Story time: In early 2012, the startup I was working for, Thumbtack, had struggled for 6-8 months to raise a Series A but finally got to the finish line. Around the same time, Justin Kan co-founded a company called Exec, and within a few months raised a "party round" that was nearly as much as our Series A, with a valuation twice as high. Our company was years old and had serious traction, Kan's company had done essentially nothing. At the time it was a quite upsetting turn of events.

But there was a valuable lesson... How Justin Kan fundraises is irrelevant for you and me, because we aren't Justin Kan. There was no rational basis for Exec to have been worth so much at that time, but when you are Justin Kan that isn't relevant. And look, good for the Justin Kans of the world who can take advantage of that, but that doesn't mean it is helpful advice for the rest of us.

I can say from experience that going into VC meetings with a bunch of false bravado, hoping to "hold the tension" and out-negotiate the VCs is mostly irrelevant advice. By far the most important thing for the average founder is getting the VCs to look up from their phones and care or be interested in your pitch, which isn't going to happen unless you've created the right fundraising dynamic for your company.

One of my favorite Paul Graham essays of all time, "How To Raise Money" [1], fully captures what my experience was in the fundraising realm, both when it went well and when it went poorly. I'd point you there for more practical advice.

1: http://paulgraham.com/fr.html