"Michael Seibel is a professional hater. I've never been denied so consistently by such a charming, kind, and basically snuggly person."

Investors are both skeptics and speculators. And they can't be a good speculator without being deeply skeptical.

That's very different from hating and haters, though.

Haters hate irrationally, often driven by malicious envy.

Skeptics rightly ask people to give evidence for their claims, especially if those people are asking for funding. Why should they believe you?

Don Valentine, the founder of Sequoia, was famous for asking: "Why the f*ck should I give you my money?"

He was right to ask that, and that was a tone that worked at the time, when capital was scarcer.

For the record, Michael Seibel is not a hater. He is a skeptic when he has to be. And he is right to be skeptical. The burden of proof, when you have neither product nor traction, must be on the founder to prove to an investor that they should give them money.