OLNS#9: Venture Capital Deals in Germany – Pitfalls, Key Terms and Success Factors Founders Need to Know (Revised & Updated Edition)

Deutsche Version

Founding and scaling a tech company is a daunting challenge and founders often wonder how on earth they shall manage all the pitfalls that can set their company on the wrong track right from the start. For this, we have launched OLNS#9 to help founders make fewer costly legal mistakes. We want founders to have more time to concentrate on what really matters – a superior offering, traction with customers and growing revenues.

OLNS#9 is the flagship publication in the OLNS and gives hands-on practical advice on:

• how to think about founder equity splits and founder dilution across multiple financing rounds;
• how (not) to compose your cap table;
• what financing options are available for tech start-ups;
• what a typical funding process looks like and how stakeholders can be managed;
• what the most important deal terms are for what really matters, i.e., who controls the company and who has what economic stake in the venture; and
• much more, including what U.S. investors will expect, how to plan with ESOPs in a financing round, how secondary share sales can be structured. In addition, we share the findings from our annual analysis of deal terms from hundreds of transactions we advise on across our European offices.

In preparing the second, revised and expanded 2025/26 edition of OLNS#9, our international and cross-functional Orrick team again drew on experience representing more than 4,500 tech companies and 100+ unicorns as well as the most active funds, corporate ventures and public tech companies worldwide. Founded in the Bay Area, Orrick is one of the world’s leading technology law firms and advises on more venture transactions in Europe than any other law firm for ten consecutive years (PitchBook, FY 2025).

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