I think that paragraph is somewhat confusing for the intended audience. Anyways, VCs at series A want to buy enough equity percentage (e.g. 15% to 25% ownershi

I think that paragraph is somewhat confusing for the intended audience. Anyways, VCs at series A want to buy enough equity percentage (e.g. 15% to 25% ownership) to make their exit numbers work. Investing a smaller amount to only get 5% of a company is not a "meaningful percentage" or "meaningful stake". (In contrast, YC does buy a smaller 7% equity but their $150k isn't considered "Series A".) To me, talking about investment scenarios in terms of "valuation" always seemed to make things more difficult to understand. The following math is equivalent but I think the explicit percentages layout is easier to grasp in a few seconds: Mark Z is considering 2 offers of investments for his young Facebook startup in 2005: Don Graham offers $6 million at a $60 million post money valuation. Accel Partners offers $12.7 million at a $80 million post money valuation -- or -- Don Graham offers $6 million for 10% of the company Accel Partners offers $12.7 million for 15.7% of the company