super pro rata

Definition

The right to invest more than your proportional share in a subsequent round, allowing early investors to increase their ownership. Pro rata's aggressive older sibling who always wants more.

Example Usage

The seed lead negotiated super pro rata rights, letting them invest 2x their ownership percentage in Series A and actually increase their stake.

Origin

Extension of standard pro rata rights, emerging in competitive deal environments

Fun Fact

Super pro rata rights are almost impossible to get unless you're a top-tier firm or led the previous round—it's a privilege reserved for the popular kids.

Source: Venture capital term sheet structures

Related Terms

Intermediate

diluting

The act of reducing ownership percentage by issuing new shares, or what happens to founders' equity every time VCs open their checkbooks. In chemistry, it means adding solvent to weaken a solution; in startup world, it means your 50% stake just became 30% and you're supposed to smile because the company is now "worth more." The most expensive way to raise money without technically losing money.

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Intermediate

zebra company

A startup that aims to be both profitable AND socially responsible, as opposed to unicorns that prioritize growth at any cost. They're real, sustainable, and less likely to leave a trail of layoffs and burned capital.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

churn

The startup world's euphemism for customers abandoning ship, measured as the rate at which subscribers cancel or stop using your service. It's the metric that keeps SaaS founders up at night, because acquiring new customers is expensive but losing existing ones is devastating. High churn is basically your business slowly bleeding out, but with spreadsheets.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

churned

Past tense of churning, describing customers who've abandoned ship or accounts that have been excessively traded for commissions. In the startup world, it's the past tense of failure—these are the users who tried your product and decided literally anything else was better. When your investors ask about churned customers, it's never a fun conversation.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

limited partner

The actual money behind venture capital—pension funds, endowments, and rich people who give VCs money to invest and hope they know what they're doing. They're 'limited' because they can't tell the GP how to do their job.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

logo collecting

When a startup prioritizes acquiring recognizable brand-name customers purely for credibility, even if those deals are unprofitable or unsustainable. It's the corporate equivalent of name-dropping at parties.

🚀 Startup / VC

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