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Comment by 0zymandias | Hacker News Reader

There seem to be two types of people debating with each other in this thread.

1. Some people that have real-world experience with raising money and term sheets. They understand what the norms and expectations are in addition to understanding the legal aspects.

2. Other people that lack the real-world experience and are just speculating without understanding the norms. They are only referring to the legal aspects.

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^ The deal is never actually done until the money is wired and cleared into your account. Everything that happens before that including signed papers and handshakes are just negotiations.

Another way to approach interacting with other humans is to understand that the law only describes minimum expectations and isn't a replacement for ethics or common decency.

You can use all the tools of the law to disadvantage others but word will get around that you're a dirty dealer and it'll be their privilege to not do business with you anymore.

That only works if anyone is doing it.

Yes, and the standard among VCs is to follow social and industry norms. Silicon Valley is an iterated game, and very few players are willing to play in a way that destroys future payoffs.

What makes you think the people with opinion #1 have real world experience and the people with opinion #2 don't? Maybe some people here just have a different understanding of what the norms are.

What are the norms?

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