Ending Early
My job is to meet a lot of people.
Strong coverage of the market is part of what I get paid for. My job is to know who is building, in which spaces, and then try to pick the best.
That means I take literally hundreds of calls each year. Iām not at the stage of my career where things simply come to me. I have to go out and hunt like most people.
Some of those calls prove to be pretty irrelevant. Either the circumstances arenāt a fit (turnarounds, bridges), the company isnāt right (wrong sector/geography) or other aspects of the dynamics donāt fit.
I want to be ultimately respectful of foundersā time. They are working hard to create the future we all live in, and I have the relatively easy job of trying to figure out who to partner with. I am the commodity - they are the value creator.
I used to think being respectful of time meant hearing them out, or dragging out to the end of a 30 minute call. Iāve asked them to take time out of their day, after all, so itās rude to cut it short. Right?
Wrong.
Iāve learnt that the most respectful thing to do is politely bring the call to a close early. I donāt want to waste their time if weāre never going to invest. If I can be helpful in some other way or offer useful perspectives, Iām more than happy to stay on the line. But if the cash is the core focus for them, itās better for both of us to admit thereās not a fit and move on with mutual respect.
It sounds harsh and like Iām a douche with an inflated sense of my timeās worth. But itās not my time Iām worried about - itās theirs. Itās so hard building a business and raising money, the last thing they need is me dragging out a call to save the discomfort of saying no early.