This is what a good rejection letter looks like :-)

We recently applied to an Startup Chile’s S Factory and got rejected. It is a great example of how to write a rejection letter mainly because it is written in a way that motivates us on our journey even though we didn’t make it into the program.

Startup Chile did the following awesome things in our S Factory rejection:

Said thank you. We spent a lot of time on our application and it’s nice to know they appreciated that we wanted to join their program.

Offered direct feedback. It’s not always possible to offer feedback, and I’m thankful for Startup Chile for taking the time to do so. This is very generous.

Offered insight to the selection process. It’s surprising how many programs don’t show their logic. It’s a pretty straightforward thing to do and doesn’t even have to be very specific: but a little insight goes a long way when you’re disappointed!

“It’s not you it’s us”. It’s possible we were rejected because the program wouldn’t offer value to us, rather than us not being worthy. This is almost always the case in accelerators and it’s great S Factory has included this in their summary.

Used kind language. This is probably the easiest to do and yet the thing I see the least. When you write a rejection letter you can write it in a way that improves the situation — be gentle, be kind.

Wished us luck. We’ll take it all the luck we can get!

Thanks S Factory and Startup Chile. These really simple things mean being rejected by them in this way will keep us going, not inspire us to give up!

Dear Sarah Moran,

We’d like to thank you for applying Girl Geek Helpdesk -www.girlgeekhelpdesk.com to Start-Up Chile. The application process has finally finished. Judging was not an easy task.

Unfortunately, CORFO’s Committee of Entrepreneurship didn´t choose Girl Geek Helpdesk — www.girlgeekhelpdesk.com for the following reasons:

The team is weak in terms of its composition and the roles of different backgrounds is key to solve problems from different perspectives and accomplish success with the business

This team could improve by integrating multiple disciplines and more varieties of work experiences

The Market strategy is not clear, more research and explanation is needed to understand how the business plan will be executed

The competitive advantage identified is not explicit or clear in the information presented in the application, or it doesnt represent a valuable advantage in the market

Here are some guidelines to help you better understand the selection process:

Your application was evaluated by YouNoodle judges, who provide feedback on each applicant. This information is then given to the Start-Up Chile Team for further analysis and processing, which in turn is presented to CORFO`s Committee of Entrepreneurship. Finally, the top startups are selected and duly informed.

Please keep in mind that there might be projects that are not chosen, even though they receive a good evaluation from YouNoodle judges. Such projects are not chosen by CORFO’s Committee of Entrepreneurship for the above explained reason. Also, please consider that while your project could be good, there may have been others that were simply a better fit for the program.

The reasons for rejections are standardized, and unfortunately your project did not meet the criteria for acceptance. It is important to note that additional feedback will not be given.

We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Kind regards,

Start-Up Chile Team