In a recent blog post by Seth Godin, “Learning from the rejection,” he reminds us that we all grow from rejection.

Whether it’s a job interview, a startup pitch, or a pet project in your company’s department, rejection happens–a lot if you’re pushing boundaries and markets.

I love this line:

By all means, make your stuff better. More important, focus on the unstated reasons that drive most rejections. And most important: Shun the non-believers and sell to people who want to go on a journey with you.

It’s a constant battle in startup life. You pitch, you get shot down, and then you try to tailor your pitch to account for that the next time.

As an entrepreneur and technologist–this kills me.

This assumes the product/idea/concept is wrong. It MAY be… or it MAY be misunderstood or mis-communicated.

• Potential Customer A wants ________ because that’s what their business does.
• Potential Customer B wants ________ because they’ll only buy if we have that.

What happens when those two conflict with Potential Customer C?

And, most importantly, what happened to YOU being the expert of your product and your field?

In my experience, feedback and constructive criticism are an important part of the life cycle of development, but shouldn’t drive (and pivot) the business without an incredible amount of research. Unless you’re in the business for custom software/product/service, changing YOUR business to meet THEIR needs can just lead to frustration.