I WILL PROVE YOU WRONG!

Over the past five years, I have reviewed and heard thousands of startup pitches. That’s not a brag—it’s just the nature of the game when we have invested in early-stage startups. At 100X, we have invested in 180 startups, which means we have scanned through thousands of pitch decks to make those bets.

Yesterday, I heard a video pitch from a first-year undergraduate engineering student. He wanted to launch a startup in the HR space. The idea wasn’t novel, and he knew it. The model wasn’t tech-heavy and it was more of an aggregation play. I told him, as candidly as I tell any founder in such cases, that we wouldn’t be funding his startup.

By this point in conversations like these, I’ve seen two typical reactions:

1?? The founder accepts the feedback—perhaps asks for suggestions, takes notes, and moves on. 2?? The founder defends the idea—passionately articulating why the startup is fundable and scalable. When that happens, I usually say, “My best wishes are with you. Prove me wrong. Build a unicorn, and I’ll be the first to congratulate you.” Most founders take it as a challenge, and we end the call on a positive note.

But yesterday was different.

Before I could say a word, the founder declared: “I will prove you wrong!”

Confidence in your startup is great. In fact, it is necessary. But I couldn’t help but wonder. Should he have let the conversation play out first? Could he have used the moment to gain deeper insights rather than jumping to defense mode? Regardless, he made his point, and the call ended.

And honestly, I hope he does prove me wrong.

I always remind founders that some of the biggest tech giants faced multiple VC rejections before making history:

?? Google – Larry Page and Sergey Brin were rejected so often that they even tried to sell Google for $1 million—only to be turned down. Months later, they secured $25 million in funding, and the rest is history.

?? Adaptive Insights – Rejected by over 70 VCs who doubted cloud-based data storage. Later, it crossed $100M in revenue and was acquired for $1.55B.

?? Ring (formerly Doorbot) – Rejected on Shark Tank and by many investors. Eventually, it became a billion-dollar company, selling 144,000+ units in a single day before being acquired by Amazon.

?? Salesforce – Marc Benioff’s idea was turned down by many investors, but he went on to revolutionize enterprise software, building a multi-billion-dollar empire.

Every VC has an anti-portfolio. These are startups they passed on that later became massive successes. I know I’ll have mine. But if that happens, I’d rather be on record saying, “Prove me wrong” than hearing, “I will prove you wrong.”

Because at the end of the day, rejection isn’t the end. It’s the fuel that powers the next big success story.?