Founders

VCs benefit when founders think their company is earlier stage, lower valuation, higher risk, and lower upside than it actually is. Keep your feet on the ground and be hungry, but stay confident, shoot for the stars, and don't apologize for valuing yourself and what you've built.

Head of Engineering at Courtyard.io, bringing physical collectibles onchain. nf.td/joe /courtyard /backend

think this whole valuation conversation is not really the main battle tbh - whether high or low it means nothing, the only Q is what makes sense tactically.

there's a standard dilution (15-20%). My exp. of the optimal strategy is thinking from the starting point of how much cash is needed to deliver your ambitious goal and survive a long drought. then from this, infer valuation.

any other approach misses the point that capital is fuel, and the hard bit is actually making the sustainable business (which btw, high val can really get in the way of because it makes it that much harder to raise should you miss your goals even by a hair)

I actually agree with you for pre-seed and seed; I think most of where I'm seeing disingenuous advice from VCs is at the growth stage, e.g.

The price a VC pays to invest in your startup is not reflective of what your company is actually worth or what a buyer would pay to acquire it. It is a speculative number in an illiquid market.

Keep your feet on the ground.

Talia Goldberg

I actually agree with you for pre-seed and seed; I think most of where I'm seeing disingenuous advice from VCs is at the growth stage, e.g. https://x.com/TaliaGold/status/1924685400356032719