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I can sympathize with them in this case, it would be hard not to lean towards being defensive when your product is being probed on stage in front of 3,000 people.

agreed. I was honestly pretty disappointed in the quality of startups that went up. Most of those guys didn't really seem to be prepared or willing to seriously address the obvious issues they had.

I was trying to put myself in their situation to imagine what I would be doing answering those questions.

PG & Harj's pace is superb trying to utilize every minute.

I think the startups stand to gain much by being more open to criticism and looking for take-aways to improve their positioning, product etc., from their feedback.

When something is dear to you, it is also a natural thing to do. However, sometimes it is better to say 'thank you' and take the given advise to heart.