Midlothian Angel Network

I am thrilled that on October 16th, the African Development Bank Group Board of Governors approved the $100mn Nigeria Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank (YEIB) project, an investment in a Private Equity fund, a Credit Guarantee fund and an Ecosystem Development fund that jointly, will be game-changers for youths seeking appropriate financing to start and grow their businesses. . Back story- In November 2023, I joined AfDB team as a Senior Advisor to the Vice President Solomon Adegbie-Quaynor providing part time support on the Bank’s proposed funding to Nigeria for this landmark YEIB project. Solomon’s mandate to me was clear: “Ada, help us get this done!” . He had chosen me because along with my private investment experience, I had built my career at the AfDB, as well as in the Nigerian government and now as an entrepreneur, and so was able to bring a unique blended perspective to the design of the project, its structuring, and to the essential government relationships required to move it forward. . After months of due diligence missions, hours of conversations with youth entrepreneurs, bankers, regulators, policy-makers, PE/VC fund managers and accelerators, foundations and development partners, we came up with a fit-for-purpose YEIB design for the Nigerian market, one that I am extremely proud of. . All through the process, my sole focus was to be a part of something that was built to last, not another White Elephant government institution. I never compromised on this, in spite of the push back on some of our recommendations. It was not an easy task, but we did it!!! 💪🏾 . Thankful to VP Solomon for his belief in me. Thankful to my colleagues especially Sofiane Hicham SEKIOUA Tijani Babatunde DENNIS OWUSU ANSAH rosemond offei-awuku for your leadership, professionalism and team spirit through the ups and downs. . Deep thanks to Hon Minister & CME Mr Wale Edun FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE, BUDGET & NATIONAL PLANNING NIGERIA for his unwavering corporation through the entire process. Finally, thankful to my former boss, AfDB President Adesina, for his conceptualization and vision for the YEIB in every African nation. . Up next? FULL IMPLEMENTATION!! 💪🏾 . #youth #funding #development #nigeria #positive #change #sme #women #business

🚀 Reminder: Midlo Angels Monthly Pitch Fest! 🚀 Hello everyone! Our Midlo Angels Monthly Pitch Fest is just an hour away—starting at 1 PM CST / 7 PM WAT. Join us via the link below to hear from some of the most exciting startups and engage in insightful discussions: 👉 *Meeting Link:* https://lnkd.in/enNfHqF2 Looking forward to everyone’s participation! Let’s make it a great session!

Tesla’s pitch deck from 2011, which Elon Musk used to raise millions of $. It focused heavily on the team and their early achievements. They shared case studies with leading automotive companies to demonstrate secured supply chains, strategic partnerships, and investments. They also offered a glimpse into their vision of a car in a class of its own.✨ Today, Tesla's market cap stands at $782.90 billion.

Mastering the SAFE note 🔥💸 In early-stage fundraising, SAFEs are now the go-to, with 89% of pre-seed money raised via SAFEs over convertible notes in Q4 2023. If you're a founder, it’s time to get familiar – here’s what you need to know to make SAFEs work for you. This will prepare founders to approach investors and secure funding through a SAFE Note: 𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀 - Fixed Conversion at a future date - Valuation Cap, no discount - Discount, no valuation cap - Valuation Cap & Discount - MFN (Most Favored Nation) 𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲: 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 📈 Investor invests $25,000 with a $5m Valuation Cap, 20% Discount. - Pre-money valuation of the company $10m - Number of Shares= 2m - Share Price= $10m/ 2m= $5 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 1️⃣ (Discount) - Share Price after discount: $5 * (1 - 20%) = $4 - Total Number of Shares: $25,000 / $4 = 6,250 shares 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 2️⃣ (Valuation Cap) - SAFE Investor choosing $5m valuation cap - Share Price= $5* ($5m Valuation Cap/ $10m pre-money valuation)= $2.50 - SAFE Investment= $25,000 - Total Number of Shares= $25,000/ $2.50= 10,000 - SAFE Investor will apply the Valuation Cap option; $2.50/ share. - Finally, the total number of Shares for SAFE Investor= 10,000 - Share Price at Seed $5 - Share Value of SAFE Investors= 10,000*$5= $50,000 - SAFE Investment= $25,000 - Unrealized Return= (($50,000- $25,000)/ $25,000)* 100%= 100% 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼 2️⃣ - VC Firm Invests at a Pre-Money Valuation = $6 Million - Total number of shares 2m - Share Price= $6 m/ 2m= $3 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 1️⃣ (Discount) - SAFE Investor Choosing Shares at 20% Discount - Share Price= $3*(1-20%) = $2.4 - Total Number of Shares= $25000/ $2.4= 10,417 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 2️⃣ (Valuation Cap) - SAFE Investor choosing $5m valuation cap - Share Price = $3* ($5 Million Val Cap/ $6 Million valuation) = $2.5 - Total Number of Shares= $25,000/ $2.5= 10,000 - SAFE Investor will apply the Discount; $2.4/ share. - Total number of Shares for SAFE Investor= 10,417 - Share Price at Seed = $3 - Share Value of SAFE Investors= 10,417*$3= $31,251 - SAFE Investment= $25,000 - Unrealized Return= (($31,251- $25,000)/ 25,000)*100%= 25% The higher the Valuation Cap in the SAFE round, the better it is for the Founder, resulting in a lower dilution of Equity provided the Founders are confident to close the next round at a higher than the valuation cap. 𝗠𝗙𝗡 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 - Let’s say SAFE A has an MFN Provision. - If a new SAFE B is issued, the company has to tell SAFE A about it. - If terms of SAFE B are better than SAFE A, SAFE A can ask for the same terms as SAFE B. Thanks to Fazlur Shah for the math illustration...you are amazing. Some top-tier follows on the topic. - Chris Harvey, a fund lawyer who regularly drops pearls of wisdom - Peter Walker, who shares data on SAFEs and broader startup insights #startups #fundrasing #venturecapital ____ Enjoy this? Follow Kevin Jurovich for daily startup & VC insights and the occasional meme. ✌️

💰Vinod Khosla’s $𝟯𝗠𝗻 investment into Juniper Networks returned $𝟳 𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡 (2500x) in just 5 years, marking one of the best VC investments in history! That’s not all, he also: ▶ Incubated Cerent, which sold to Cisco in 2 years for $𝟳.𝟴𝗕𝗻! ▶ Incubated Siara, which sold for $𝟰.𝟯𝗕𝗻 to Redback! ▶ Was the seed investor in Excite, which had a $𝟲.𝟳𝗕𝗻 merger w/ Home Network 💡 At the time, he was a partner at revered VC Kleiner Perkins (KP), who were early investors in Google, Genentech, & Amazon 🌟 Kleiner had invested into Khosla’s own business, Sun Microsystems, which sold to Oracle for $𝟱.𝟲𝗕𝗻 in 2009. 🔄 Despite this track record, he believes “𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘊 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴!” ▶ When he founded Sun, he also founded another company with the same co-founder, which failed! ▶ In 2019, when his firm Khosla Ventures invested in OpenAI, they also invested in another company (Order of Magnitude Labs), which failed! 💡Important lesson here, people only remember the successes in VC. — 💥 It’s the 𝗕𝗜𝗚 wins that matter.. 💰The $50mn cheque Khosla wrote into OpenAI is marked at ~ $𝟱𝗕𝗻 today! (Capped at 100x*) 🌱Khosla Ventures were also seed investors in: ▶ DoorDash ($62Bn) ▶ Block ($44Bn) ▶ Affirm ($13Bn) ▶ Instacart ($11.5Bn) Impressive track record! —— 🙋♀️In an interview with Mario Gabriele, Khosla said he spends 50% of his time on early recruiting. This is from his experience… 📊 He estimates that out of the first 25 people he hired at Sun… ….approximately 10 separate $BILLION companies were created by ex-employees! 🚀 That puts it in the league of the PayPal Mafia & perhaps we will see Stripe, Uber, Revolut & Palantir enter this too! 🗣️ To quote Khosla ~ “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.” 📚 4 𝗞𝗘𝗬 lessons from Khosla: 1️⃣ Venture is Asymmetric. You need to take risk. It is not an investing business, it is an option business. 3️⃣ Don’t compute IRRs, it is delusional & discourages risk-taking. 4️⃣ In uncertain scenarios, fast learning is more important than experience. 5️⃣ Experience is a set of biases that causes you to extrapolate the past & not go after a radically different future. — 🖇️ to an interview w/ Norges Bank Investment Management CEO (Nicolai Tangen). 🇳🇴Norges Bank manage $𝟭.𝟳 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡 on behalf of Norway, and are the WORLD’s largest sovereign wealth fund. They reported $𝟳𝟲𝗕𝗻 in profit last Quarter! 🔎They own 1.5% of the world’s public equities, but after a recent vote in parliament, they still aren’t allowed to allocate to PE/VC! Wonder if that will change ? 📣 PS - If you enjoyed this, ♻️ consider sharing it with others & 👉🏽 follow me, Akhil Paul, for more! #startups #venturecapital #investing #tech

DoorDash’s first public pitch and the birth of a $63B dollar idea. 🔥 In August of 2013, Tony Xu, CEO and co-founder of DoorDash, presented to investors at Y Combinator demo day. Just months before: Their name was Palo Alto Delivery Their only Dashers were the founders Their office student housing at school Their marketing was dorm room fliers To all the founders out there stay at it. #startups #venturecapital #entrepreneurship ____ Enjoy this? Follow Kevin Jurovich for daily startup & VC insights and the occasional meme. ✌️