Q: What role does valuation play?
A: Most entrepreneurs focus most of their negotiations on valuation and control. Most VC investors focus most of their efforts on management and market assessments. Our experience is that the key issue is not valuation but whether or not an investment will be made. Few corporate finance firms vary much on control and social issues unless they have previous success with a management team. Since fewer than 1% of all proposed investments are funded by capitalists the trick is to get their attention and obtain an investment offer.