VC Minute – quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better.
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Recency bias is such a powerful force of human nature. You can’t control what’s been influencing the people you’re talking to, but one thing you can control, whether or not you’re fundraising, is staying top of mind.
There are ways that you can stay top of mind with investors. Especially with investors that you’re really interested in working with.
First up, the easy ones, are updates. A great cadence is a quarterly update when you’re not fundraising. This can be a stripped-down version with less numbers and less metrics to share, but just highlighting the successes, the growth, and the trajectory that you’re on.
Another thing that works are quick updates. If you have big wins, you have new hires, you have successes, You don’t have to be on a regular cadence, but when you do have big wins, let those investors that are still in your orbit, let them know what’s going on.
In a side note here, this is especially top of mind for me because a founder sent me an update, and it was nice to hear from them, but I didn’t take any action on it at the time. And then a couple of months later, I was talking with a new investor here in town in Colorado. And I thought, I just got an update from this founder. and I think she’d be a great fit for what you’re doing. And so I made that connection for them. If she hadn’t sent that update, would she still be top of mind, even though it had been a few months later?
Next up, you can ask for advice. If you’ve had a connection with that investor and you’re in a situation where you could use some advice, feel free to reach out and ask if you can get some of their time for their advice on a particular matter.
And finally, have you ever made an introduction for that fund to another founder? Those should be double-opt-in, of course.
What I love about this is that when founders are supporting other founders, it shows that they have a growth mindset. A mindset of a rising tide lifts all boats. Maybe I’m particularly attracted to this because that’s my mindset, but I love it when I get introductions to other startups from founders, whether or not they’re in our portfolio.
And lastly. Remember, when you’re reaching out again, always start with the elevator pitch about what your business does. Venture funds are seeing between a thousand and two thousand pitch decks a year. It all starts to jumble together a little bit. So keep that elevator pitch at the beginning, then dive in with what you’re offering and what you’re bringing to the table.
Have a great weekend, everybody. We’ll see you next week!
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