Believe the no, but not the why.

less than 1m read

·Nov 3, 2024

There are a couple pieces of advice that we give to YC founders when talking to investors. I think the first is: believe the "no," but don't believe the "why." You're going to get a lot of "no"s when pitching, and more often than not, the investor will not be transparent as to why they're saying "no."

I think the second is that we say often is, you know, a good investor is respectful of your time, responds to your questions, makes a decision quickly, and leaves you alone. There are very, very, very many people who aren't that good, and there are very few people who add value.

So, if I were to kind of summarize our advice, it is really hard to tell whether you're interacting with a great investor or not. Oftentimes, as an early-stage YC founder or startup founder in general, you don't get to choose, right? Like, you don't have this wealth of choice.

I might say the first optimization is to try to go for people who regularly invest in startups and who are respectful of your time, respectful with you, and who move quickly.

Investigating the Mysterious Whale Sharks of Mafia Island | National Geographic

The Curious Ecosystems of Antarctica | Continent 7: Antarctica

View All

There’s Still Oil on This Beach 26 Years After the Exxon Valdez Spill (Part 3) | National Geographic

So we pulled into this Bay and we’re waiting for the tide to drop. Down, the tide is dropping just before midnight, so we basically have to wait it out. We can look at one of these beaches where we’re told there’s oil, and swimming over the top of the bea…

Tim Brady - How Much Equity Should I Give My First Employees?

[Music] How much equity should you give your first set of employees? This is more art than science. Unfortunately, there’s no chart I can point you to where you can look up the number of employees and experience and get an exact figure. That’s not how it…

COVERED IN CHICKS -- IMG! #41

A rooster… cat? And Ronald orders a number three. It’s episode 41 of IMG! City life. Oh hi. And here’s a necktie that’s formal and manly, though, of course, I prefer one piece cat faces. Too much coverage? Well, try on one of these or just wear a slice of…

Mapping Patagonia | Best Job Ever

Marty and I set out on an expedition to make the first print and interactive maps of Patagonia National Park. This was a dream project. In Patagonia, we wanted to explore as much of the park as we could. So that meant bushwacking off trails. That meant, y…

Office Hours with Kevin & Qasar at Startup School SV 2014

All right, so my name is Kevin Hail. Uh, my name is Cas Unice, and we’re Partners at Y Combinator. What that means really, Billy, is that especially when we’re not in batch, we’re out there trying to recruit and talk to as many founders as possible. In…

Tuna Tragedy | Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks

Mark, get them nice! Mark, big one! There’s less than one day left till the season closes, and we’re nervous. We’ve only caught two fish so far. We haven’t made much money, and if we don’t put some fish in the boat, this season’s going to be a bust. Come…

Believe the no, but not the why.

More Articles