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Do you think your opinion on the question as being "aggressive" or "adversarial" is a matter of personal experience? I see the question as both direct and deep

by jcr 12y ago

Do you think your opinion on the question as being "aggressive" or "adversarial" is a matter of personal experience? I see the question as both direct and deep. It's a good way to pry open the problem/market space, think about what has been done or is being done by competitors, and consider/query the "new" approach to the "old" problem. If you know your market, it's an easy question to answer. In fact, it's a fun question to answer -- it's not every day that you the luxury of a smart and trained person assisting you with the endless task of prying open and evaluating your problem/market space. If you consider the question to be aggressive, adversarial, and intended to be harmful, then answering it becomes more difficult, particularly if you're unprepared. On the other hand, if you consider the question to be simply direct, deep, and intended to be helpful, then answering it is much easier.

jacobolus 12y ago
It obviously depends a lot on tone of voice, context of the relationship between the two people, etc. I just know that I’ve occasionally showed something new to someone, or announced I was working on something, and their immediate response was along the lines of “oh, I saw that years ago when X did the same thing” or “Y tried that and it didn’t work out” or “doesn’t everyone already use Z’s version of that?” with a dismissive or aggressive sort of tone. It’s the same kind of framing of a conversation you get as when an idea is met with “oh, that’s physically/technically impossible” or “that’s way too expensive to possibly work” or “what kind of crazy customer do you think would ever want that?” Trying to understand how a new idea or product relates to existing stuff is obviously a useful topic of discussion, but depending whether it’s phrased/expressed inquisitively or aggressively could make a big difference. Something like the title of the post under discussion – “someone else had your idea first” – is one of the less productive ways to phrase things, IMO. Personally, I love answering these kinds of questions and can easily be sent either into passionate “prove why I’m right” mode or passionate “let’s look at this logically/scientifically” mode. But I also know plenty of folks who I think would be great startup founders who respond very defensively or get shut down when they feel attacked. The problem here is that while the VC might be thinking “The question begs for a deeper answer, [...] an opportunity to demonstrate depth of thought and originality.” what is also happening is that someone who doesn’t thrive on aggressive adversarial conversations will be weeded out, even though they might be great at all kinds of other things, and might be able to express their ideas very well in a less adversarial context. I dunno, I’m not an expert on startup psychology. Maybe the only people who make good startup founders love this style of conversation.

by jcr 12y ago

jacobolus 12y ago

It obviously depends a lot on tone of voice, context of the relationship between the two people, etc. I just know that I’ve occasionally showed something new to someone, or announced I was working on something, and their immediate response was along the lines of “oh, I saw that years ago when X did the same thing” or “Y tried that and it didn’t work out” or “doesn’t everyone already use Z’s version of that?” with a dismissive or aggressive sort of tone. It’s the same kind of framing of a conversation you get as when an idea is met with “oh, that’s physically/technically impossible” or “that’s way too expensive to possibly work” or “what kind of crazy customer do you think would ever want that?” Trying to understand how a new idea or product relates to existing stuff is obviously a useful topic of discussion, but depending whether it’s phrased/expressed inquisitively or aggressively could make a big difference. Something like the title of the post under discussion – “someone else had your idea first” – is one of the less productive ways to phrase things, IMO. Personally, I love answering these kinds of questions and can easily be sent either into passionate “prove why I’m right” mode or passionate “let’s look at this logically/scientifically” mode. But I also know plenty of folks who I think would be great startup founders who respond very defensively or get shut down when they feel attacked. The problem here is that while the VC might be thinking “The question begs for a deeper answer, [...] an opportunity to demonstrate depth of thought and originality.” what is also happening is that someone who doesn’t thrive on aggressive adversarial conversations will be weeded out, even though they might be great at all kinds of other things, and might be able to express their ideas very well in a less adversarial context. I dunno, I’m not an expert on startup psychology. Maybe the only people who make good startup founders love this style of conversation.