Sixteen years ago, Airbnb launched, and today, it's worth $91 billion 📈 They almost didn't make it. On June 26, 2008, Brian Chesky, the co-founder and CEO, along with his team, presented their idea to seven influential Silicon Valley investors. They aimed to secure $150,000 at a $1.5 million valuation. A $150,000 investment would have translated into a 10% ownership stake in Airbnb, a share that, as of today, would be valued at $3+ billion. But plans didn't unfold as expected. After the meetings, rejection emails started coming in from five investors (see photo). The other two investors opted to ghost the team and not respond at all. This is the reality of fundraising. It's crucial not to take it personally. In moments of rejection, recall these emails. They serve as a reminder that even brilliant minds can overlook significant opportunities. Innovation tends to slip through the cracks of even the brightest investors. #startups #venturecapital #tech #fundraising _____ Enjoy this? Follow Kevin Jurovich for daily startup & VC insights and the occasional meme. ✌️
This is not the point of the post, but I find it very refreshing to see how direct and specific these rejection emails are. I think this is really interesting. As founders, we're rejected more than we're not (it does not matter if you're a man or a woman), but the rejection emails I received from VCs were always too vague and lacking any detail. They were usually something along the lines of, "Love the team, but it's not the right time for us." The specific reasons for passing are super helpful to hear/learn from, and back when I was raising, I wondered at times if VCs were worried I could not take the direct feedback. Anyway, seeing these rejection emails somewhat validates that assumption.
Hindsight Capital. The best VC in the world It would be rad if we knew what they all said “yes” to that month. Might have been a couple monsters in there or might have been a bunch of donuts. It really is just serendipity when it all comes down to it. When you’re raising, selling into a new client, so often they just want to be told by someone they respect that they have to do a deal with you, and clearly nobody was under that influence yet. I wonder if they circled that firm that asked to be looped in on Series A—love that request. Very common. I can’t blame any of them. Nobody has a crystal ball.. .
This: This is the reality of fundraising. It's crucial not to take it personally.
Some gave them very good reasons like "not our focus," "not our category," or "we can't get excited." I respect that. We need more, not less, focus. And that means saying no to countless opportunities, knowing some of them might succeed. Also, what's the point of doing something you're not excited about? Money is not a good motivator.
At that time the market was unable to comprehend how you'd literally let a stranger into your house for money, but here we are. It's always important to predict how the world would change, not everything will make sense in the present
nothing can teach handling rejection (ie not taking it personally) better than trying a startup. then there’re rejections from potential customers. and from friends, family..
Why do investors ghost?
Product, Operation, & Technology leader; keynote speaker, entrepreneur 2X exit, investor, C-suite advisor
1moHonestly these rejections are gentle and friendly. Success is nothing but few islands in the ocean of rejections. Lets take a bit deeper dive - 1. first and third one seem like investors not in the same market as ABB. Now my 10+ years of mentoring and engagement with startup, I see this is the biggest mistake. If you are starting a new CPG company don't pitch to a VC firm who specializes on AI SaaS. 2. Market size and traction - two most common categories that are very hard to project and estimate on. Frankly even with today's availability of data its incredibly subjective and estimation has potential large margin of swing both ways. The only thing founders can do, improve their communication, be honest, positive and optimistic, present data & facts and pitch to the right market investor as many as they can. Like dating it's often a numbers game and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.