I’ve watched founders blow up a company with a great product because they raised at the wrong time.
Not “wrong time” like a mild inconvenience. I mean: they took $18M at a $180M post, missed the next quarter, hit a down-round 11 months later, and spent the following 2 years doing financial therapy instead of building. The product didn’t die. The cap table did.

Here’s the part that will annoy you: most fundraising advice is written by people who don’t sign term sheets. Or by people who sign them and then pretend they didn’t.
I’ve led or co-led 60+ rounds across four funds. I’ve also been the person telling founders: “You’re not raising right now,” and “Yes, you should take the lower valuation,” and “No, that term is not ‘standard,’ it’s a trap with a nice font.” I’ve been wrong plenty. I’ve also watched the same mistakes repeat so predictably I could set my calendar to them.

Context: Why This Matters Right Now

Two things are true at the same time in 2026:
1) Capital is available for real businesses.
2) Capital is unforgiving of stories.

In 2020–2021, you could raise on momentum, narrative, and a decent deck. In 2022–2024, you could survive on cost cuts and “efficient growth” slogans. Now the market is more rational—and more impatient. Investors want proof, not potential. And if you raise with weak proof, the term sheet will quietly punish you for it.
The single biggest fundraising mistake I’m seeing is founders treating fundraising as an event.

It’s not an event. It’s a strategy choice that changes your company’s options for the next 18–36 months.

So I’m going to give you what I wish founders had before they walk into the room:

How to decide when to raise, how to think about valuation without ego, what to look for in term sheets (beyond the headline number), and how to negotiate without playing chicken with your own runway.

When to Raise: The Only Clock That Matters Is Runway (Not Your Ego)

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I’ve spent years building startups in IoT and smart cities — but the truth is, the same traps exist across every industry. Fundraising that looks great on paper but sinks you later. Corporate “partnerships” that eat two years and give back nothing. Valuations that feel like a win until you realize you just signed away control.

This Substack is about all of that. Not glossy pitch-deck advice, but the hard lessons from raising capital, negotiating with VCs, and trying to survive long enough to build something real.

What You’ll Get

• Stories from my own fundraising battles — the good, the bad, and the stupid

• Lessons for founders in any sector: what to watch out for in term sheets, investor talks, and deal structures

• Insights into how investors actually see startups (hint: not how you think)

• Occasional sharp commentary on hype cycles, from IoT to AI to “the next big thing”

I’ll post once or twice a week. Free posts will be raw stories and reflections. Paid posts will go deeper — negotiation tactics, investor frameworks, survival playbooks — the stuff you won’t get in a Medium article or from your accelerator mentor.

Why Subscribe

Because every founder is one bad deal away from losing their company. And every investor is one bad bet away from losing their trust. If you want the unfiltered truth from someone who’s been on both sides of the table, this Substack is for you.