It’s easy to paint ourselves into a corner when we’re asked tough questions by investors.

As it happens, we don’t have to do that. Investors will often ask questions we either don’t know the answer to or actually can’t possibly answer because we’re not psychics!

There are 3 responses you should always have ready:

• “I will find out”. When asked a question where the information exists, but we don’t have it off the top of our head. That’s perfectly OK, just make sure to send the follow-up after the meeting. Don’t make it up!

• “We don’t know – yet”. Most of the questions about our startup are forward-looking questions about what might happen. Don’t get caught trying to predict the un-knowable. Instead, indicate that our focus will be toward identifying what that answer is, but remind investors that as of today “no one actually knows.”

• “We have the same question”. Every startup is full of variables, so when an investor asks about one, put yourself on their side of the table and indicate that you’re exploring the same challenges.

It’s OK not to know something. Investors don’t expect you to have the answer to every question, they expect you to find the answer to their question. A confident response of, “I don’t have that information now, but I will.” is all you need.