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I’m an avid reader of Guy’s blog and I have to say I’m a huge fan. I’ve posted about how my favorites were his posts on the top ten lists of lies by both VC’s and Entrepreneurs that elicited a few smiles to say the least. Although, there was one thing that kind of perturbed me as I read them. It almost appeared to me that he had a bias against or negative perception of entrepreneurs in general.

Now I’m not saying Guy intended this negative tone on purpose. He was on the other side of the table for many a “pitch” by hungry entrepreneurs, and I’m sure a few of them left their ethics hats in the closet that day incorrectly thinking it would get them closer to achieving their dearly needed capital. Although I never agree with a “ends justifies the means” approach, it does happen with the unexperienced and desperate so I could see how facing it repeatedly could lead to some negative stereotyping.

That’s why I found the newest post on Guy’s blog especially interesting. He’s switched sides and became an entrepreneur himself with a new venture called Truemors. His latest post was about a previous request he made for testers, and a few of the resulting comments that blasted the business idea. His new post basically stated that as an entrepreneur you have to take negative criticism with a grain of salt, and if every entrepreneur believed all the ‘naysayers’ then nothing truly innovative would have ever been created. Very true, and it’s great to see that he now sees the playing field from the other side of that table.

I can support that by highlighting some of our experiences. I’d say that out of all the startups I’ve worked on, the new one we’re launching next week has the best foundation from an operational, user value, and potential revenue perspective than the others combined. I know, like I would say anything different, but we’ve had some extremely positive feedback from experts in many Internet verticals so these aren’t just a bunch of pie in the sky statements I’m making here folks. We’ve even been in the unique position (at least for me) of having to turn down investment offers due to a lack of strategic fit. (Disclaimer: We already secured enough seed capital to get to launch so we wanted more on the table than cash alone.)

With all this going for us you’d think the skies the limit, but I’ve been both successful and unsuccessful with investment groups that gelled strategically. No matter how solid your business idea or the fit, you will come across those that just don’t “get it”.

That’s why I can’t extol the need to grow a thick skin more, especially when dealing with critics before your business model’s been tested. Be prepared for those that make negative assumptions without doing their research, those that misunderstand your goals or vision, and even those that will break your efforts down just for the sake of not wanting to see you succeed.

No one will believe in your ideas if you don’t have unwavering faith in them yourself, and for those that will never believe, your proof can always be in the pudding.