When to ignore your investors

Founders treat investor advice with a weight it usually doesn't deserve. The reason is structural. Your investors gave you money, they sit on your cap table, they have access to information you don't, and most of them have seen more companies than you have. It feels reasonable to weight what they say heavily. It isn't.

Investor advice is three things mixed together, and the mix changes by the conversation. The first is pattern matching, which is the genuinely useful part. Someone who has seen forty companies hit the same wall will recognize the wall faster than you'll. The second is pet theories, which are the lessons that investor over-generalized from one bad outcome or one big win. The third, and this is the one founders miss most, is what worked for the last company they were excited about, which they're now repeating to you whether or not your situation has anything in common with that company.

The skill is separating the three. Real pattern matching usually comes with a story about multiple companies, hedges where the pattern doesn't apply, and a question about your specifics. Pet theories come with conviction unanchored to your situation and a tone that suggests you're foolish for considering anything else. Recency bias comes with phrases like the team at [other portfolio company] does this and you should too.

When you can tell which of the three you're getting, the right move becomes obvious. Take the pattern matching seriously, especially the part you don't want to hear. Discount the pet theories politely, especially when they'd require you to make a big change to your business based on someone else's old wound. Ignore the recency bias entirely, because what worked for the company they're excited about is almost never what will work for you.

The other thing to remember is that your investors aren't on the hook for the outcome the way you are. They have a portfolio. You have one company. They can be wrong about your business and still have a great fund. You can't be wrong about your business and still have a great company. That asymmetry is the reason the final call always has to be yours, not theirs.

This connects to a question I answer in depth: What should I build next as a solo founder and Should I build this feature or talk to customers first.