In raising funding you hear no most of the time. It reminds me of a saying, “A good salesman never takes ‘no’ for an answer.”
I worked as a salesman for several years and saw how others used this statement. It played out in several different ways. The rookie salesman harangues the prospect with the current product and pitch. They reminded me of the door to door salesman who put his foot in the door and wouldn’t let you close it until you bought something.
An experienced sales person didn’t just repeat the offer, instead they changed it up. When you hear no, you can alter the price, product, or promotion.
So when an investor says no, you can change the price (the terms of the deal), the product (improve the startup with more sales, better team, etc), or the promotion (reposition the deal from say an ed-tech deal to an impact deal).
The foot in the door almost never worked for the salesman, and repeating your investment offering will almost never work for on an investor who doesn’t buy into it.
Make a change to what you are offering and see what happens.
Hall T. Martin is the founder of TEN Capital and a builder of entrepreneur ecosystems by startup funding through angel networks, funding portals, syndicates, and more. Connect with him about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies
