Whatever the case might be, one of the core responsibilities of every founder is to raise money. You’ve got employees that depend on you, shareholders that believe in you and customers that need you. As a result, refining your pitch is critical and should be an on-going process that guides you throughout the life of your company. If you’re not constantly refining the way you approach the fundraising process, you’ll soon find yourself in trouble.

Luckily for entrepreneurs, most investors are quite happy to give feedback and/or help out. They understand that entrepreneurs are the building blocks to their entire industry and that without them they would not be able to do what it is they do. You should recognize that some investors, regardless of you asking, will not give very good feedback, if any at all. Consider that a good way to filter who is good to work with and who isn’t.

On the other hand, entrepreneurs need to keep in mind that investors tend to be quite busy. Many see 100s of companies in any given year and thus, don’t have sufficient time to give feedback if you’re not truly asking for it. Don’t expect an incredibly thorough explanation as to why they’ve decided to pass if you’re not willing to ask comprehensive questions. (note: the degree of feedback given by investors tends to depend on where a particular deal sits on an investors pipeline. The further a deal is down the pipeline, the more thorough an explanation for passing generally is).

If you’re not taking the time to properly ask for feedback, you’re failing to leverage investors’ knowledge and as a result, the opportunity to refine your pitch and improve your chances of raising money down the line. It doesn’t matter if an investor passes, as investors pass on most of the companies that they see. What matters is why they passed. Your job as an entrepreneur is to dig deep and to understand why. Is it your market size, is it your growth rates, is it your CAC or is it your unit economics? Regardless, the more you ask the more you’ll learn and the better off you’ll ultimately be.

Keep in mind that I don’t think that founders should take all feedback they get and iterate straight away. Investors are only human and as a result are sometimes wrong. However, as a founder, listening to what investors have to say should be of interest to you. Their job is to meet with companies daily, in many cases, with your competitors. Don’t forget that. They may know things that you don’t.

So ask for feedback, take note and then decide what you wish to do. Just don’t take ‘no’ as an answer and move on without trying to find out the reasoning.

If anything, a founder that asks for feedback comes off in very good light. It shows that:

You are not afraid to ask for feedback You can take rejection You don’t take things too personally You know how to listen You want to learn, iterate and improve You care about your company and your stakeholders You understand that relationships matter

So to sum it up: if an investor passes on your company, ask them why. Dive deep. Make sure to thoroughly understand. It will surely help you down the line.