S1EP09 - Sniffing Out Predatory Terms with Cecilia Tse

What happens when the hardest part of fundraising is not the pitch, but the structure behind the check?

In this episode of The Capital Flex, I sit down with Cecilia Tse, CEO and co-founder of hey freya, a science-backed women’s health company helping women understand stress, biology, and decision-making through data, systems, and real-world usability. Cecilia is a former management consultant and wellbeing strategy leader at PwC who navigated her own IVF journey and is now one of the most analytically fluent founders operating in health and venture today.

We talk about what fundraising looks like when you understand venture economics but still find yourself navigating a system driven by relationships, pattern recognition, and inefficiency. Cecilia names her fundraising experience in three words: ongoing, inefficient, and connection-driven and explains why those realities are not contradictions, but features of the system itself.

Cecilia walks through a fast-moving term sheet that looked progressive on the surface, but quietly shifted risk entirely onto the founder. We talk about why speed is often used to limit scrutiny, how certain structures protect funds at the expense of companies, and why fluency matters more than optimism.

This conversation is about discernment, power, and learning to read what is being offered before capital reshapes the company.

Key Takeaways:

• Building hey freya while navigating her own IVF journey and fundraising 
• Why founders are always fundraising even when no capital is moving
• The inefficiency baked into venture capital matching
• Relationship-driven decision making and its hidden tradeoffs
• How fast term sheets can mask misaligned incentives
• Understanding where risk truly lives in early-stage deals
• Why fluency in structures matters more than speed

My Reflection & Challenge:
Listening back to this conversation, what stayed with me was how familiar Cecilia’s story felt. The confidence of the offer. The polish of the language. The pressure to move quickly. None of it was overtly wrong. That is what makes it dangerous.

Fundraising does not just test your pitch, it tests your ability to see incentives clearly while someone else controls the pace. The founders who last are not the ones who raise the fastest, they are the ones who understand who a deal is designed to protect.

Cecilia did not say no because the terms were confusing, she said no because she understood them.

This Week’s Challenge:
Before your next fundraising conversation, run a structure check. Ask yourself:

• Who is protected if things go sideways?
• Where does the risk sit?
• What assumptions are being made about my tolerance?
• Is speed being used to replace alignment?

Remember, you are not here to take every check, you are here to build something that lasts.

Links and Resources:

https://www.getheyfreya.com/
https://www.instagram.com/getheyfreya/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/heyfreya/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilia-tse/

If you enjoyed this conversation, follow The Capital Flex, leave a rating and share this episode with a founder who needs it.

And if you’re looking for a more candid space to talk fundraising, power and building inside systems not designed for you, stay close. The conversation continues.

Production and Administration work completed by Smart Podcast Solutions and Elevate Virtual Business Solutions.