How many SV VCs would have turned him down because his team and his pitch deck weren't cool enough, and they "weren't looking for investments in that sector"?

I'd love to see more examples of successful bootstrapped and/or lifestyle businesses, but - unlike PoF - most of them they don't get the same PR as the mainstream startups, which makes them harder to find/follow.

Likewise, a cap on a convertible note may be used by investors in the next round as an anchoring point to restrict the valuation in the next round.

Both of these effects are what a layman would think "shouldn't be real". From experience, both are extremely real.

Too bad that the TV shows present these as sort of jokes. That disappoints me. No joke, these are dead real.