What is the difference between B2B and venture deals?

What is the difference between B2B deals and venture deals?

There is no difference.

Venture deals are surrounded by a lot of mystique. But actually there is nothing mystical about them. They are just another B2B deal.

A typical B2B deal:


Apple sells its iPhone 6s to Vodafone. Vodafone sells the iPhone to a consumer. The consumer pays Vodafone $649 per iPhone. Vodafone pays Apple $325 per iPhone.

A typical venture deal:


The startup sells 250 new shares (20%) to an investor. In 5-7 years the investor sells these shares either to another investor or an industry buyer. The buyer pays the investor # shares * price per share = 250 * $8K = $2M. The investor pays the startup # shares * price per share = 250 * $800 = $200K. This $200K is called “investment” instead of “price”.

B2B Deal Venture Deal
 Who are you? Apple  Startup
What do you sell? iPhone 6s Share
To whom? Vodafone Investor
At what price? $325 per iPhone $800 per share

Life suddenly got a lot easier. For example, you know that in a B2B deal you should value price your product. How about value pricing your shares?


Thanks to Hans Westerhof and Chretien Herben.
