5 ms·

The Deal on the Table (1994)

59 points by lpolovets 9y ago

paulsutter 9y ago
Autodesk stock is up 28x since the "1987 high" mentioned in the article (so that forgone $37M could be $1B now) https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ADSK/ https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ADSK/
- Arianna34 9y ago
  My mothers neighbour is working part time and averaging $9000 a month. I'm a single mum and just got my first paycheck for $6546! I still can't believe it. I tried it out cause I got really desperate and now I couldn't be happier. Heres what I do, •••••••••>> http://www.joinmate2.com http://www.joinmate2.com
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- posguy 9y ago
  Taking a deal akin to what was offered would have been a poor decision in light of the profits Autodesk was making at the time. Additionally, the concept that shopping around between investment offerings is dissuaded at all is a serious abuse of the market, distorting said market heavily in the investor's favor.
- golergka 9y ago
  Hindsight is 20/20. Decisions should only be evaluated based on the information available at the time of the decision. Was Autodesk that successful at the time of that negotiation?
  - jsnell 9y ago
    Yes, they were already profitable and growing like crazy (30% month on month).
  - x0x0 9y ago
    > at the time of these negotiations, generating sales equal to the size of the deal every month and generating after-tax profits close to the size of the deal every quarter.
Nanite 9y ago
Would be very interesting to see the evolution of term sheets over the last few decades. The shifting power balance between founders & investors, seeing novel provisions become boilerplate etc.
- lpolovets 9y ago
  Cooley and Fenwick track a lot of term sheet trends. See https://www.fenwick.com/topics/pages/topicsdetail.aspx?topicname=vc%20survey https://www.fenwick.com/topics/pages/topicsdetail.aspx?topic... and https://www.cooleygo.com/trends/ https://www.cooleygo.com/trends/. The Fenwick reports go back at least a decade. Maybe someone will a lot of free time will put them on a graph someday :)
- Animats 9y ago
  Multiple rounds of VC financing is a relatively new thing. In the early years, it was typically one round of VC financing to get the thing working, then profitability, then exit via IPO.
Kiro 9y ago
> But, our Distinguished Financial Advisor informed us that this would constitute ``shopping the deal'' when ``a deal was on the table'' which was right out by the genteel standards of the venture community What does this mean?
- lpolovets 9y ago
  Shopping a term sheet means that when you get an investment offer, you go shop the term sheet around to other VCs to try to get a better offer. As you might expect, VCs don't like that. http://cdixon.org/2009/09/02/dont-shop-your-term-sheet/ http://cdixon.org/2009/09/02/dont-shop-your-term-sheet/
  - noja 9y ago
    VCs might not like competition, but maybe it would be good for them!
    - sslayer 9y ago
      Agreed, Considering the "C" stands for Capitalist, a competitive market shouldn't scare them. IMO they want you to play by their own rules, not "free" market rules.
  - crdoconnor 9y ago
    He seems to be arguing with a nod and a wink that SV VCs form a sort of cartel.
  - CalChris 9y ago
    Did they not have syndicates in that era? How do you syndicate without in some sense shopping?
- elmar 9y ago
  this was incorrect only after signing an actual term sheet is it considered shopping the deal.
- tomjen3 9y ago
elmar 9y ago
the actual date is 1984 not 1994.
- dfox 9y ago
  The fourth edition of Autodesk File that this leads into was published in 1994.
- jasode 9y ago
  Yes, there are 2 dates: 1984: the date of the actual events 1994: the date of the online book (4th edition) describing those events: https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/
rodrigocoelho 9y ago
[OT] And since you're there, try their "yoursky" tool: https://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/
- owenversteeg 9y ago
  Saying this because I didn't know it for years: Fourmilab isn't a "they", it's just the personal website of John Walker, the founder of Autodesk and a fantastically interesting person. Not to be confused with "fermilab" of course, which is a United States national lab that does high-energy particle physics. There are a ton of very interesting things on his site, including a DIY RNG that uses a radioactive source and an event counter: https://www.fourmilab.ch/hotbits/hardware.html https://www.fourmilab.ch/hotbits/hardware.html I wonder if anyone else has built a similar device to this, it seems like it'd be very popular among hackers.

59 points by lpolovets 9y ago

Autodesk stock is up 28x since the "1987 high" mentioned in the article (so that forgone $37M could be $1B now) https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ADSK/ https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ADSK/

Arianna34 9y ago
My mothers neighbour is working part time and averaging $9000 a month. I'm a single mum and just got my first paycheck for $6546! I still can't believe it. I tried it out cause I got really desperate and now I couldn't be happier. Heres what I do, •••••••••>> http://www.joinmate2.com http://www.joinmate2.com
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
posguy 9y ago
Taking a deal akin to what was offered would have been a poor decision in light of the profits Autodesk was making at the time. Additionally, the concept that shopping around between investment offerings is dissuaded at all is a serious abuse of the market, distorting said market heavily in the investor's favor.
golergka 9y ago
Hindsight is 20/20. Decisions should only be evaluated based on the information available at the time of the decision. Was Autodesk that successful at the time of that negotiation?
- jsnell 9y ago
  Yes, they were already profitable and growing like crazy (30% month on month).
- x0x0 9y ago
  > at the time of these negotiations, generating sales equal to the size of the deal every month and generating after-tax profits close to the size of the deal every quarter.

Nanite 9y ago

Would be very interesting to see the evolution of term sheets over the last few decades. The shifting power balance between founders & investors, seeing novel provisions become boilerplate etc.

lpolovets 9y ago
Cooley and Fenwick track a lot of term sheet trends. See https://www.fenwick.com/topics/pages/topicsdetail.aspx?topicname=vc%20survey https://www.fenwick.com/topics/pages/topicsdetail.aspx?topic... and https://www.cooleygo.com/trends/ https://www.cooleygo.com/trends/. The Fenwick reports go back at least a decade. Maybe someone will a lot of free time will put them on a graph someday :)
Animats 9y ago
Multiple rounds of VC financing is a relatively new thing. In the early years, it was typically one round of VC financing to get the thing working, then profitability, then exit via IPO.

Kiro 9y ago

> But, our Distinguished Financial Advisor informed us that this would constitute ``shopping the deal'' when ``a deal was on the table'' which was right out by the genteel standards of the venture community What does this mean?

lpolovets 9y ago
Shopping a term sheet means that when you get an investment offer, you go shop the term sheet around to other VCs to try to get a better offer. As you might expect, VCs don't like that. http://cdixon.org/2009/09/02/dont-shop-your-term-sheet/ http://cdixon.org/2009/09/02/dont-shop-your-term-sheet/
- noja 9y ago
  VCs might not like competition, but maybe it would be good for them!
  - sslayer 9y ago
    Agreed, Considering the "C" stands for Capitalist, a competitive market shouldn't scare them. IMO they want you to play by their own rules, not "free" market rules.
- crdoconnor 9y ago
  He seems to be arguing with a nod and a wink that SV VCs form a sort of cartel.
- CalChris 9y ago
  Did they not have syndicates in that era? How do you syndicate without in some sense shopping?
elmar 9y ago
this was incorrect only after signing an actual term sheet is it considered shopping the deal.
tomjen3 9y ago

elmar 9y ago

the actual date is 1984 not 1994.

dfox 9y ago
The fourth edition of Autodesk File that this leads into was published in 1994.
jasode 9y ago
Yes, there are 2 dates: 1984: the date of the actual events 1994: the date of the online book (4th edition) describing those events: https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/

rodrigocoelho 9y ago

[OT] And since you're there, try their "yoursky" tool: https://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/

owenversteeg 9y ago
Saying this because I didn't know it for years: Fourmilab isn't a "they", it's just the personal website of John Walker, the founder of Autodesk and a fantastically interesting person. Not to be confused with "fermilab" of course, which is a United States national lab that does high-energy particle physics. There are a ton of very interesting things on his site, including a DIY RNG that uses a radioactive source and an event counter: https://www.fourmilab.ch/hotbits/hardware.html https://www.fourmilab.ch/hotbits/hardware.html I wonder if anyone else has built a similar device to this, it seems like it'd be very popular among hackers.