Noticing a (new) and very dark pattern at seed. Seed investors pushing well capitalized founders to raise ever more safe money they don’t need “in case the A is hard.” The dilution only hits the founders and employees, not the post money safe investors. Deeply adverse incentive structure.

“I just met with him. He looked like the next call would either break him or make him the happiest guy on earth” - Friend after meeting with a founder mid-process

There’s no secret whisper network VCs use to discover a deal is hot. Founders who have a hot hand just…act differently. They speak differently, respond to diligence questions differently, negotiate differently. Some founders do this naturally. Some founders learn it.

You can’t stop other people from making money. Doesn’t even make sense to try. Doesn’t matter what you think of them. Doesn’t matter what you think of their companies. Just do your own thing.

Whenever possible, do things other people won’t.

Today, we’re announcing @TrustVanta's Series D and new valuation – $4.15 billion – led by @Wellington_Mgmt alongside @sequoia, @ycombinator, @CrowdStrike, @GoldmanSachs, @jpmorgan, @craft_ventures, and @Atlassian. Vanta’s mission is to help businesses earn and prove trust.

Fundraising should be hard. When fundraising is too easy, it tricks founders into thinking building a business is easy. It should be hard to convince someone to give you millions of dollars that you’ll probably lose.

Last week's Series A's were especially interesting. My favorite was @BedrockRobotics, which easily passes the "do your kids think your job is cool" test. More below:

Find an idea so good it doesn’t matter how often you screw up.

In the Bronx. #leica #streetphotography #nyc