I often get asked about how Startup Grind gets such great speakers. One of the main reasons is that I never take offense to any of the responses or lack there of from potential speakers. I have asked some speakers 10 times over the course of 7-months only to finally have them say they'll do it. Regardless I absolutely never take it personally.
One thing I see from a lot of immature founders is an abundance of pride. Recently a founder walked up to me at an event and said something like, "You didn't respond to my email to grab lunch. What's your problem?" Another example is when I recently invited a non-funded founder to fill in for a cancelled speaker who has 1MM+ downloads on his product. It was a massive opportunity for his bootstrapped startup to be showcased with the big dogs. His response was, "I won't participate in the panel, I honestly don't like to be a stopgap." Could his pride really blindside him that much? Yes it could, and it did.
I see this all time. As founders we have to put our pride aside long enough to see the big picture. What am I really trying to accomplish? What is the ultimate goal? Who or what can help me get there faster? The thing you have to eliminate from your vocabulary is, "I'm not working with that guy," or "he had his chance and blew it." Another founder I spoke with recently who moved from Utah criticized the VCs in that community because they wouldn't invest in him and suggested he really stuck it to them when he raised Bay Area money. Haters can be motivating and drive us to prove them wrong, but don't lose sight that the world is small and anyone could be an unforeseen ally.
For the single crowd out there it's exactly the same with dating. Have you ever seen someone walk up to a girl who blew them off and say something like, "Why did you blow me off? What's the deal?" This immediately puts that person on the defense. It changes the relationship from 'maybe I should meet this person' to 'wow this guy is a jerk.' In almost all cases you don't end up getting the girl. When you remove the pride you get someone who is just trying to get a job done without the ego.
I'm sure I havent always been the best at this, but I make a big effort to do it now. Whenever a VC or high profile founder doesn't respond to an email I will send the exact same email as the first one. I don't reply to it and try to show that I've been emailing. They know I've been emailing. Getting a response isn't important to me. I want to create a positive relationship and by giving them a chance to not look like a jerk that hasn't replied to me last four emails, I create a simple way for them to start a conversation.
Whenever I finally get a VIP on they phone after multiple missed attempts, they usually start apologizing about not getting back sooner. I immediately cut them off and say that they have absolutely no reason to be sorry and start building the relationship forward. I genuinely mean it. All I want is a good mutual relationship and them apologizing does us no good.
So if you're an entrepreneur and you just got an email from a venture capitalist that blew you off 6-months ago, then swallow your pride, develop some short term memory lose, and keep at it. Eventually you'll either get a response to that person you really want to meet, or you'll find the person you didn't like the first time is actually someone that could be of great help to you and your company.