KISS Equity Version

Description
Recently, convertible notes have been the one of the most common ways of structuring seed stage funding. Not all investors and VCs like to use convertible notes, but they're used really frequently throughout Silicon Valley and the US as a form of legal structure. They're easier and cheaper in general than a formal priced round, so a lot of investors and founders use them until the company is at a bigger, more traditional finance stage.

When done correctly, convertible notes are a good way to close a financing round because they include limited rights and adjourn a certain amount of the more complex negotiations until the bigger priced round. But convertible note financings have become more and more complex as of late because as businesses are pushing for complicated conversion scenarios and a huge range of features. This racks up legal fees and the date of which you can close the deal extends.

But it doesn't actually have to be like this.

This has been created with the intention of keeping convertible equity financings fast and easy. This document short and concise and has been created after considerable discussion with SV law firms and investors. Intended to be flexible and fairly generic, it still contains all compulsory features and is balanced from both an investors and a company's point of view.

*Originally posted on 500 Startups website*