"I'm a pre-seed investor, the failure rate is high...We expect fifty percent of our companies to not make it or at least return less than 1X capital. In any other context, that's an absolute bloodbath." Founders hear the highlight reel: the up rounds, the breakout revenue, the headlines about mega seed rounds, etc. The day-to-day of startup life isn't glamorous. Most companies don't make it, and even the winners spend long stretches where nothing feels like it's working. That's the honest backdrop to every raise, and it's exactly why who you bring onto your cap table matters more than the terms they offer. You're not just picking who wires the money. You're picking who's there to celebrate the wins but more importantly, who you want in the boat when things go sideways. @AaronStachel from @FirstMileVC is one of those VCs you'd want in the boat. In the latest episode of Fun Raising we dive in to the ups and downs of both fundraising and company building, and importance of optimizing for good people first, because once someone's on your cap table, it's a ten year relationship you can't undo. We also dive in to: - How some VCs will screens for the problem before the team, and passing on great teams chasing small problems. - The kinds of markets VCs actually get excited about (not always the obvious, crowded ones). - How real FOMO gets created in a round, and why manufactured urgency backfires. - The exact questions to ask a VC to find out if you're moving toward a yes. - What a good investor update looks like after you close. Full episode here on X 🎧