2) This is a 1x non-participating liquidation preference.
Plenty of folks sign term sheets with MUCH WORSE preferences. Participating 1.5x etc.
This preference simply says, investor gets their money back if invested on a preferred basis during Series A.
That's where the real problems often come, participating preferred at 1x+. This is not one of those term sheets.
3) Fair is what is available in the market that is not misleading. A 1x nonparticipating preference is much more logical than many other approaches, so is easier to understand. And yes, if you take 20M from a Series A funder and sell for $22M, you are basically going to get $0.
There's no such thing as "standard". "This is a standard contract" is something lawyers say to get you to agree to things you may not have otherwise agreed to.
I'm not saying this flippantly. I've negotiated many contracts over the decades and I've heard "this is standard" dozens of times, but it's always negotiable.
Note, I'm not saying the agreement presented is fair or not. That's situational. Just that "it's standard" is irrelevant.
Which is why "standard" isn't an especially useful term; the better term is "market" --- what similar deals, negotiated repeatedly by people with similar leverage, have settled out to. These terms seem somewhat better for founders than market (but YCA might have unusually strong startups).
If you've negotiated many term sheets for Series A with not even a 1x nonparticipating liquidation preference - impressive.
That said, also illogical, why are these investors doing a preferred investment vs common if they don't have a preference?
The only people I've run into who can negotiate nonsense contracts are folks playing with other folks money (family etc). I will say I stay far away from those types of folks. Often crazy, and often have enough money to pursue their flights of fancy, including ungrounded legal theories, a good long distance.
Preferred investment can generate a yield and/or can take priority over some but not all other equity. I’m not saying it’s a good deal...just trying to answer your question.
1) This is a standard series A term sheet
2) This is a 1x non-participating liquidation preference.
Plenty of folks sign term sheets with MUCH WORSE preferences. Participating 1.5x etc.
This preference simply says, investor gets their money back if invested on a preferred basis during Series A.
That's where the real problems often come, participating preferred at 1x+. This is not one of those term sheets.
3) Fair is what is available in the market that is not misleading. A 1x nonparticipating preference is much more logical than many other approaches, so is easier to understand. And yes, if you take 20M from a Series A funder and sell for $22M, you are basically going to get $0.