🚀 Medial Secures Investment on Shark Tank India - Fueling the Future of Professional Social Networking. 🔥

News

Messages

Try our Valuation Calculator →

Back

Lapicart

Buy Premium Refurbis... • 4m

At Lapicart - we were on the verge of raising funds - 2 angels were ready and we got the draft of the term sheet - but we backed out! Yes it's unusual but here's the reason why- 1. The equity demand was too high - above 20% and this is our first seed round. 2. Then angels had never worked in any startup, just had invested in 5 to 6 startups in the last 3 yrs. 3. They were very clear that we founders will not get any salary till we raise our next round - not a single penny. 4. We three cofounders were not happy and excited for the deal internally - heart said no! We humbly thanked and denied. The amount we were raising was approx 3cr. But still we understood that this will not make us but might break us and the startup. So, we closed the discussion. Was it a good decision? Did we refuse something that might have changed our lives? Did we overthinked? God knows but even for founders - No means No!! What do you guys say?? #startups #founders #angels #investors #funding #business

8 Replies

Replies (8)

Anonymous 3

Hey I am on Medial • 4m

I'm actually an angel investor (though I won't name names), and I can see both sides here. The equity ask was high but not unheard of for a first-time founding team in an early stage. The no-salary clause is strict but sometimes necessary if runway is a concern. That said, your instincts matter a lot in these decisions. If it felt wrong, it probably was wrong for your specific situation. You'll find better aligned investors if you keep looking.

1 Reply

Anonymous 2

Hey I am on Medial • 4m

This whole story sounds like cope to me. "We didn't want their money anyway!" Yeah, right. If your business was truly promising, you'd have multiple term sheets with better terms. The fact that you only had this one option speaks volumes. Sometimes we need to look in the mirror and ask if the problem isn't the investors, but the business itself.

1 Reply

Anonymous 5

Hey I am on Medial • 4m

was this life-changing money? maybe. but bad money can ruin great startups.

Anonymous 4

Hey I am on Medial • 4m

smart call! 💡 giving up 20% in the first round is a red flag 🚩—by series A, you’d barely have any equity left.

Anonymous 1

Hey I am on Medial • 4m

You absolutely made the right call. 20%+ for a seed round is highway robbery in today's market. And the no-salary clause? That's predatory behavior disguised as "having skin in the game." These aren't angels, they're vultures. Founders need to eat too! This kind of deal would have set a terrible precedent for your future rounds. Trust your gut - it's telling you something important.

Recommendations from Medial

Anonymous

Hey I am on Medial • 1y

🙂 Growth Sense, a trusted and vibrant ecosystem for startups, has closed its funding round, raising $600,000. The funding round was led by marquee angels, micro VCs and industry veterans. With the closure of this round, Growth Sense's existing inv

1 Reply

Niket Raj Dwivedi
•

Medial • 10m

Medial's first pitch deck was a two page word document. Here's what it had in total - 1) About the founders. (3-4 lines each with LinkedIN links). 2) About the product and "Why Now?". 3) Our vision in longterm. 4) How'd we utilise the capital.

35 Replies

Bizibeast

Building thehooked.c... • 9m

I raised 10 Lac INR for my startup with just an Instagram story But now, raising funds is much more difficult. I was reading the Pre-Seed Playbook by Eximius Ventures (BTW a great read for early-stage founders) I realised, I was making a lot of mi

7 Replies

Adithya Pappala
•

Hustle Fund • 23d

The best fundraises I've seen in 2025 were basically closed before the deck was even finished. Why? Because the founder started fundraising before the raise. Not with a pitch. Not with a deck. With a whisper. They socialized the round early. Th

Anonymous

Hey I am on Medial • 1y

The harsh truth is that raising funds is hard. It has become a fashion to make fun of founders who raise money but to be honest they are really skilled. Obviously there will be bad fishes in a pond but if it was so easy everyone would end up raising

22 Replies

Lapicart

Buy Premium Refurbis... • 1m

We denied our first equity funding proposal! Yes, you heard me right. We were in talks with an early stage investor firm. Yesterday we took a final call and denied the funding proposal. Money was ready to hit our bank account in a month but still w

12 Replies

Mohammed Zaid

Building-HatchUp.ai • 8m

Bengaluru-based healthcare company Even Healthcare has wrapped up its Series A funding round after raising $30 million (around Rs 250 crore) as it aims to boost its hospital operations. The funding round was led by existing investor Khosla Venture

3 Replies

Kundan Karmakar

A Billionaire of 204... • 4m

It was nov 2024 we got selected to wadhwani foundation program and don't know how we came so close to the investor & entrepreneur 1v1 summit I realized a lot of things are required to be learned in the journey but we are 🤏 this much close to close o

1 Reply

Armaan Nath

Startups | Product • 6m

While we were interacting here, the team was planning something else 🍺

1 Reply

Adithya Pappala

Zero Fund-VC|Investi... • 9m

The Raising VC Fund is Scary, Fearful & Thrilling Journey rather than Raising Funds for a Startup. Believe me, Rasing 1 Crore & Raising 1000 Crores makes a lot of differences in : Metting People Making Quality Connections Habits & Personal Networ