U.K. Investors: You’re not auditioning for Dragon’s Den

I spend most of my time between Edinburgh, Scotland and London with an occassional stint in Cambridge; arguably the three powerhouses of the start-up world in the U.K. But, I’m from California. To all the many, wonderful investors, potential investors, wanna-be investors, and everyone else trying to get skin in the game: YOU’RE NOT AUDITIONING FOR DRAGON’S DEN, so stop acting like it.

Imagine this: you’re desperate, you’ve been putting everything you can into starting a business: maybe you’ve risked it all, put your own money in, spent money on additional education, or went into massive debt. But, you’ve found a partner or a team that believes in the product and continue to work hard. You’ve spent countless hours building financial models, graphics, pitch decks, and business cards. You’ve sent out e-mails, signed up on every VC and Angel’s site, with the hope, no, the prayer, that someone can come along and help you grow your business, test your assumptions, give some supportive guidance, and make introductions.

Then you run into this: the angel syndicate or the VC treats you horribly. Not always, but often, populated by people that have never risked it all, never wondered how they were going to pay rent or put food on the table, never had to learn how to make a pitch deck or excel model with no training, and never tried to do what people like you are doing.

So you spend 20–30 minutes pitching, only to have someone or even multiple people in the room talk to you like you’re lessor than, you don’t deserve their respect, you’re not on the same level, and you don’t know anything that you’re talking about. Maybe they raise their voice or while you’re pitching they roll their eyes, yawn, make disgusted facial expressions, or worse…interupt you aggressively.

Investors, entrepreneurs are people too! The best most respectful investors: ones who have done it. Almost always, in my experience, blatant disrespect and rudness comes from those who didn’t: those who received their wealth through inheritance or a conservative and steady career path. That’s not to say they didn’t take risks along the way, but nothing like an entrepreneur.

I’ll say this, I’ve never seen treatment like this in the U.S. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but I’ve never had anything like what I’ve experienced and/or witnessed so far here in the U.K. Perhaps it’s because so many of the U.S. investors built their own companies and are genuinely wanting to help entrepreneurs succeed or learn from the experience during your short time with them.

Here’s just one example: I pitched at an event where the panel included: a Major U.S. VC fund manager, a Hong Kong early stage fund manager, and a U.K. angel syndicate manager. Wouldn’t you know, the U.S. and Hong Kong investors asked difficult and challenging questions in a respectful way to every entrepreneur. The U.K. investor, who is very well respected here, made it clear that they were trying to poke a hole in something and in doing so, in front of everyone, embarrass all the entrepreneurs. The tone of voice was that of condescension. The result was entrepreneurs leaving the stage feeling shell-shocked and although his questions were valid, this was a harsh way to humble an entrepreneur.

To investors: The world would be a much happier place if you were encouraging, supportive, provided guidance and insights, and a kind, helpful, word. If you sense an entrepreneur becoming defensive, maybe consider the way you’ve asked the question, your body language, your tone of voice, and whether or not is YOUR place to tell someone they are going to fail or that they’re wrong. It does you and your ecosystem no good to drive potential entrepreneurs out of the market or to demoralize them. You WANT them to be confident, assertive, and excited. Showing them how much smarter than them that you are and how much richer you are, does nothing to help anything but maybe your own ego. Let’s stop the process of the poor entertaining the rich; the desperate disparaged by those with means.

Conclusion: you don’t need to be a jerk. It’s okay to not like an idea or a team. It’s okay to think “hey, maybe you should put a little more thought into this” or ask “have you thought about this at all and if so, what conclusion did you come to.” If you see the entrepreneur getting defensive, remember your role in that. We’re passionate because we believe. If you kill entrepreneurial belief, you kill innovation.

Good luck and much love.