Deal . . . 

refers to the final agreement between management and an investor for the funding of a company. The terms of the deal are set forth in financing agreements that both sides have reviewed and negotiated carefully. A deal is normally very different from the offer, the counter offer, or the final offer. In some cases, the deal is quite different from what either management or the investor originally envisioned. The time required to complete a venture capital deal can vary from several weeks to several months.

In conversation, entrepreneurs and investors speak of good deals, bad deals, sour deals ("the deal went sour"), sweet deals (a deal that is particularly lucrative), side deals (a secondary deal enabled by the first deal), and raw deals (deals in which one party thinks he has been outmaneuvered). No matter how a deal is described, it involves at least two parties and their attorneys, all of whom may characterize it differently. See: Closing, Deal Breakers, Deal Flow, Financing Agreements, Negotiation, Structure.