“Working with a massive public company — they have a lot more process than you do, so literally getting a deal done is going to take longer and be more strenuous. We were fortunate enough for it to be a clean same-terms deal.”

Strategic investors add legitimacy but deals move slowly — push for clean venture terms

Sony Music's investment in Rapchat validated the thesis that major labels could partner rather than kill music-tech startups. But Seth Miller is candid about the cost: strategic investors from large public companies bring legal process, approval chains, and potential strings that pure financial VCs do not. His advice: if you pursue a strategic investor, push hard for clean standard venture terms — and defer complex partnership agreements until you have the bandwidth to execute them.