Rust’s Rules of Negotiation
November 17, 2025
Over the last 20 years, I’ve been involved in negotiations for everything from small sales contracts to IPOs.
Today we’re talking about how to describe yourself and your co-founders when applying to an accelerator program.
Don’t be shy about listing all the logos and accolades you have earned in both your educational and professional career. There is little benefit to modesty at this point. We’re trying to prove we can build a billion dollar company.
When asked to detail something impressive, be specific and try to avoid a generic response like “I work day and night on every project”; instead, you might say something like “During summer break, I built a delivery business up to $10k/month revenue”.
Include a little detail on when the co-founders met, plus any previous experience you’ve had working or living together before this startup. For example — “We met in grad school and stayed close friends, we’ve been working together full-time, in-person for 3 months”.
Best of luck out there.
