In today’s market, no single metric defines what a Series A is, or how to raise one. At this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt , three investors offered founders advice on raising one, and one of them tacked on a warning. With money pouring into AI and revenue numbers being inflated to justify sky-high valuations, a correction could come as soon as 2027.

The warning came from Shailendra Singh, a managing director at Peak XV, who spoke alongside Jahanvi Sardana, a partner at Index Ventures, and Janelle Teng Wade, a partner at Bessemer. “Seed and venture, I’ve never seen it as dysfunctional as it is now,” Singh said, adding that the current market is one of the hardest to raise in that he has seen.

“The burden is high to convince any top firm that you are amongst the few special companies that can break out, and then the dispersion is very high on the terms you might get, how much capital you can raise, and what terms you can raise it,” he continued.…