Eric Siu breaks down why a startup pitch from GEO lost him immediately: they wouldn't share product details or traction numbers, kept things vague, and made unclear asks. He argues founders need to be direct about what they're building and what they want.
So, you know, one of my friends introduced me to this GEO company, okay? And basically I spoke with them and they're like, I'm like, we start to call, it's like, oh yeah, you know, we don't want to ask you for anything yet. I'm like, okay, well tell me about your product. So I don't really get much about their product, okay? And then they're like, oh, they don't tell me much about the product. I'm like, okay, so how's your traction right now? You guys are looking to raise another round because they're looking to partner with me, right? They wouldn't tell me their traction. They wouldn't tell me about the product. I'm like, so what do you guys want, right? And then they're like, well, you know, we don't want to ask for anything We want to ask what you want first. I'm like, dude, you're like pissing me off. Like, you're like, I get on this call because my friend asked me to get on this call, and then it's like, you don't tell me what you guys really do, you don't give me enough info, and then like you don't tell me about your traction. So how the F am I supposed to help you, right? And then you do this whole thing, like this weird positioning thing where you're like, well, I want to help you first. It's— I really want to cuss right now. I'm just like— And I was like, guys, you're really annoying me right now. And I said that on the call, and I'm just like, I'm giving you feedback right now. If you're going to take these calls in the future, like you need specific about your ask, because I have no idea how to help you right now. And, but it's one of those content creation tools again. So then, and, but the thing is, what my point of saying this is that these content creation tools seem to be going on a downward trend right now. And it's interesting because one person is like, they're done with that company, the, like, they're like, they don't want to work on it as much. And then the other one's like, they're just starting out.
