"Don’t try to be clever and get an auction going" This differs from the advice I heard from a lot of savvy founders who used investor interest to ratchet up to

"Don’t try to be clever and get an auction going" This differs from the advice I heard from a lot of savvy founders who used investor interest to ratchet up to better investors and valuations. You gotta be a playa to pull that off, though. EDIT FOR CLARITY: I'm not talking about shopping term sheets; this is universally agreed to be a Bad Idea.