How can you give entrepreneurs effective feedback after a pitch?

1. In our organization, we try to bring a definitive direction to our engagement with a startup at the earliest. 2. In case we decide not to go ahead with a startup at a particular point in time, we provide startups with scores and ranking among peers we've reviewed on the basis of key parameters that we have identified and selected specific to startups offering similar solutions to a stated problem. 3. We also discuss our feedback with the founders at length. 4. We consistently monitor the startup's performance basis our feedback to ensure that we enter the business at the most appropriate time.

* Focus on specifics: Avoid generic feedback like "good job" or "needs work." Point to specific strengths and areas for improvement, offering suggestions and examples for each. * Frame criticism constructively: Use "I" statements and focus on the potential of the idea. Instead of saying "the market is too crowded," say "I'd love to learn more about how you plan to stand out in this competitive space." * Ask open-ended questions: Encourage further reflection and refinement. Ask questions like "What are your biggest challenges?" or "How do you plan to measure success?" to spark deeper discussion and empower the entrepreneur.

* Focus on specifics: Avoid generic feedback like "good job" or "needs work." Point to specific strengths of the pitch (e.g., clear value proposition) and suggest areas for improvement with actionable steps (e.g., "how can you strengthen the market validation data?"). * Frame critically with respect: Use "I" statements and focus on the potential of the idea. Instead of "the market is saturated," say "I'd love to learn more about how your product differentiates itself in this competitive space." * Ask open-ended questions: Encourage reflection and refinement by asking questions such as "what are your biggest challenges?" or "how do you plan to measure success?" This fosters deeper discussion and empowers the entrepreneur.

Instead of a generic "your tokenomics need work," offer specific, actionable feedback: Distribution: Consider revising allocation to incentivize user acquisition & long-term engagement, similar to XyzDAO's approach of rewarding active users. Utility: Explore expanding token use cases beyond your platform to increase its overall value, drawing inspiration from Compound's successful implementation of staking & governance features. Roadmap: Provide a clear roadmap outlining how token value will be created over time, like Sandbox's detailed roadmap for metaverse development By incorporating relevant real-world examples, you offer constructive criticism that empowers entrepreneurs to refine their tokenomics strategy & address potential issues

Respect is a given. You should always keep an open perspective as an investor, because you never know how a company will do in the future. A great example of this is when Google tried to sell their company to Yahoo for $1 million. Yahoo didn’t think that Google was worth anything and would never succeed. Fast-forward, Google is now worth over a trillion dollars (Trillion with a T)and the sixth most valuable company in the world.

Providing feedback is one of the most critical tasks because clarity is essential when giving feedback to any startup. While I prefer to offer feedback politely, understanding the challenges of building a successful startup, it's equally important to be clear with your message. Providing empathetic and soft feedback may not always be beneficial, but guiding a startup with a clear roadmap, though they may not appreciate it immediately, can lead to gratitude in the future. Therefore, instead of sugar-coating feedback, it's advisable to be concise and clear.

Providing effective feedback after a pitch requires balancing politeness with usefulness. Use constructive language, frame feedback as suggestions for improvement rather than criticism, don't shy away from sharing hard truths just to be nice. Honesty, even when uncomfortable, is most useful to founders seeking to genuinely improve. Be thoughtful and solution-oriented - point out issues along with potential remedies. The startup journey is difficult, so empathy and encouragement go a long way. Effective feedback balances kindness with candor, guidance with realism. This uplifts founders and provides information they can act upon to achieve a stronger pitch and business.

In speaking to founders, I make sure that I convey my support and enthusiasm for their vision by giving them specific feedback that can help them improve their pitch and grow their business. I also offer to connect them with the resources they might need to either become more investible or close their round successfully.

In our own case, we do have a timeframe for letting founders know after a pitch if the opportunity is of interest to us or not. We do this mostly by email communication. Founders' time should be respected. Because we support startups beyond just giving of checks, it's easier for us to categorize our decisions. We are always interested in value adds If this is not an instant 'Yes' for us, we let you know what other options you have with us. From marketing/sales, mentoring, development, team building etc, depending on our perception of your needs beyond just a check. We support with our internal resources. If this is a pass, we let you know and encourage you to work more as we would be standing by for a future update on the opportunity.

The value of being honest (from day-1), respectful (founders work hard and are often more visionary than you), concise (don't waste anyone's time) cannot be oversold. That said, your feedback must be useful! Highlight where the start-up did not meet your criteria, why you have said criteria in place, and what they could do to (if anything) to be in that sweet spot. That last bit transforms into how you can still be helpful to them, via investor referrals, expert intros etc. Give due practical consideration for how many companies dropping out of your funnel merit this extra bit, but to the extent there were narrow misses you want to keep around for later, this is a good way to revert them to your funnel.

Qualify your comments. Entrepreneurs tend to read a lot into VC comments. VCs do not put so much thought into the feedback and this can lead to huge confusion. At Cardumen Capital, we try to say things as we see it. If we are not excited about the opportunity, we will say we are not excited enough. After all, investing means committing 7-10 years to a startup. For this reason, it may be a great team, opportunity, business model, traction but if we are not going to wake up every day excited about it, we shouldn′t do it. We like to give the entrepreneurs a glimpse of what we are missing or are not certain about. We also try to differentiate clearly between a NO, a YES and a conditional maybe. Clarity is the name of the game.