Not being invited to have a meeting with a venture fund does not mean that VCs think your idea is bad. 

As discussed in my post Why A VC May Be Slow To Respond, VCs are very busy.  As a result, VCs try to save time by only meeting with companies that they think they may invest in.  In order to invest in a company, the idea needs to meet three criteria, being a good business idea is not enough.  In order to invest your company must be:

1. A viable, high growth, scalable business
2. A good investment, capable of a large return
3. Aligned with the fund’s investment criteria

To reiterate this point, you may have a great business idea and VCs may expect you to do very well for yourself, but that does not mean that they want to invest.  In order for the idea to be a good investment the current valuation needs to be reasonable and the company needs to have the both the potential and the entrepreneur's desire to grow to target levels.  In order for a good investment to be a fit for a fund, the company has to play in the right sector and have other specific properties that align with the VCs pre-determined criteria.

Investment strategies vary significantly by fund.  What interests one VC, may not be desirable to another.  As a result, entrepreneurs should not interpret a lack of interest on the part of as a judgment of their idea.  Your company may simply not meet the pre-determined criteria for that fund.

You can usually find a fund's investment criteria on their website.

Understanding this dynamic can save you a lot of time when you are fundraising.  Target numerous funds that invest in companies like yours and expect some not to be interested even if your idea is exceptional.

Comments

[JTreiber]

Thanks for this post Mark. It's definitely hard to stay pumped about funding options when various funds do not want to proceed with financing discussions. As we've found, there are many extraneous reasons for this, many of which do not have much to do with our business idea and more to do with other conflicts within their fund, geographic strategy, industry strategy/focus, fund closed, etc. While these seem like good answers, we are also aware that these can also be standard answers given to entrepreneurs to convey lack of interest. It's hard to read between the lines sometimes and it's a rare VC that will tell why they said no. I think the one sign that a VC thinks your idea is worth pursuing (just not by them) is that they refer you to another firm, often at the request of us, the entrepreneurs.