It looks like your convertible note math is off. Given the $1M minimum trigger, the $100K note will not equal 10% of the company unless we plug in absurd numbers ($100K premoney Series A with a note discount).
Say you raise $1M on a $3.9M pre-money. The $1M investors wind up with almost 20% (a little less because the note investors pay the $3M price), the note investors about 2.6% (they get $130K worth of Series A plus interest), and the remaining ~77.4% is your former cap table, including TechStars, diluted by the $1M and note conversion.
Is the point here that Techstars "7-11% equity" claim is accurate given the range of possible valuations for their convertible note? Or is it just that it's not as inaccurate as the post claims?
Based on this Quora answer, the cap is $3M with a 20% discount. http://www.quora.com/What-are-Techstars-convertible-notes-te...
Say you raise $1M on a $3.9M pre-money. The $1M investors wind up with almost 20% (a little less because the note investors pay the $3M price), the note investors about 2.6% (they get $130K worth of Series A plus interest), and the remaining ~77.4% is your former cap table, including TechStars, diluted by the $1M and note conversion.