

Ask HN: Convertible debt terms? - nkurz

I've got a small non-tech company that's raising a small amount of money (&#60;$100K) for immediate expansion into a new market.  One of the potential investors has expressed interest in doing it as convertible debt.   I understand the concepts of convertible pretty well, but don't have a sense of where the market is.  Assuming a medium-risk existing business, what are typical terms as far as interest paid and degree of discount should it be converted?<p>Also, I've seen mention that YCombinator would eventually be releasing some standardized term sheets for convertible.  Are these available somewhere?  Are there others that could be used as a template in the meantime?   Right now my goal isn't to come up with the best possible terms, only to figure out where the center of 'fair' is to evaluate whether this is something we should consider.
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staunch
Brad Feld says the typical discount is 20% - 40%. I think a lot of investors
ask for caps as well, which is essentially pricing the round (so don't let
them pick one that you would regret).

[http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2006/02/whats-the-best-
struc...](http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2006/02/whats-the-best-structure-
for-a-pre-vc-investment.html)

PG said YC would release their convertible debt agreement, but I don't think
they've gotten around to it yet.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1655585>

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webb
Mark Suster has several articles and videos on the subject. This might be a
good starting point.

[http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/08/30/is-
convertible...](http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/08/30/is-convertible-
debt-preferable-to-equity/)

