Feeling a bit disappointed today

[ciblnt]

Hi,

I’m feeling a bit disappointed today because my startup wasn’t chosen for a $5k grant from one of the startup funds at my university. Any advice?

After interviewing last week and answering a series of questions related to my startup, I was confident that we’d get chosen. My co-founder and I previously finished another incubator program at my university where we were granted $5k in seed funding.

In the interview, I spoke about how we’re currently talking to potential customers in our niche, getting them interested and building our mailing list (almost 200 emails). I spoke about how we’re launching our app first to build a customer base before releasing our device. We’re both technical so I’m building the app which will be finished in December and he’s focusing on the device engineering and we collaborate on both. I also mentioned some of our other wins such as being accepted into another incubator program where we’ll get additional funding ($7.5k) in the summer and securing a meeting with a VC for a 25k investment which is part of a larger $500k investment (I didn’t mention the $500k though, just $25k).

I felt like the interviewers (who are also students at my university) weren’t really feeling the business because I got the question "what makes your product different from products X and Y that already exists on the market". This questions was interesting because products X and Y are completely different products than what we’re building. X and Y are treatment devices while ours is closer to an analysis and diagnostic device. I mentioned that we are working to incorporate aspects of products X and Y into ours to give users a reason to use the tool every day as opposed to when issues pop up for them and they need to get help.

I don’t know if oversharing during a startup grant interview is a thing but I’m feeling like maybe I said something that turned them off, they don’t think we need the funding since we have other opportunities (even though we do need it) or they just didn’t believe in our idea.

It sucks that we didn’t get chosen for the funding but the grind continues. Better luck next time we apply

 

[jpowell]

@ciblnt They might have wanted to spread the investment around and chose a project that had not received funding before.

 

[timothyroann]

@ciblnt If strangers can’t see the difference between yours and your competitors, then your customers won’t either.

You being involved in it, means you will have bias that makes you THINK it is different. But if it solves the same problem, but in a different way, then it’s no different.

Like a bus and a train are very different. But to someone who wants to get across town it doesn’t matter that much.

Maybe ask them for some feedback to see where you can improve.

 

[2jesusfreak1]

@timothyroann This! Something about your pitch is not effectively communicating your differentiator/USP.

Take the questions/feedback as an opportunity to improve your messaging.

Keep pitching. You learn something with every pitch, even if you don't get their investment.

And in the future, once you've made your pitch, spend ZERO time contemplating whether you got it or not. Don't even get your emotions invested. Make your pitch, then move forward like it never happened. You want to be knee deep into your next move when you get the Yes or No. If it's Yes, great! Celebrate then. If it's No, you've already moved on emotionally and it won't sting quite as much as if you'd started to get your hopes up.

You're going to hear a lot of No's in business. So getting used to letting them roll off your back is a good skill to build.

Good luck!

 

[ciblnt]

@timothyroann Thank you. I get what you’re saying and will definitely send a follow up to ask for feedback.

 

[shanewatson25]

@ciblnt I think that this conclusion is a not always true. "investors/competition judges"'s opinion are not == "customers". Feed back from either parties is great but for different reasons. Competitions can be gamed.

 

[roryrichards]

@ciblnt Use it as fuel to prove them wrong. And you can keep them posted about your progress.

Back in the day, when a potential investor didn't invest in my company, i put them on a 'newsletter'. And after years and years of building relationships, it has been one of my best moves till date, to keep them simply in the loop. Good luck.

 

[onesisteroffaith]

@ciblnt How many people applied for the grant and how many were given out?

I’ve pitched hundreds of times in the last few years of running my company. Most of them said no. The only ones who matter are the ones who say yes. You can’t let individual “no’s” get to you, though it’s good to learn from what they say alongside the no. Though also be skeptical of the “why” - it may not be the real why. The real why is usually just that they don’t believe in you. But watch for patterns in the nos too.

 

[taffy99]

@ciblnt Find yourself a marketing professional and have them help you with your messaging. Most of the time technical people are terrible at pitches. You’re likely too smart. Sales people are the way they are for a reason.

 

[ciblnt]

@taffy99 Yes definitely need a salesy person on the team. My first co-founder was in Marketing and PR but we split ways for whatever reasons so we’re definitely lacking that aspect.

 

[taffy99]

@ciblnt Ha well not sleazy but someone that has the ability to understand what’s important to each person they’re talking. Every person has a message that will sell them and 1001 messages that won’t. Good marketing and sales people will be able to hone in on that one message and use it effectively.

 

[ciblnt]

@taffy99 Salesy not Sleazy LOL

 

[taffy99]

@ciblnt Same same

 

[mozarella]

@ciblnt Volume…. What do I mean? We send out 1-3 proposals for contracts/grants every day. Sometimes we have 150 pending at any given time. Spent six months perfecting the systems and 10 years becoming a pro at capture management. Our larger enterprise competitors handle about 12 funding opportunities per day.

Oh, and those days or weeks where you think funding is temporarily closed off due to “just getting back into the office” - yeah that’s a moment to be bidding/fundraising. Think contrary to your market.

 

[seye]

@ciblnt Only fans feet pics.

 

[vawo]

@ciblnt Learn and move on. The people deciding these types of things rarely have a good base of experience to judge them. That considered, look at it as if you lost a roll of the dice. Go out and find 10 other grants or networking contacts to replace the lost opportunity.