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“Whatever you do, never, ever lie,” I said to the large group of startup CEOs I was talking to. Then, I continued and said, “It’s much better to say, ‘I don’t know the answer. I’ll get back to you,’ than to lie.”
I was explaining to the group how to raise money for their startups. And I was helping them understand the momentum you gain by answering investors questions on the spot, when you have a captive audience.
However, I was worried that some of the startup CEOs would take the wrong meaning from what I was saying. In their zeal to answer every question potential investors had, they might assume they should just make up an answer.
That why I told them to never, ever lie.
Strong business relationships are built on trust.
The second you lie to your investors, you’re damaging, to say it nicely, the trust between you and your potential investors. If you get found out, no matter how innocent the lie might appear, you’re done.
Let me give you an example.
About one month after joining my fledgling startup, my second VP Engineering, “Julius,” quit. He said his heart wasn’t in it.
