RE: Congratulations. My wife is a musician, and back in the day,when record labels mattered, many musicians would focus almost entirely on getting the record deal. That was the thing, to get the deal. Sure, there would be stories about artist X or Y who's album had been shelved by the label or the signed artist losing of control over who would be the producer etc. but primarily it was considered a sign that you had made it, you were legit. You just didn't really consider the loss of control that went along with the 'deal'. I think the same is true with funding. Yes, you are making an exchange - money for equity. However, you are also signaling that you are legit, to outsiders and to yourself. Of course, there is a cost to everything, and if entrepreneurs are not treating the funding as a sub-goal, but rather as the goal,then you wind up with organizations that are optimized to get funding rather building customers/long term profits.