The Anti-Pitch: How Top Founders Make Investors Convince Themselves
 
Andrew Feldman spent six months as an entrepreneur-in-residence at a VC firm, watching hundreds of pitches from every type of CEO imaginable - first-timers, serial entrepreneurs, technical PhDs, non-technical visionaries. Ten pitches a week, week after week.
 
What surprised him most in separating successful pitches from failures was this: the more senior and credible the CEO, the more likely they were to answer with "I don't know" or "we aren't sure" or "we need to test that hypothesis."
 
But here's the crucial distinction Feldman noticed: "Of course there were things they should know and needed to know and for those questions they had super answers. But there were also questions where the answers couldn't be known. And I was surprised at the confidence and the calming effect on the room, when a CEO said, 'we just don't know'."
 
The implication is striking. While less experienced founders often felt pressure to have answers for everything - even for things that couldn't possibly be known yet - the most credible CEOs knew the boundaries of what could be known. They could distinguish between "I should know this" and "nobody could reasonably know this yet."
 
That distinction - and the confidence to acknowledge it – attracted the most sceptical investors. It signalled something profound: these founders understood the difference between confidence and delusion, between vision and fantasy.
 
This observation opens a window into something far more important about how successful founders behave with investors. It's not about having all the answers. It's not even about having the best pitch. It's about something much more subtle and powerful.
 
 
Potential Believers
 
With inexperienced founders there's a common misconception about raising money: they think it’s about persuasion. They prepare arguments. They anticipate objections. They rehearse responses. They try to convince.
 
But persuasion signals uncertainty.
 
When you explain why an investor should invest, when you list features and benefits, when you work to overcome objections - you're unconsciously telegraphing doubt.
 
You're saying, "I need to convince you because this isn't self-evident."
 
The founders who succeed operate from an entirely different paradigm. They don't try to persuade because they don't see investors as people to be convinced. They see them as potential ‘believers’ who could bring value to the cause.
 
Their behaviour sends a fundamentally different signal: "This is happening. I'm going to succeed one way or another. If this inspires you, let's talk about joining forces. If not, that's a shame, but no problem."
 
What you say and the evidence you provide really matters. But how you behave while saying it matters more. Because behaviour doesn't lie.
 
 
The Six Behaviours That Signal True Founder Confidence
 
1. They State the Future as Fact, Then They Pause
 
Unsuccessful founders fill every silence with more explanation, more persuasion. Successful founders state their vision as inevitable: "With the customer feedback we have received so far, we can see a clear route to becoming the default platform for X within three years." Then they stop talking.
 
That silence is excruciating. The urge to justify, to explain more, is overwhelming. But successful founders resist.
 
What happens next is fascinating. The investor's brain, uncomfortable with the void, starts filling it with their own reasoning. They convince themselves.
 
This isn't manipulation - it's conviction. When you treat the future as fact rather than hope, you don't need to oversell. If you cannot radiate profound conviction at that moment, you cannot expect any investor to share your belief.
 
 
2. They Admit "I Don't Know" Without Apology
 
When asked about unknowables, unsuccessful founders bluff or panic. As we highlighted in the Feldman example above, successful founders say, "We haven't solved that yet" or "I don't know, but here's how I'm thinking about it."
 
No apology. No scrambling. Just acknowledgment.
 
As one investor put it to us recently: "When a founder confidently says, 'I don't know,' I trust everything else they say more." When they say “here's how I'm thinking about it” I want to lean in even more.
 
 
3. They Turn Due Diligence Into a Two-Way Street
 
Unsuccessful founders come hoping to answer questions correctly. Successful founders come to evaluate fit.
 
But here's the key: they don't pepper investors with anxious questions. They wait until late in the conversation, after they've established credibility, then lean back and ask with genuine curiosity: "What would need to be true for this to be a great investment for you?"
 
The delivery matters. It's not defensive or challenging. It's collaborative - like a doctor asking where it hurts. They're diagnosing alignment, not seeking validation.

This reverses the entire power dynamic.
 
 
4. They Disagree Without Defending
 
When an investor challenges their approach, unsuccessful founders either capitulate immediately or launch into defensive explanations.
 
Successful founders do neither. They say, "We considered that, but here's why we chose this path instead" or "That's interesting - what makes you think that would work better?"
 
They engage with criticism as data, not attack. They hold their position without rigidity.
 
 
5. They Make the Complex Sound Simple
 
Unsuccessful founders hide behind jargon and technical details. Successful founders make their business so clear anyone could understand it.
 
Not because they're dumbing it down, but because they deeply understand it themselves. Einstein reportedly said, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
 
Their clarity signals mastery.
 
 
6. They End Meetings First
 
The most counter-intuitive behaviour of all. When they've covered what needs covering, successful founders wrap up: "I think we've covered the key points. What else do you need from me?"
 
This shows they value building the company as much as raising money. It demonstrates fundraising is a means, not an end.
 
 
The Psychology Behind These Behaviours
 
Why do these behaviours work when logic suggests they shouldn't?
 
The Confidence Attribution Effect: Humans are remarkably good at detecting genuine confidence versus performed confidence. When someone admits ignorance without anxiety or sits comfortably with silence, our brains interpret this as genuine strength. It takes real confidence to say "I don't know" - insecurity drives people to bluff.
 
The Conviction Bias: Investors aren't betting on businesses - they're betting on beliefs. They need to believe the founder will persist when others quit, pivot when others persist. These behaviours signal that conviction better than any pitch deck.
 
The Reciprocity of Belief: When someone treats you as a peer rather than a gatekeeper, it triggers a psychological response. You stop thinking "Should I invest?" and start thinking "Do I want to miss this?"
 
 
How to Develop These Behaviours
 
These aren't tricks to be performed. They emerge from genuine conviction. But conviction can be cultivated:
 
Practice Silence: Make a strong statement in your next conversation, then count to five before speaking again. Notice the urge to fill the space. Resist it.
 
Map Your Unknowns: List everything you don't know about your business. Get comfortable with it. These aren't weaknesses - they're futures to be discovered.
 
Question Your Questions: Before meeting investors, prepare five questions that will help YOU decide if you want THEIR money. Real diagnostic ones.
 
Simplify Religiously: Remove every piece of jargon from your pitch. If a smart 15-year-old couldn't understand it, it's too complex.
 
Set Your Walk-Away Point: Decide what would make you decline an investment offer. This knowledge changes how you carry yourself.
 
 
Takeaways
 
Here's what this all points to - a fundamental shift in how founders should think about investor meetings:
 
You're not there to sell your idea. You're there to share your belief and see if it resonates.

You're not asking for permission to build your company. You're inviting select people to participate in something that's happening regardless.
 
You're not trying to convince anyone. You're trying to find the people who want to convince themselves.
 
When you truly embody this shift, everything changes. Your posture changes. Your language changes. The questions you ask change. And most importantly, the investors' response changes.
 
Because here's the truth every successful founder eventually learns; investors don't fund the founders who need them. They fund the founders who don't.
 
The behaviour code isn't about acting confident. It's about being so aligned with your mission that confidence becomes irrelevant. You're not trying to appear inevitable - you're just describing what you see as inevitable.
 
And when investors see that kind of conviction, witnessed through behaviour rather than just heard through words, they don't just want to believe - they want to invest.

Let's talk.