Raising capital is a crucial step in the growth of any startup. Founders often face tough decisions about when and how to raise money, and at what valuation. But what happens when the valuation is set too high, beyond what the business can realistically support? This is known as a "runaway valuation," and it's a concept that many founders struggle with.

In episode 8 of Startup Confidential, we continue our story with Explosive.io, a company that always seems to be in the right place at the right time, operating in a domain that's hot for tech investors. This time, they make an aggressive move to close an equity financing at a runaway valuation. We examine the implications of this decision and the potential risks for both the company and its investors.

As a founder, it can be tempting to take advantage of a high valuation, even if you know your business may not be worth it. But this can lead to problems down the road, such as difficulty raising future rounds of funding, dilution of equity, and ultimately, a potential down-round. In episode 8, we explore the difficult deliberations that founders must have when facing the decision of whether to raise money at a high valuation.

Nimrod Vromen is also the author of Prompting Happiness - a book about the pursuit of happiness in the age of artificial intelligence (now on Amazon).

Jordan is managing partner of Global Upscale, an international marketing and design firm, which produced this series.

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