Serial Entrepreneur Babak Nivi on Dealing with Disappointment
Babak Nivi is a serial entrepreneur and advisor to several successful startups, as well as the co-founder of Venture Hacks. He includes some sample responses for situations where the tide turns against you.
When you are an investor (angel or venture capitalist) and an entrepreneur declines your offer to invest:
“Congratulations! Awesome! Wicked! Is there any room left for us to participate!?”
When a company decides to hire someone else for the job you were hoping to get:
“Congratulations! Awesome! Wicked!!! Please keep me in mind for the next opportunity… is there anything I can do to improve my chances next time?”
If you are recruiting a top performer and they end up going somewhere else:
“Fucking AWESOME! I wish you the best of luck on your new gig… give me a shout when you’re ready to move on.”
Saying ‘I’m disappointed’ makes you sound like a tool.
The above advice is awesome, even though I’ve never heard anyone say “wicked” as an exclamation before. Maybe it’s because I’m from the midwest : )
Source: http://www.nivi.com/blog/