Charles Hudson breaks down how founders should interpret investor feedback during fundraising. He separates actionable criticism about the business from vague personal rejection like "I don't like the founder," and explains what founders can actually do with each kind.
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And so that's like, the useful thing. I'll give you an example. We had a portfolio company that went out to fundraise before they went to fundraise. I was like, I think there's one really specific issue that we face with the business. We haven't proven this thing. It's reasonable for people to say, we haven't proven this thing, and to decide not to invest in the company because we have not proven this thing. So if we were to fail to fundraise because people don't see evidence of this thing, I would not be surprised. And the person was like, yeah, that's what happened. I get it. But if someone's just like, I don't like the founder, that's not actionable and it's actually not useful. So sometimes I will just take that and figure out, is there a way I can deliver this message that will get through to them? Because if it's, hey, the content of the presentation or the way you showed up for the meeting is different from, I just don't believe this person will succeed as the founder. And I've had some people be like, I don't see in that founder what you do. I'm unimpressed by them. What does that person do with that feedback?