Dilution
Caveat: I'm a seed stage VC, so obviously I have a horse in this race.<p>I don't agree with this advice. Well, <i>in theory</i>, I strongly agree that avoiding excessive dilution is ideal. But the suggested numbers (10% dilution for a seed round) feel very unrealistic to me. It's very hard to get far on that kind of money for a seed stage company. If anything, the proliferation of bridge rounds and seed extensions and series of convertible notes show that even after raising seed rounds, many companies need more capital to get to a series A.<p>It's also interesting to note that the 10% figure is coming from YC, which takes 7%. That's a considerable amount of dilution, too (and very worth it, IMO).<p>Finally, I've never been a founder, but I imagine if a company becomes enormous, I'd care less about whether my net worth was $200m or $250m as a founder. So the dilution seems less important than having enough capital for a successful outcome. I'd rather have 60% of a small exit than 80% of a $0 exit.<p>I do believe in constraints and good cash management, so regardless of how much founders raise, they should be conservative with spend until they have strong product market fit.