Median dilution at the first institutional cheque has fallen every year since 2021 — from ~22% to ~14% — as capped SAFEs displaced priced rounds and full-ratchet terms.

Raise to a milestone, not a number of months. The milestone that matters is the first cohort that renews without being asked; price your runway in those, and model the dilution before you sign.

Offered a larger equity cheque, Ishaan Verma took a smaller hardware grant — and kept a cap table clean enough to still own the company on the day the technology was ready.