

Fred Wilson: Saying No - charzom
http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2007/10/saying-no.html

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Jaggu
Totally agree. It is always good to tell the truth so that person on another
side stops guessing the reason.

We got rejected by YC and I am just guessing the reasons. Thinking that all
founder aren't ready to move to SV for three months and also few are not ready
to leave their full time job...etc... but still it is just guessing game...
hey could you tell PG to tell everyone about reason for rejection ;)

Few people might not able to digest the reason..but all are not same...many
can take that as a advise and that could help in future..

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jkush
YC can't and shouldn't provide reasons why. They've already said as much. In
their case, it's different from Fred Wilson. YC has to say no just twice a
year. For Fred Wilson and any other VC, it's an ongoing thing. There's a
difference.

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dpapathanasiou
The YC approach to "no" is easier when your only point of contact is a web
form anyone can fill out and submit.

Most VCs (and I've never met Wilson, but I'm guessing this applies to him)
meet people in person, because they've gotten introduced or referred by
someone in their network.

So in that context, it's tougher to reject people without providing more
details.

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pg
_it's tougher to reject people without providing more details_

As I've explained over and over, the reason we don't provide more details is
that there often are no details to provide. Often the sum total of our
reaction to an application is "we don't understand this."

The main difference between us and Fred Wilson in this respect is that he
might evaluate 1 or 2 carefully screened deals a day, while we evaluate
several hundred.

~~~
bootload
_"... we don't understand this ..."_

Is it the lack of communication skills conveying the idea? Or is it something
more fundamental along the lines of, "we don't understand this _'foo'"_?,

Where _"foo"_ is 'idea is too derivative', 'you have no users in mind'... etc?

~~~
bootload
for a better understanding of the mindset read Matt Maroons, *"Advice for Y
Combinator Interviewees" ~ <http://mattmaroon.com/?p=283>

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jkush
He's right. If you are in a position that requires you to say no a lot, you
should learn to do it quickly and honestly. It probably helps him keep his
sanity, and shoot-the-messenger type entrepreneurs aside, probably makes his
relationships less messy.

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gscott
I went ahead and sent them an email, this vc firm gives you a reason when they
say no. Fred Wilson seems to be a polite and down to earth guy just to take a
random email from someone he doesn't know and give it some thrift.

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Tichy
So how do you get VCs to seek you out, instead of the other way round?

