Raise capital on your terms, or don't raise at all.

When you're a Black woman founder, the pressure to take the first check is enormous. Only about 0.35% of venture capital goes to women who look like me — so every yes feels like it might be the last one. I've been in that room. I've also learned, expensively, that the wrong yes will cost you more than any no ever could.

A term sheet is a marriage. Read it that way.

Valuation is the number founders obsess over on Twitter, but valuation is not the most important line on the page. The most important lines are: liquidation preference, participation, board composition, protective provisions, and pro-rata rights. Any one of them, written badly, can turn a "great round" into a company where you no longer make the decisions.

My rule is simple: I don't take capital from anyone who doesn't understand — and respect — the specific market we serve. When you sell a piece of your company to someone who thinks textured hair is a niche, you have just sold decision-making authority to a person who fundamentally misunderstands your customer.

Three questions before you sign.

1. If this investor never wrote another check, would I still want them on my cap table for the next 10 years?
2. What happens on this term sheet if we have a bad quarter? A great quarter? An acquisition offer I want to reject?
3. Am I raising this round because the business needs it, or because I need validation?

The best round I ever closed was the one I almost walked away from. The worst round I ever closed was the one I took because I was tired.

Protect the cap table. Protect your peace. They're the same thing.