Jacques Mattheij

Technology, Coding and Business

Rejected by some incubator ? Prove them wrong!

This post is top on HN right now: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1967058 , comments have been switched off so I will have to write this here rather than on HN, but I think that if you’ve been rejected by any angel/incubator or VC you should not take that as a rejection that should cause you to become employee #x in a company that has been funded by that very same angel/incubator.

After all, if you were looking for a job then you would not have been applying with your fledgling startup for funding and / or contacts and expertise.

If you’ve been rejected, the thing to do is to have a long hard look at your submission, figure out the weak bits, fix them and go for it. Prove the people that rejected you wrong, make them regret not taking you as serious as you took yourself when you applied.

Being rejected by any angel/incubator is not a shame and definitely no reason to give up, it’s an opportunity to realize that the difference between the men and the boys (apologies to all female applicants) is that the men will succeed in the face of such adversity, and that they will end up making the stuff that you’re going to be proud of one day.

Another reason to not apply for a job with a company that has been funded by a party that just rejected you is that your negotiation position has been shot before you even enter the job evaluation process, anywhere but there!