Stefan Rühl, PhD
During my PhD, which began at the Technical University of Munich and was completed at Copenhagen Business School, I studied hundreds of venture capital deals and analyzed how investors and founders allocate cash flow and control rights.
The work was based on real venture financing documents from the United States. I hand-coded contract terms and connected this unstructured contracting data to venture outcomes such as control right allocations, venture innovation trajectories, and venture exit events.
This tool builds on that work. It uses real financing documents rather than generic templates or preliminary term sheets. It focuses on final negotiated terms, including approval rights, investor protections, preferred-stock provisions, governance clauses, and founder/investor control allocation.
My interest in this topic is practical as well as academic. I have worked with technology ventures, spent time in venture capital, and discussed venture contracting with investors and venture lawyers. While these experiences showed me that contracts are central to venture investing, there is often a gap between how much they matter and the data available for an informed analysis.
That lack of transparency matters. Venture contracts shape downside protection, founder flexibility, governance, and the way investors and founders work together after financing. They are not just legal paperwork. They are part of the investment itself.
Built on my research, this tool turns messy venture financing documents into structured deal intelligence, creating more transparency around negotiated terms and supporting better informed investment decisions.