VC Demystified: What the Term Sheet Is Really Saying with Stephen Tallon

About this episode

Stephen Tallon discusses the legal aspects of fundraising and term sheets for founders.

In this episode, we sit down with Stephen Tallon, a Partner at McCann FitzGerald, one of Ireland's leading law firms, where his practice focuses on emerging companies, venture capital, and M&A. Stephen trained in Ireland before spending almost a decade in London at Orrick, a global firm with deep roots in Silicon Valley, where he worked on some of the biggest deals across Europe and the US — including transactions involving Stripe, Revolut, and Salesforce Ventures. He's since returned home to Ireland with his family and joined McCann FitzGerald, which has one of the largest and most experienced emerging company and VC teams in the country, advising founders from pre-seed all the way to exit. In this conversation, we get into the legal side of fundraising that most founders overlook until it's too late. We cover: What investment readiness actually means from a legal standpoint, and what VCs are really evaluating in those first conversations Why your cap table could make or break a deal before it even gets started What founders consistently get wrong before and after signing a term sheet The key terms founders should push back on and which ones are genuinely non-negotiable What…

People in this episode

Guest: Stephen Tallon

Topics covered

• venture capital
• term sheets
• fundraising
• legal advice
• investment readiness
• founder mistakes

Keywords

• venture capital
• term sheet
• investment readiness
• cap table
• founder advice
• Delaware flip

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: McCann FitzGerald, Orrick, Stripe, Revolut, Salesforce Ventures

Places: Ireland, Silicon Valley, Europe, US

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