Season 1, Episode 6: Lessons learned in designing Third Derivative’s seed startup investment documentation

D3 Mission LOG

Episode 6 of the weekly Podcast with Bryan Guido Hassin of Third Derivative and Danny Kennedy of New Energy Nexus. They discuss the journey these two companies have chosen to take, to boldly go where no climatetech accelerator has gone before.

This week's Topics:
1. Goals: support startups, investor diligence cost / table stakes
2. Design principles: minimize transaction costs, founder friendly
3. Convertible note with discount, no cap
4. Modeled on SAFE but convertible for more global fit
5. MFN clause allows flexibility to take other paper
6. One SPV investor invested BECAUSE of our note: - Other funds get hung up on terms - We got dozens of startups in just a few weeks b/c of simple, friendly terms - Rather than haggling/negotiating, we’re helping / co-creating success

Featured Company of the week:
Switched Source: smart grid power electronics => mesh topology, increasing capacity and reliability ($9M SCALEUP grant from ARPA-E)

Links:
Third Derivative Portfolio
New Energy Nexus Network Slack Community
Switched Source
SCALEUP—Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential PDF

You can also watch the D3 Mission Log on the D3 YouTube video channel.