When “I Don’t Get It” Is Useful Feedback
It’s Not an Indictment.
Last week I spoke with four startups.
Three of them heard the same response:
“I don’t get it.”
That sentence can feel discouraging. Many founders hear it as a lack of interest or a failure of imagination. In reality, it’s usually neither. Most of the time, it’s a sign that the startup’s value wasn’t clear.
“I don’t get it” isn’t a judgment of intelligence or effort. It’s feedback on communication, and communication is a critical skill that founders can improve. This can be described as storytelling, and storytelling is the foundation of the elevator pitch and your pitch deck.
Jargon Creates Distance
In each of these conversations, the founders relied heavily on industry terms and internal team language. The founder also relied on advice to focus on emerging and hot technologies. This is not a value… It’s how you deliver value. The customer cares about the value, not how you deliver it.
This is understandable. Teams spend months immersed in their own work. Over time, their internal language becomes shorthand. It feels efficient. It feels precise.
But what works inside the company often creates distance outside of it.
Jargon forces the listener to translate before they can understand. Instead of focusing on the idea, they’re decoding terminology. When that happens, the core message gets lost.
A simple rule helps here:
If your audience needs a glossary, the message isn’t ready yet.
Clear language doesn’t reduce credibility. It increases it.
Starting With Technology Makes It Harder to Follow
Another typical pattern was starting the pitch with the technology.
Founders first explained what they built, how it works, and why it’s innovative, then who it’s for and what problem it solves.
Technology is essential, but it’s rarely the best place to begin.
Listeners naturally want context first:
- Who is this for? (Persona/Archetype)
- What problem are they facing? (Hair-on-Fire Problem)
- Why does it matter?
When those questions go unanswered, the listener struggles to connect the dots. The result isn’t disagreement, it’s confusion.
Starting with value makes everything else easier to understand.
A quick and easy way to find out if people understand what you’re saying is to ask them to repeat what you said in their own words. Their response will give you a dose of reality quickly.
Trying to Solve Too Much, Too Soon
Each startup also described a vast market. Multiple industries. Many use cases. A wide range of potential customers.
This often comes from good intentions. Founders want to show how big the opportunity is. But early on, breadth blurs the message.
When a startup tries to help everyone, it becomes harder to explain how it helps anyone.
Clarity improves when founders narrow their focus:
- One clear customer archetype
- One meaningful problem
- One primary use case
Depth creates understanding. Understanding creates confidence.
Let’s face it, no one can boil the ocean, much less a small team with limited resources.
The Importance of Translation
At the heart of “I don’t get it” feedback is a missing step: translation.
Translation means turning:
- Internal language into customer language
- Features into outcomes
- Capabilities into value
This is not about marketing polish. It’s about thinking clearly from the outside in.
Founders must step out of their own perspective and into the customer’s empathy. Can you tell the story as if you have walked in your customers’ shoes? What does the customer experience today? What changes tomorrow if the startup succeeds? If that story isn’t clear, the listener can’t follow it.
A Clearer Way to Structure the Pitch
A simple structure can help:
- The Customer Archetype
Who is the customer? Be specific. - The Problem
What is difficult, slow, risky, or broken today? (Hair-on-Fire lever) – Life before… - The Impact
What does this problem cost in time, money, or opportunity? - The Value Delivered
What improves when your solution exists? – Life after… - The Technology
How does your product enable that improvement?
This order mirrors how people naturally process information. It reduces confusion and keeps attention focused on what matters most.
Receiving “I Don’t Get It” Well
Founders often respond to this feedback by providing more detail or explaining further. That’s rarely the answer.
“I don’t get it” is an invitation to simplify, not expand.
It’s a signal to revisit assumptions, clarify the customer, and sharpen the value story.
When founders treat this feedback as guidance rather than rejection, it becomes one of the most valuable inputs they can receive.
The Founder’s Responsibility
Ultimately, it’s the founder’s responsibility to make the startup understandable.
If a thoughtful listener can’t explain what you do after a conversation, the work isn’t finished yet.
By eliminating jargon, narrowing the focus, and leading with value rather than technology, founders make it easier for others to engage and far easier for meaningful conversations to begin.
Clarity doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built deliberately.
And as clarity improves, “I don’t get it” becomes curiosity, questions, and momentum.