FIXZR

People are very slow to deliver direct criticism. The phrase ‘don’t shoot the messenger’ exists because messengers get shot. People also tend to like people who agree with them, and conversely hate and bad mouth those who don’t! Lastly, having a definitive position on anything opens you up to being wrong - better to sit on the fence if you can afford to (being the one famous for saying ‘no’ to google is not where anyone wants to be, better to be one of the 100 who said maybe!).

All this adds up to everyone saying ‘maybe if X’ instead of ‘no’ to your investment proposition. Don’t be fooled, people will say whatever it takes to get rid of you without you crying in their foyer. The ‘X’ they suggest is as likely to be the first of 100 flaws they have seen as it is the one killer thing you need to fix. If anyone does have the candour to tell you ‘no’ to your face do them the decency of thanking them - they’ve done you a favour which should buy them the option to invest later, but will probably have put them out of the running (which is why they generally don’t do it)!