One key concept I took away from the event with Aravinda Seshadri was that “VC is a relationship, not a transaction.” She explained that early founders often treat fundraising like convincing anyone with money to write a check, but good VCs are actually long-term partners who sit on your cap table for 7–10+ years. Because of that, she emphasized doing real diligence on investors: understanding their fund size and stage focus, how much follow-on capital they reserve, what kind of support they actually provide beyond money, and whether their values and expectations align with the founder’s vision. She also pointed out that this alignment shows up in the term sheet, things like control provisions, board composition, and liquidation preferences quietly determine who really has power when things get hard. For beginners, her advice was to treat the first rounds of fundraising as much about qualifying investors as “being picked” by them, and to remember that the cheapest capital is not always the best if it comes with terms or partners that limit your ability to build the company you actually want.
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