I can only talk about my own experience, hoping that it can be useful to someone and I try hard not to generalize. And my own experience with negotiation (with

I can only talk about my own experience, hoping that it can be useful to someone and I try hard not to generalize. And my own experience with negotiation (with VC's) is that it is not one-to-one but one-to-many. My best experience was when I had three termsheets on the table and I went to one VC and said, "I like the price on A, I like the terms on B, but I like you". The end result is that I get to work with the VC that I like and I get the pricing and terms that I can live with. So by negotiation power, I don't mean negotiation skills. The only true power you have as an entrepreneur is when you don't need their money. But if you need their money, then you have no power and you are "meat on the chopping board". In that case, liquidation preference is the least of your problems.