“We like you, but don't know if this is a fit for us”

😣Ouchh, we founders hate the sting of getting rejected by investors. Especially because most investors don't actually explicitly reject you. They just ghost you or use clever generic language like “we like you but..”, or “we’re in as soon as you have a lead”

At my last startup, I met with over 400 investors over the course of ten years. Trust me, I became an expert at hearing NOs. One thing I learned was that rejection was like the bed of nails paradox. You lay in a bed of 1000 nails, and it may bother you, but it won't hurt nearly as much as if you lay on top of one nail. So what I did was cast the widest net possible and talk to investors who were not an obvious fit. For example, we raised capital from dozens of investors, none of whom looked like me (US Hispanic), but got lots of love from many that didn't look like me ( i.e., the Winklevoss twins).

The reality is that not everyone will be supportive of your startup dreams. You will be surprised by who doesn't support you, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at who does.