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I met an investor at one of your events 2 months ago - he seemed really interested in my company and told me he would follow up but I never heard from him. Any advice on what I did wrong?
Sure - I got advice, persistence. VCs and Angel Investors get so busy from the outside it seems like they don’t care about you or have a serious case of A.D.D.
It's not true. Investors work long hours and usually on multiple projects at once. That’s in addition to the multiple biz plans they are reading about potential new projects, and the dozens of spammed biz plans that clog up their spam filter on their way to the trash bin.
Oh yeah, don’t do that. Don't buy a VC list and email out your biz plan to everyone. It's a waste of bandwidth and usually puts you on a blacklist so even if you want to communicate legitimately with an investor, you cant.
Anyway, back to the question. Investors get busy so the best way to get their attention is with a gentle reminder. Persistence – you are asking for a lot of money! Maybe touch base from time to time? Now remember, Persistence borders on annoyance, so don’t go crazy. Check in, say hi, or better yet, send periodic updates.
That works well: Bill,
I hope you are enjoying your summer. We've had a busy month here at my company. Those 2 potential contracts I mentioned last time were just signed! This is a huge step forward for our company, not to mention a big revenue boost.
Drop me a note when you get the chance, I look forward to catching up!
Thanks,
Joe Rubin
COMPANY NAME
COMPANY URL
PHONE
Here is another tip - and something that truly drives me crazy. When you send the above email to the investor, check to see if he sent you an email before. If he did, reply to that email - and be sure that his Original email is on the bottom.
You would not believe how many emails I get every day. Its a ridiculous amount. So many of the emails are replies to something I sent - many of them have no email trail on the bottom and no contact info.
So i get an email that says "I just did that thing we discussed". Well what does that mean?!?! If my original reply was on the bottom I would know what you are talking about.
Well now I'm just ranting. But take my advice seriously - if it annoys me, it annoys the investors and its just easier for them to hit DELETE than deal with it.
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Hello Joe, I am not commenting on this particular response (actually I am). I just want to say a big thank you. I have some new ideas and think they will be quite disruptive and bring about a revolution in my profession. But I just have not had the courage (and time) to do anything with it. I've been thinking of VC or AI. That's why I am on your site. But yours is so different, free advices and straight talks. I really appreciate the time you put in to help poor souls like me. Thank you very much!!! Jun
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