Nice concepts don’t die from rejection — they fade in pipelines that had been damaged from the beginning.
It begins the identical approach each time. And this morning, Paul was no exception.
A founder, brimming with confidence, telling me:
“We’ve constructed one thing traders should love. It’s sensible. It’s quick. It’s environment friendly. A real game-changing know-how.”
He paused, ready for validation.
As a substitute, I performed my typical position — the crucial good friend. I knew he wouldn’t love the twist.
So I requested the one query that often silences the room:
“Who truly wants it proper now, can write a verify, and has the stress to maneuver quick?”
Paul froze. His smile pale. Eyes huge, mouth half-open — he didn’t want to talk. I may already hear what he wished to say:
“How dare you query what we constructed — two years of sweat, in a storage, like MacGyver, armed with a pen, a whiteboard, and 4 a.m. espresso.”
They constructed the tech. However they by no means requested the onerous questions each investor-savvy thoughts asks earlier than breakfast:
- What downside does this clear up?
- Who feels it proper now?
- Will they pay — instantly?
That’s when founders typically get defensive.
“You don’t get our science. You’re only a enterprise man.”
They usually’re proper. I’m not right here to audit their breakthroughs or chase the following Nobel Prize.
I’m right here to ask the unglamorous questions that flip ardour tasks into viable companies.
And in that second, I knew what Paul couldn’t see but:
He was pitching right into a black gap.
There’s a selected sort of ache most founders know — however hardly ever discuss.
Not rejection.
One thing worse.
Ghosting.