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Founder Credibility, You Need It!

March 29, 2008

http://blog.nbc.com/ross_blog/Captain%20Answer%20LOGO.jpgWhen I was raising money I thought of myself as ‘Captain Answer’, able to answer any question, any time.  Turns out that might not have been such a great idea.  Josh Kopelman’s post titled, “I Don’t Know” is a great reminder to entrepreneurs that saying those three special words can mean the difference between getting funded or having to go find a job.  Josh tell’s the tale of two entrepreneurs he met with last week.  One knew everything and the other was more thoughtful and suggested that he didn’t know everything.  You can guess which founder he thought was more credible.

Lets face it, you think you know everything.  That is a fact, right?  Who knows you may be right, but knowing everything creates an immediate credibility gap between you and the investor.  Be smart, no investor expects an early stage company to have all of the answers.  Not having all of the answers, ironically, creates a level of ‘founder credibility’.  Josh recommends, “Before you go out to raise money, make sure you know what your don’t know…”  He doesn’t recommend, “Know everything, not knowing is preferable sometimes”.  Check out Josh’s post on the a) known knowns, b) known unknowns, and c) unknown unknowns.  My advice?  Don’t be Captain Answer!

Written by Alexander Muse · Filed Under Blog, Startups 

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