Founders, please stop fundraising in the summer. Yes, people do occasionally get term sheets in July. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE ONE OF THEM. Here's why:
First off, the reason that not a lot of term sheets get written in the summer "dark period" is because of how most VC firms operate.
Each week there is an IC (Investment Committee) meeting. Every member (often all the senior partners) have to agree to write a term sheet to a startup. Any single partner can torpedo a deal.
During the summer, when all these successful and wealthy partners are traveling, it's almost impossible to get a quorum, so term sheets don't get written until August.
My friend Natty Zola at Matchstick Ventures (a wonderful fund) told me last week that he *loves* writing term sheet in the summer because there's less competition from other VCs who aren't writing checks.
And this is why you don't want to fundraise in July.
God forbid you get a single term sheet when other investors aren't working. One terms sheet isn't a market. You're worth whatever they say you're worth. You'll be stuck with whatever lousy terms they want to foist on you.
Competition keeps investors honest, and while Matchstick will offer you a fair term sheet in a vacuum, there are hundreds of firms out there who will absolutely take advantage of the situation to load your deal up with shitty provisions.
Spend the summer building your business.
Spend the summer meeting with LOADS of VCs. Just don't pitch them yet.
You're not raising yet. You're learning about the market so that mid-August you can hit the ground running and run a badass process that gets you three terms sheets so you can get the best deal from the firm with whom you most want to work.
Be smart about this. Do great work.