Jason M. Lemkin argues that, contrary to the expectation that each fundraising round becomes harder, in 2021 rounds actually became easier. He attributes this to market hysteria and valuation momentum (e.g., rapid jumps from $400M to $800M) which made subsequent raises simpler rather than more difficult. The excerpt is a conversational reflection warning founders they misunderstand this dynamic.
Let me summarize it this way, Harry. I know this will sound obvious to you, but. But founders still don't get it. Every round's supposed to be harder, but in 2021, every round got easier. They lit. Think about it. They literally got easier in 2021, didn't they? It's not just that people raised us up, raised at 400, then 800 the next week. It's not even that the valuations went up. They actually got easier. The hysteria raising a 400 made it easier to raise it 800, because I didn't get into the round. Right. And every round is the A should be somewhere between, you know, maybe it's step function. Maybe an a should be 10 times harder than a seed and a b should be 10 times harder than an A and a C. That.
