How Should VCs Say No, When It's The Team?

One of the things I continue to struggle with as a VC is the unfortunate fact that I am in the business of saying "no" all the time. Saying "no" in the context of how you invest your time is one thing - fellow VC blogger Brad Feld did a good blog post on this topic in the context of time management a few weeks ago as did Y-Combinator's Paul Graham. But I really struggle with saying "no" to entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs pour their hearts, souls and dreams into their start-up ventures and to summarily dismiss them remains the hardest thing about the job. One of my entrepreneur buddies asks me whenever I see him: "So - did you crush any entrepreneurs' dreams today?" Very funny. Ha ha.

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