> generally i don’t give negative feedback because i don’t think most founders really want it.
As a founder, I strongly disagree. The feedback I care about most is negative feedback. Negative feedback helps me improve.
If I don't agree with your negative feedback, next time I'll communicate better why. If I agree, that helps me address the flaws in the business sooner. I'll be grateful, not upset. Just like with user/customer interviews.
The legal risks that dissuade employers from giving feedback to job applicants don't apply for investors. If you're trying to keep your options open to invest later, I'd rather return to someone who pointed out a flaw that I then fixed which led to success.
I realize most people in general don't react well to negative feedback, so maybe this is just me, but I imagine there are others out there like me.
" If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too; "
There isn't as much of a legal risk, but it's definitely mitigated.
In addition, the feedback they gave is now written. What if the founder lacks social etiquette and tweets "VC Y said my idea sucks because Z [some charged topic]"? If you look at the missed out on investment X/Y/Z emails that VCs sometimes release (anti-portfolios), you'll notice almost aways the releasers asks for permission first. VCs network effects largely need to be polished and appear to be knowledgeable about sectors -- giving feedback to a random startup that might be horribly wrong would hurt that reputation.
It makes sense as to why many VCs don't give feedback.
That being said, the answer is to never ask for direct feedback. Instead, you should have a middleman and backchannel. Ask the middleman to find out why they didn't like X -- this generally works. The middleman is impartial and can be objective (versus the founder who is often defensive) and is able to extract truth.
A lot of people say they want negative feedback, but most of those people are human, and they react the same way most people react to negative feedback.
As a founder, I strongly disagree. The feedback I care about most is negative feedback. Negative feedback helps me improve.
If I don't agree with your negative feedback, next time I'll communicate better why. If I agree, that helps me address the flaws in the business sooner. I'll be grateful, not upset. Just like with user/customer interviews.
The legal risks that dissuade employers from giving feedback to job applicants don't apply for investors. If you're trying to keep your options open to invest later, I'd rather return to someone who pointed out a flaw that I then fixed which led to success.
I realize most people in general don't react well to negative feedback, so maybe this is just me, but I imagine there are others out there like me.
" If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; "