entrepreneurial success
“I think that if I were a man, I would probably Have gotten a little bit more credit for what I'd previously delivered. I think the personal reputation effect of what had happened with E would have magnified.”
Naficy: Silicon Valley investors don't understand design or its importance
“When I say Silicon Valley doesn't have design confidence, I mean the investors in Silicon Valley don't really understand design and why it's important.”
Naficy: Competitor acquired Minted's key printer two weeks before holiday peak
“The first week of October, my cell phone rings at about five o'clock. It's the CEO of a much, much larger competitor. And they basically say, we want you to hear the news from us. We have bought this printing company of yours that, that you use You know, this …”