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While the capital efficient consumer Internet start-up is all the rage these days, I still see a good number of consumer Internet companies looking to raise sizable Series A rounds prior to launch. Other than successful serial entrepreneurs, more often than not these companies have a hard time raising large pre-launch rounds from top tier VC firms.

So some scrappy entrepreneurs hustle to try and find alternative routes to their desired result rather than raise less money to prove out their concept prior to loading up the cannons. If they doggedly persist down this path, these entrepreneurs may find some wealthy unsophisticated angels and/or an ill-suited VC firm to back them.

Although this may seem like a victory for the entrepreneur, it’s most likely a Pyrrhic one. Taking too much money before you need/deserve it is extremely dangerous and can generate unnatural behaviors. Even more importantly, having the wrong investors around the table early on in a company’s life can be devastating…especially as further financing is required down the road and these investors cannot support the company properly or send the wrong signals to the market.

If the entrepreneur gets lucky and all goes according to the initial plan, things can of course work out just fine. More likely, they’ll be 18-24 months out with a minimally successful product and staring at a B round that nobody is willing to fund – externally or internally.

The lesson here: listen to the market.  There’s a reason it’s not cooperating the way you want it to.