If You're Not Getting Rejected, You're Not Playing Big Enough Artwork

The Final Edit

The Final Edit Podcast brings you raw, real-time conversations with visionary founders shaping the future as they build it. Unfiltered. Unfinished. Unfolding. Hosted by Maison Social Club co-founders Hannah Nieves and Maritza Tobon, this is where the behind-the-scenes of entrepreneurship meets the edge of innovation.

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The Final Edit

If You're Not Getting Rejected, You're Not Playing Big Enough

March 18, 2026 • Maritza Tobon and Hannah Nieves • Season 2 • Episode 6

0:00 | 10:26

Welcome back to The Final Edit—the podcast for high-level founders rewriting what success, legacy, and leadership actually look like.

In this honest and energizing founder episode, we're talking about the thing no one puts in their highlight reel: rejection. Investors who ghost you. Partners who don't see the vision. Networks that pass. And the 500+ brands we reached out to for the Maison Summit gift bags—many of whom never even replied.

We're normalizing rejection as part of the founder's toolkit, because here's the truth: if you're not getting nos, you're not playing big enough. We share our own most memorable rejection moments since launching Maison, the lesson we learned about not drinking our own medicine when it came to leveraging our network, and why some of those early nos have now come back around.

We also get into the mindset shift that changes everything—from dreading rejection to collecting it. Because the faster you get comfortable hearing no, the tougher your skin becomes, and the closer you get to the yes that actually matters.

This episode is for the founders who are still flinching at the no. It's time to add it to your toolkit.

🎧 EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS 🎧

[00:00:23] Why rejection is a non-negotiable part of the founder journey
[00:01:20] Why building a movement gets more nos than selling a service
[00:02:03] The list: 500+ brands reached out to for the Maison Summit gift bags
[00:04:15] The early Maison launch nos—and why they were actually redirections
[00:05:46] The mistake we made: Not drinking our own medicine on proximity
[00:06:51] The Canva CEO and why Hannah will email literally anyone
[00:08:15] Collecting nos as a strategy: Why you want to hear them faster
[00:09:40] Rejection in business and in life—what it teaches you at every stage