Most rounds are lost in the meeting before the meeting — the informal partner call that decides whether your deal even reaches the Monday partnership.
Term sheets are downstream artifacts. If the narrative, comps, and champion are wired correctly, terms tend to normalise. If they aren't, no clever mechanic recovers the round.
Whether equity, debt, or structured capital, dilution and cost of capital are the last things to negotiate — not the first things to fear. Clarity of use of proceeds and path to liquidity always outrank valuation theatre.