Brad Feld: “Why Am I Passing?” – At least you are passing

Brad Feld, famous Venture Capitalis t writes an interesting post about how he might get to the point of telling an entrepreneur "we are passing " in this post from Feld Thoughts:

"We always try to be respectful of the entrepreneurs and pass as soon as we hit the "this isn't going to happen" point. There are different triggers for each company and it's not predictable. I imagine this can be frustrating for an entrepreneur because it feels like you are making process with us when we suddenly say "we are passing ", but I'd like to think it's an efficient way for you since we unambiguously take ourselves out of the hunt when we realize we aren't going to get there. Ultimately, this is better for you since you don't have to consume a bunch more time with us on a low priority outcome."

(from: Why Am I Passing?)

Couldn 't agree more! I've seen it happen more than once that people are just strung along and strung along and never actually get a "No" for all kinds of reasons. It's refreshing and it should be appreciated when a potential investor reaches a definitive conclusion, even if it's a "No."