Key Takeaways
- • Investor feedback can open a second due diligence window on a founder: Milian-Erik Retkowski, Venture Scouting Lead at Decile Group, described a founder who reworked pitch structure within days of blunt feedback from a Silicon Valley general partner and landed a noticeably better next investor conversation.
- • Due diligence can be formative, not only selective: a 2026 Review of Financial Studies study of 1,953 applicants to a UK seed-stage fund found that entering diligence increased two-year growth by about 30% in the study setting, per the authors' random reviewer assignment design.
- • Coachability is a process, not agreement: a 2025 systematic review of 53 articles identified six recurring dimensions, including feedback seeking, receptivity and implementation, and 2026 research shows poorly judged revisions can weaken a startup's argument.
- • Speed alone is not the signal: investors look at what founders change, what they reject, how quickly they execute, and whether the revised position is more defensible afterward.
- • Korean fundraising programs are building feedback loops into the process: Bluepoint Partners' Project IR 100 gives unsuccessful applicants an IR feedback report and a chance to revise and reapply.
Summary
KoreaTechDesk argues that investor criticism gives venture investors a second observation of a founder, one that emerges after the first pitch ends. The article's central example comes from Milian-Erik Retkowski, Venture Scouting Lead at Decile Group and founder of MER Venture Advisory, who described a founder who took direct pitch-structure feedback from a Silicon Valley general partner, reworked the pitch within days, and saw the next investor conversation land noticeably better. Retkowski told KoreaTechDesk that coachability is an important signal and that he pays attention to whether founders can implement improvements quickly.
The article cites research suggesting diligence can itself change the company being evaluated. A 2026 Review of Financial Studies study by Juanita González-Uribe, Robyn Klingler-Vidra, Su Wang, and Xiang Yin examined 1,953 applicants to a UK seed-stage fund; 615 entered due diligence, 45 reached the investment committee, and 12 received funding. Using random reviewer assignment, the researchers estimated that entering diligence increased two-year growth by about 30% in their setting, and startups adopted website technologies used by other companies in the fund's diligence network before subsequent fundraising.
The piece also points to research showing that quick revision is not automatically good judgment. A 2026 study of 66 Startup Chile pitch decks found substantial revisions during accelerator training, but some weakened the link between problem and solution. A 2026 Journal of Business Venturing study by Miranda Welbourne Eleazar and Toyah Miller found entrepreneurs were more likely to pivot in response to concrete mentor feedback, with experience and the mentor-founder expertise gap also mattering. Retkowski argued that the best outcomes come from founders who treat feedback as data while still trusting their own judgment where it matters.
On the Korean side, MoneyToday reported that Bluepoint Partners launched Project IR 100 in July 2026, giving unsuccessful applicants an IR feedback report and the ability to revise before reapplying, with selected teams receiving office hours and business-model reviews. The article also cites the 2026 Startup Korea Investment Week HIPS 2.0 joint IR session, which combined pitches, investor feedback and follow-on discussion. The overall argument is that a feedback-response loop produces a compressed execution history that early-stage investors, who rarely have years of operating data, can evaluate.
The article cites research suggesting diligence can itself change the company being evaluated. A 2026 Review of Financial Studies study by Juanita González-Uribe, Robyn Klingler-Vidra, Su Wang, and Xiang Yin examined 1,953 applicants to a UK seed-stage fund; 615 entered due diligence, 45 reached the investment committee, and 12 received funding. Using random reviewer assignment, the researchers estimated that entering diligence increased two-year growth by about 30% in their setting, and startups adopted website technologies used by other companies in the fund's diligence network before subsequent fundraising.
The piece also points to research showing that quick revision is not automatically good judgment. A 2026 study of 66 Startup Chile pitch decks found substantial revisions during accelerator training, but some weakened the link between problem and solution. A 2026 Journal of Business Venturing study by Miranda Welbourne Eleazar and Toyah Miller found entrepreneurs were more likely to pivot in response to concrete mentor feedback, with experience and the mentor-founder expertise gap also mattering. Retkowski argued that the best outcomes come from founders who treat feedback as data while still trusting their own judgment where it matters.
On the Korean side, MoneyToday reported that Bluepoint Partners launched Project IR 100 in July 2026, giving unsuccessful applicants an IR feedback report and the ability to revise before reapplying, with selected teams receiving office hours and business-model reviews. The article also cites the 2026 Startup Korea Investment Week HIPS 2.0 joint IR session, which combined pitches, investor feedback and follow-on discussion. The overall argument is that a feedback-response loop produces a compressed execution history that early-stage investors, who rarely have years of operating data, can evaluate.
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