> Then in the fall of 2011 we failed to close a major financing round from the US. We basically had a deal with a top-tier San Francisco based VC. Our guys flew over to meet them at least two times. We (as a company) spent a lot of time on that financing round. We thought we would be able to close the deal, but something totally different happened. They stopped all communication with us. Suddenly. No explanations. No apologies. Nothing. We were in trouble.
Stuff like this is why I'm thankful for YC. Understanding the mechanics of raising a round has been incredibly helpful when evaluating what's actually going on. 2009 me would have thought two meetings with a VC was basically "a deal", 2012 me is much more capable of realistically evaluating progress towards a term sheet.