Yes, raise while the window is open and convert narrative premium into things that cannot be destroyed: cash, capacity, a cash-cow business. Do not wait for a "reasonable" valuation. SpaceX fell from its $135 offer price to about $115, yet had already banked about $85.7B on IPO day.
The mainstream story watches share price and valuation and tries to call the top. The diary's view: share price is for retail investors, while a founder should watch the capital that lands on the company's balance sheet. The two numbers can move in opposite directions at once, and the winner is whoever converts premium into assets before the window closes.
SpaceX (7/27, SpaceX S-1): offer price $135, now below issue at about $115, with about $85.7B raised on IPO day. Tesla: locked its high-priced follow-on offerings into three Gigafactories; the stock drew down about 75% in 2022. OpenAI plus Anthropic (8/8, Crunchbase basis): took $217B of the $510B in global venture funding in the first half, or 43%, on a committed basis, of which $35B is contingent, single-source flag maintained.
For founders: raise while the window is open, turn the money into cash, capacity and a cash-cow business, and design an employee liquidity plan that does not depend on an IPO now. For investors: ask each portfolio company "what is left in your hands once the narrative cools", and add the ratio of banked assets to paper valuation to your pricing model.