Y Combinator’s safes spread – L.A. accelerator is now issuing them(venturebeat.com)

58 pointsby nehalm13 lat temu15 comments

Y Combinator’s safes spread – L.A. accelerator is now issuing them

http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/07/y-combinators-safe-notes-spread-l-a-accelerator-now-issuing-them-too-exclusive/

7 comments

This is pretty neat, the whole concept of 'open legal' is fascinating to me. For years it seems Lawyer's were like machinists of old, carrying around their own special sauce of document [1]. Now quality, vetted, legal documents are pretty straight forward to come by. This is pretty cool in my opinion.

[1] This was the root of a long running joke in Intolerable Cruelty referring to the 'Massey Prenup' -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138524/

rhc210413 lat temu

I have a question about the SAFE.

SAFE holders don't seem to have the right to veto dividends. Shouldn't they have that right? What stops a company from issuing SAFEs, making a big dividend, and letting the company's shell fold?

steeve13 lat temu

Chiming in to say that SAFE has been "ported" to France thanks to the awesome folks at TheFamily, it's called AIR: http://www.meetair.co/

codezero13 lat temu

Is there anywhere that discusses/describes SAFE and its benefits/trade-offs in detail?

jacobheller13 lat temu

My startup, Casetext (YC S13), has the full text of the SAFE annotated by lawyers, investors, and founders: https://casetext.com/contract/simple-agreement-for-future-eq...

codezero13 lat temu

This is great, thanks!

minimax13 lat temu

This looks like a pretty good place to start:

http://ycombinator.com/safe/

codezero13 lat temu

Great, thanks!

gus_massa13 lat temu

Discussion of the original announcement: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6862461 (487 points, 33 days ago, 117 comments). In particular read the first comment, from user grellas. (He is a lawyer.)

minimax13 lat temu

Is "SAFE note" a valid way of referring to a SAFE security? If it's not a debt instrument, it seems weird to call it a "note." It almost sounds more like an equity option (i.e. investors are buying the right to buy a certain amount of equity at a set price in the future).

aagha13 lat temu

PG himself refers to them as "Safe Financing Documents": http://ycombinator.com/safe/

pg13 lat temu

No, it's just called a "safe."

timdorr13 lat temu

I know of at least one Atlanta-based accelerator that is using them too. They seem to be fairly sound and better than other financial docs.

durkie13 lat temu

is that flashpoint?

memossy13 lat temu

What discounts are SAFEs going to be issued at? Assuming no caps yet?