“Failed” deals are often just stalled ones

One of the hardest parts of fundraising isn’t just the rejections (I mean, they aren’t fun, but they are inevitable). It’s that most rejections don’t actually sound like rejections.

They sound like:

“We’ll keep an eye on it.”

“Come back when you have more traction.”

“This is interesting, but it feels a little early.”

Or sometimes (ok, often), nothing at all. The conversation just slows down, or you get ghosted, left to wonder what happened.

A lot of people reasonably interpret this as rejection. But most of the time, what’s actually happening is uncertainty.

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