The blogosphere is full of buzz about Charles River Venture’s new QuickStart program, which lays out a cookie-cutter approach to small investments via convertible notes.
Folks have been quick to point out that convertible notes are nothing new; I took a $250K convertible when I started my first company.
What would really take some guts is for CRV to commit to the second half of the “frictionless VC” concept I outlined in 2005, which is to render a go/no-go decision after 1 week and 2 meetings. This would take much of the hassle out of raising money and enable faster entrepreneurship.
Convertible notes are nothing new–if it takes 3 months to negotiate a deal, what’s the benefit? But getting a decision in less than a week? That’s something that benefits everyone.
Chris,
I’ve found that convertible notes do a really good job of unnecessarily complicate simple deals.
I understand the need for cash, but in the end, it’s often better to avoid it. But I suppose you picked up a 1/4 for the first go round.
Hi Chris,
Actually, that’s exactly what we are doing. We are making a decision after 2 meetings and 1 week. Not kidding!
Thanks for mentioning and thinking of us at Charles River Ventures.
George Zachary
http://www.crv.com (CRV site)
senseandcents.blogspot.com (my blog)
George, I’m impressed–both by the program, and your monitoring of the blogosphere. I’ll definitely point people your way!