The VC-to-English
Dictionary

We have no conviction in the thesis or the team. More traction won't fix that — but it gives us a metric that, if hit, lets us claim we always believed in you. The bar will move when you get there.

We are 0% close. This is how we buy time without officially passing. Expect this phrase to repeat once more before a ghost.

At pre-seed and seed, this often means we haven't decided if we're interested yet. A VC with conviction asks pointed questions. A VC on the fence asks for a folder.

We didn't read the deck. Or we read it and the model still isn't clear, which is a bigger problem.

A clean rejection dressed as a structural constraint. VCs bend their portfolio thesis regularly for companies they love. You are not one of them.

We do not believe in your company enough to argue about price. Lower it and we still won't invest. The valuation is not the problem.

We are not investing but want to keep tabs on you in case someone else does. Loving the space costs nothing. Writing a check costs something.

We want the upside without the work of due diligence. Find someone else to take the risk first, then we'll show up and take credit for believing early.

This is how a VC ends a follow-up call they agreed to out of politeness. No next steps will be proposed. The ball has been left in your court permanently.

One partner is interested. The others are not. Internal alignment almost never resolves in the founder's favour when it's been flagged this early.

We have no idea what to say. This is a filler response deployed when a pitch has surprised them — not necessarily in a good way.

Intrigued is the weakest possible form of interest. It commits to nothing and obligates you to do more work before the next conversation, which may never happen.

We are done evaluating you. This is how we close the conversation without closing the door. You will reach out in 6 months. We will say "great to hear from you." We will still not invest.

We don't believe in the business but we like you as a person. This is a compliment, not a signal. It will not convert into a term sheet.

We think this is a small business, not a venture-scale company. This objection is sometimes legitimate and sometimes a proxy for a different concern they don't want to name.

Positive signal — but only if it comes with a scheduled meeting, not a vague offer. "We'd love to" without a calendar invite is aspiration, not process.

We are writing checks. Just not for you. This is the cleanest soft pass because it assigns the rejection to circumstance rather than judgment.

There is no right time. This is a rejection with a temporal escape hatch that implies you should try again later. You should not try again later.

We want exposure to the upside without meaningful skin in the game. A small check from a fund that should be leading is often worth less than the dilution it costs.

The partner who met you hasn't brought it to the partnership yet, or brought it and got a lukewarm response. A few weeks usually becomes a few months.

We have added you to a list. The list is long. Being on it does not mean investment is forthcoming — it means we want to watch what happens to your company before deciding.

We are kicking the can. Next quarter will become next quarter again. Unless they give you a specific milestone to hit, this is a soft no with a calendar attached.

The narrative worked. The business may not have. Story compliments are common from investors who enjoyed the pitch but didn't find the numbers convincing.

One of the cleaner rejections in the VC vocabulary. Casual phrasing that implies it was a close call. It probably wasn't.

Terms, valuation, or instrument type is the stated issue. Sometimes true. Often a polite way of saying the conviction isn't there to negotiate around it.

We are not investing now. Whether we invest later depends entirely on whether someone else does first. The update is a formality — the real signal will be your momentum, not your email.

We are at the end of a fund cycle and don't want to admit it. Or: we just don't want to invest. Timing is almost never the real reason.

The go-to-market slide was thin or missing. This is a genuine question, but it's also a signal that the deck left a gap that could have been pre-empted.

Valuation negotiation in disguise. This is a real objection worth engaging with — unlike most money-related soft passes, this one usually means they want in at a lower price.

Strong positive signal. Reference calls happen when a fund is serious. Prepare your references — they will be asked specific questions about your judgment, not just your likability.

Vision alignment is not investment conviction. This phrase signals they enjoyed the meeting and don't want to say no directly. Expect a ghost within 30 days.

We want someone else to take the price risk. If a credible investor leads, we may follow. We are not interested in being early. We are interested in being safe.

Either you didn't include unit economics in the deck (you should have), or you did and the numbers raised a question. Either way, have them memorised cold.

This is the clearest rejection in the dictionary. "For now" is decorative. Move on.

We will follow if someone else validates the round. We will not lead. We will also not help you find the lead. The ball remains in your court indefinitely.

Sometimes true, rarely the full story. A fund closing is not a reason to stop evaluating investments — it may mean bandwidth is low, but conviction moves fast when it's real.

At pre-seed, a model request can signal genuine interest or a stall. At seed and beyond, it's standard. Make sure your model is defensible line by line — they will ask about specific assumptions.

They want to know if anyone they respect has already committed. Social proof matters enormously at early stages. If the answer is nobody yet, don't apologise — pivot to momentum.

Bandwidth is never the real reason. VCs make time for companies they want to invest in. This is a soft no that spares both parties an awkward conversation.

The holidays are not the obstacle. This is a delay tactic that uses a socially acceptable pause to avoid a direct decision. If they were serious, they'd schedule the call before going away.

You are one of several companies in a watch list. Being monitored is the opposite of being invested in. The monitoring may last years and produce nothing.

They don't see a moat. This is a real concern worth answering directly and specifically. Vague answers about network effects and proprietary data will not satisfy a VC who is asking this question with intent.

A politely devastating assessment. It means we don't see this becoming a venture-scale outcome. It is sometimes correct and sometimes a failure of imagination on the investor's part.

A real ask with real implications. Pro-rata rights let investors maintain their percentage in future rounds. Model what this looks like at Series A before agreeing — it can crowd out new investors.

Unusual at early stages. At later stages, some funds genuinely do this. More commonly it signals internal hesitation being outsourced to a less confrontational process.

Q4 will become Q1. Q1 will become after the offsite. The calendar is always an excuse when conviction is missing. Real interest doesn't wait for a quarter to end.