Just stumbled upon a great white paper by Mark White the lawfirm White & Lee LLP (which is quite active in early stage financing here on the west coast).
It summarizes key considerations such as the securities offered to investors, valuation, the financing process and the documentation that is developed to effect a financing – and there is lots of it (closing documents are bound altogether and sent to investors a few weeks after the close – that binder is called “the bible”).
The paper then covers key main terms and rights negotiated in a financing: liquidation preference, dividends, redemption, conversion, voting, etc. as well as the convenants and side agreements expressed in the SPA (Stock Purchase Agreement) and IRA (Investor Rights Agreements). Entrepreneurs can then lookup each of these terms in Brad Feld’s termsheet series to see how VCs would typically use/negotiate them.
A great resource. Note that there is also on the site a white paper on valuation considerations which I find a bit too theoritical, especially in the context of early stage.