I’ve been helping a founder with a fundraising round. It’s been a few months, and the round was moving toward the finish line. With investors lined up and lawyers finalizing documents, everything looked good for the transaction to close on time. Then one of the investors pulled out unexpectedly, putting the entire transaction in jeopardy. Luckily this founder had never stopped pitching other potential investors and had built a good working relationship with the lead investor. He has a solid list of potential investors to replace the one who dropped out. He was able to have a constructive conversation with the lead investor and agree on a strategy to close the transaction. It took an extra day—not bad given the eleventh-hour dynamics—but the transaction closed and the funds cleared the company bank account.

Fundraising is tough, full of all kinds of twists and turns. A transaction isn’t done until the money’s in the bank. Before then, anything could happen—and something often does happen at the last minute. Don’t get comfortable. Continue working on open items until the transaction is officially closed and the wire clears your bank account. When the wire clears, then you can relax a little and celebrate.