Ask HN: Do founders get honest feedback on their pitch decks?

i did a round of feedback with some fellow founders and they were way, way more difficult than the VCs were.

The key to the disparity is that potentially having skin in the game is what makes a potential investor more analytical and critical than any non-investor. Furthermore, every investor has a different set of criteria. I don't believe that any simulation whether available persons or some software can ever be a viable substitute for reality.

I suggest a simple process, one that I have used in the past:

    Make a list of at least 5, pref 10+ potential investors.
    Rank them in order of how much you would like them to invest.
    Start with the lowest one on the list
        Present and gather feedback
        Refine pitch deck to incorporate feedback
    Repeat with next investor, working up the list, repeat the feedback and refinement process.

Ideally by the time you reach your more ideal investors, your pitch deck is much improved and you increase your chances of a favorable outcome. In fact, you could end up with bidding rounds.

You ask the VCs for feedback. Being turned down isn't rejection, it's a data point. Do it early. Don't "practice" on people who don't know what they're talking about.

Often friends aren't simply polite, they just don't have the experience. They haven't invested in things that fail... heck, many won't even know a guy who invested in a failure. And when they do, it's a single data point and they'll come to some dumb conclusion like "it was losing money," as if every successful startup wasn't.

I used to work in VC and second this. Nothing really preps you better than the real deal. Line up some practice rounds with low-stakes investors first.

The issue with using founders/friends is that they're too emotionally invested in you to ask the hard questions in ways the investors will. Founders also think differently than investors. For example, a friend who has built companies before would look at a potential issue and their "operator brain" would automatically come up with ideas on how to address it. As a result, they may downplay the problem. Whereas an investor may laser in on it to test your thinking/confidence.

If you had to practice, making the question submission anonymous (as you can) may help. I know I hate giving harsh feedback to friends directly, even if they ask for it. The sting still lingers around. Not knowing who asked the question could be helpful, but it's possible they would still be able to tell if they know you.