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• Article | Harvard Business Review | May 2013

  How to Negotiate with Vcs

  Deepak Malhotra

  VC-entrepreneur partnership agreements often contain flaws that become highly damaging as the parties come up against issues of power, trust, and much more. Yet many of the flaws are systematic and predictable-and hence preventable. The author, a longtime consultant to the VC industry, outlines four recommendations for entrepreneurs sitting down at the table with prospective funders. Understand your leverage. Your leverage is not only a function of your alternatives; it has a lot to do with the VC's as well. Seek to understand them, and be prepared to educate the VC about why his exercising too much power could hurt both parties in the long term. Maximize trust. Beneath all the financial projections, the VC negotiation is a process in which people are deciding whom they want to associate with for years to come. If the VC is vulnerable, use the opportunity to build trust rather than to take advantage. Focus on value-not just valuation. Nonfinancial considerations such as control are also important. Strive for understanding. Seemingly abstruse provisions can be highly consequential. And bear in mind that the choices a VC makes when negotiating can contain important clues about her assessments and expectations. Above all, when you're negotiating with a VC, think not only about what will look good in a press release today but also about what will help you create and capture value over the long run. INSETS: Idea in Brief;Lessons for Dealing with VCs.

  Citation:

  Malhotra, Deepak. "How to Negotiate with Vcs." Harvard Business Review 91, no. 5 (May 2013): 84–90.

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• Dictionary Entry | Encyclopedia of Management Theory | 2013

  Managerial Decision Biases

  Ting Zhang and Max Bazerman

  Citation:

  Zhang, Ting, and Max Bazerman. "Managerial Decision Biases." In Encyclopedia of Management Theory. Volume 1 edited by Eric H. Kessler, 470–474. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2013.

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• Book | 2013

  Judgment in Managerial Decision Making

  Max Bazerman and D. Moore

  Is your judgment influenced by personal biases? In situations requiring careful judgment, we're all influenced by our own biases to some extent. But, with Judgment in Managerial Decision Making, you can learn how to overcome those biases to make better managerial decisions. The text examines judgment in a variety of organizational contexts and provides practical strategies for changing your decision-making processes and improving these processes so that they become part of your permanent behavior. Throughout, you'll find numerous hands-on decision exercises and examples from the authors' extensive executive training experience that will help you enhance the quality of your managerial judgment. Past editions have been used in top universities, in business schools, and in public policy, psychology, and economics classes. In addition, the text has been widely recognized by practitioners in the world of behavioral finance.

  Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Management Practices and Processes; Management Skills; Managerial Roles; Performance Improvement; Prejudice and Bias;

  Citation:

  Bazerman, Max, and D. Moore. Judgment in Managerial Decision Making. 8th ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.

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