POTENTIAHow to explain a consent-based check to a founder without sounding suspicious
The instinct when introducing a diligence step is to soften it — "just a formality," "nothing personal." That framing usually backfires, because it implies the check itself is something to apologize for.
A cleaner approach: say plainly what it is and why it exists. "Before we move forward, we run the same consent-based check on every founder we talk to seriously — it takes a few minutes, you can see exactly what's being requested, and you're in control of what you connect." That's not an apology. It's a description of a normal, symmetric process.
The word "every" is doing real work in that sentence. A founder singled out for a special check reasonably wonders why. A founder told this is standard procedure for anyone reaching this stage has a much easier time saying yes.
It also helps that the founder gets something concrete back — a real Growth Readiness report, not just a black-box pass/fail from the other side of the table. Diligence that gives something back reads very differently than diligence that only takes.
See how a consent-based check actually works.