Paul Graham on investor rejections: dumb reasons, dislike — or both

dbasch · x · 2026-10-16

Paul Graham tweeted that founders are often puzzled by seemingly stupid rejection reasons from investors, offering two explanations: the investors really are stupid, or they just dislike you and made up the reason — and it's not an xor.

dbasch added a reality check: PG is describing the subset of good founders he interacts with; for most founders, the third explanation holds — the investors are right to reject them.

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