I have some potential investors for my startup....any advice..

My advice would be to go as far as you can with your own project without investors.

Happy to talk further and share my experience - things to look out for/discuss - legal ownership, voting rights, instrument used (convertible note vs equity), liquidation preference, etc. If you'd like a quick call I can talk about how we approached it.

Hi,

from "potential investor" to actual investment (i.e. money in the bank) can be a long journey. This is what I've picked up over the years.

• Be open, frank and helpful. Don't hide behind NDA's or made up stats. The VC will just smile, thank you for your time and move on.
• Be clear about dead lines, but expect them to slip. Investment deals can just take a long time.
• Get a lawyer or financial advisor.
• Nothing is final until the money is in the bank. A term sheet is not even final.

Buy and read Venture Deals by Feld and Mendelson from Foundry Group (maybe even find a free version from searching Google or a library). Then review the Cooley Go docs. Both are easy reads, will take a weekend. Will get you pretty far.

"Legal issues" go to many things: corp docs (country/state/entity), employment, IP, etc.