... most important and challenging experiences you ll have as a founder is fundraising. I pitched VCs across London and San Francisco. Some spent 15 seconds on my deck. Some took the call just to diligence a competitor. One told me to ask for more money. Oh, and I found out your pitch is probably being recorded and run through AI. This is the high-impact version of all of those lessons to save you time, energy, and emotional damage. Please ... ... strategic choice. Raise early and more than you need This is one of the biggest lessons I learned. I only ever wanted to raise as much as we needed. That felt disciplined to me. But it s actually an unpopular