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Asking for a founder: What's the worst reaction you've ever gotten from an investor?

Busra Ozgumus
22 replies
Hey everyone! πŸ™ŒπŸΌ After listening to Airbnb CEO and Co-Founder Brian Chesky's story about the early struggles and outrageous demands from investors on the "This Week in Startups" podcast, it got me thinking...πŸ€” What was the most challenging experience I've had as a founder?πŸ€” For me, it was when an investor told me that no one would ever use AI assistants in their daily lives - this was just before ChatGPT came into existence, mind you! πŸ˜… Unfortunately, our entire business was built around this idea. What about you? What's the worst investor meeting horror story you've experienced? Let's hear it! πŸ’¬

Replies

Aamir Virani
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I've got you on this - we met with a friend of a friend. to get advice on how to pitch. At the end of our time, he says, "Can I tell you something?" "That was the worst fucking pitch I've ever heard. You guys didn't show me anything. You didn't even have a pitch deck. You will never raise money here in the Valley." (Lots of lessons in this and our reaction - but that's for another thread if people want to hear it.)
Suleman Elahi
If you want hilarious ones watch Shark Tank India .... I don't think anything can be worse than that πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
Cameron Baughn
I was meeting with a potential investor for my first startup (I thoughtβ€”turns out he just thought he was there to give me advice). During our meeting, the investor shot down every idea I had for improving the product, without offering any constructive feedback. His justification was that he had worked at Microsoft in the 90s and somehow knew how to build a mobile app in 2019. πŸ€·πŸ»β€β™‚οΈ After basically berating me for an hour, it started pouring outside, and 10 minutes later, the investor realized he had left the top down on his Porsche, and the interior was soaked. It felt like instant karma. πŸ˜‚
Eva Maganja
@cameron_baughn Oh wow! now this one is for the book :D
Maksim Markevich
"We don't have any questions. Let us digest and we will come back."
when I was in 2nd year in college, I started Bookhunger.com Old/New Book Sell & Buy. Worst reaction is "Client, No Reaction πŸ˜”'
Justin Lane
Ha, there are two that stand out. One I got from a university (where I had previously studied, they have a +1bn endowment), where they offered me 50k for 20% I said "you're kidding", they said, "that's our standard offer" I said, "you probably shouldn't invest in standard companies". A month later I got a term sheet for a 8m valuation on the same pitch. I told them after, they asked me to meet, but it was too late. Another I got was basically a VC who said the infamous "I invest in AI and can help". It was very clear by the end of the call that he didn't know basics about AI and the best he had done was resell APIs from cloud providers into apps that he was billing as unique. It was embarrassing for him in my eyes, waste of time for me. He still invests in AI apparently. Why do VCs say they know about things when their founders can obviously out them as nonsense?
Eva Maganja
VC guy asked me if I am actually dedicated to being a CEO because once I get kids I cannot run the company, and he needs his investment more secure.πŸ™ƒ
Uma Venugopal
@evamaganja as a female founder I feel so disrespected reading this. Wow. You should totally mention who the dude is with his details because he deserves no mercy at this sexism.
Eva Maganja
@uma_venugopal Oh and another one: One time the VC asked me in order to give me a 30k investment, how am I planning to get my company to 500MIL in profits 🀣
Anna Titova
@evamaganja I’m shocked, honestly. I run the company being a first time mama to 5 month old baby. Yes it’s hard, especially for the first 3 month, yes I’m tired af, yes, I’m getting help from my family, but it’s still doable! I really love what we’ve built and becoming a mother made me even stronger. What was the nationality of that investor if it’s not a secret?
Eva Maganja
@uma_venugopal I wish I could remember, it was about 2 years ago. On some event. Just horrible.
Uma Venugopal
Not an investor per se, but I find it amusing to see how cocky analysts and associates can be while talking shop. It's as if they are the gatekeepers to funds and later when you meet with the VP or Partner they've so much humility it's quite fun to watch.
Eva Maganja
@uma_venugopal agree on this one! Happened to me way to many times haha
Jessica Vilana
Investments are always a great idea if you are considering to make additional money and to gain more funds. I was considering about it and https://numfin.com/TSLA/overview is a good tesla stock. Tesla is a really good opportunity to invest money in and you can always get to know all prices that are rising or falling.
Ayush Agrawal
It's a good feature but are you serious of building a company out of it ?
Mei
The investor not showing up to the meeting. The investor ghosting me after saying "you've built one of the strongest teams I have met" The investor wasting weeks in DD and not committing I can go on, there are so many
πŸ”¨ Travis Page πŸ”¨
@thisismeihere pretty much any advice from a former consulting MBA ever
Nacho Franchini
I was once offered 1% equity, vested in 4 years, only if the company was sold in +$100M. Ran out of there faster than a cheetah in roller skates :)
Twikc
they wanted to buy it instead of investing
Saileswar Mahakud
I have had a similar experience. EdTech & Sustainability :)