About the Course
Introduction
This CLE webinar will examine the formation and structuring of venture capital (VC) funds and discuss the various relationships between the fund and its limited partners, fund managers, and portfolio companies. The panel will also discuss different ways to approach deploying venture capital and investment documents and terms, including voting rights, preferred stock, tax considerations, and more.
Description
VC funds are typically formed to invest in a specified industry or region. The fund's marketing documents should introduce the overall strategy, explain specific areas of expertise, and outline the types of investments used to implement the fund's strategy.
Before launching a VC fund, counsel must consider the terms of the fund offering, including capital calls, distributions, and waterfall calculations, allocation of profits and losses, carried interest, preferred return, and other provisions. The fund documents must clearly define the rights and responsibilities of the manager and investors.
A VC fund should have a valuation committee or an independent third-party panel to evaluate potential investments. They should determine which valuation techniques are appropriate to a particular investment, such as revenue, discounted cash flow, dividend discount model, net profit multiples, and EBITDA.
Capital can be deployed in various ways, including equity investments, convertible notes, or priced equity rounds. Fund managers must assess each investment and communicate the rationale to investors.
Listen as our authoritative panel examines the dynamics of launching a VC fund, including formation, fund structure and management, documentation, deployment of capital, tax considerations, and other key issues.
Presented By
Mr. Ross focuses his practice on securities law, venture capital and private equity, and corporate governance. He has extensive experience advising as to SEC-registered and exempt capital markets transactions. Before founding Ross Law Group in 2013, he worked at Sidley Austin and Alston & Bird, as well as the Department of the Treasury, where he was part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Mr. Ross is the host of the American Bar Association podcast VC Law, and has served as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School for the past five years.
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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Date + Time
- event
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
- schedule
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
I. Key issues to consider when forming a VC fund
II. Structuring the fund
III. Drafting tips for key fund documents
IV. Managing the relationships between the fund, limited partners, fund managers, and portfolio companies
V. Deploying capital through notes or priced equity raises
VI. Other considerations
VII. Practitioner pointers and key takeaways
The panel will review these and other issues:
- What should VC fund offering documents say about investment strategy and how the fund will be managed?
- What is "market" with regard to capital calls, distributions, carried interest, preferred return, and other key terms in fund documentation?
- Who should be on the fund's investment committee, and how independent should they be?
- What factors should a fund consider in deciding the form its VC investments will take?
- What rights and privileges are market for certain levels of investment?
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