If you’re not willing to walk away, you’re going to pay retail. Good terms happen when you have multiple interested investors, bad terms happen when you don’t.

That said, investment is difficult if you’re in a place that has few exits (anywhere but Silicon Valley or Beijing/Shanghai). Investors are motivated by the percent chance of an exit, and that chance is higher in the Bay Area than in most places. The chance for exit drops off a pretty steep curve as you go down the “top cities” list (I live in Seattle so apologies to the local scene).