In a fairly recent meeting that I had sat in and discussed by Hal's blog titled To get Funded - Learn to Listen (Jan 11, 2011), I too had felt that the CEO's approach to answering the potential investor's questions and concerns could have been handled in a more professional way. Rather than tackling and giving a concise and succinct response to questions raised on competition, and revenue-generating, the CEO became a bit hostile. Not only did it become a debate and wherein the potential investors were patient enough to clarify and rephrase their questions many times, at the end of it all, the question was still left unanswered!
I believe that listening will definitely be necessary to get a venture funded, especially when dealing with potential investor(s) who are willing to help your venture (after all, why not if they can make money from it eventually) get to where you want your venture to be. But to get there, you need to do one thing: LISTEN.
To end my blog, I'd like to leave a quote from the infamous John Marshall (American Founder of constitutional law and the Supreme Court of the United States of America 1755-1835): "To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well" -- If we can just realize how important listening is as a tool to communicate and influence in a harmonic way with talking, not only will entrepreneurs have an increased shot at getting funded, but also shows investor(s) your coachability and commitment to your venture.
