Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
What’s one thing I should do AFTER a promising meeting with a potential investor?
1. Check In
Show initiative after the meeting and proactively address your follow-up points (at the end of the meeting you should have set some items to follow up with). Don’t wait longer than 8 to 12 hours. Investors want to see your initiative, your attention to detail and how good you are at executing follow up. Many a startup has lost investors due to poor/incomplete follow up.
– Alec Bowers, Abraxas Biosystems
2. Act on Their Feedback
It’s essential to be a prudent entrepreneur and address potential investors’ feedback before scheduling another meeting with them. Investors believe in the adage “actions speak louder than words,” so demonstrate that you have taken action to address their concerns. Some entrepreneurs are so enthusiastic about their venture that they ignore valuable feedback and continue to solicit financing.
– Jason Thanh La, Merchant Service Group, LLC & K5 Ventures
3. Ask Questions
A common mistake that founders make is coming across as too desperate. You want to show investors that they need to prove themselves to you as well — you are a scarce resource. In your follow up, you‘ll want to thank them for their time, but you also want to ask them to sell themselves to you with questions like, “Can you give me an intro to a founder you‘ve invested in?” You need to play the game!
4. Keep Them Updated
Even if a meeting goes well, it doesn’t guarantee closing. The best way to work towards converting interest into commitment is by keeping the investor in the loop on progress and new initiatives. This helps build their confidence in you, in your product/company and allows them to feel like a part of the team.
5. Improve Your Fundraising Deck
After you thank the investor, suggest next steps and take three minutes to celebrate, you must re-focus on your fundraise. Take all of the feedback from the meeting and use it to improve your deck. First, reflect on which insights impressed the investor, and emphasize them in the future. And just as importantly, take the questions they had and make sure you‘re better prepared for the next meeting.
– Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches
6. Re-engage With Them
It’s important to keep your deck up to date and find constructive and effective ways to re-engage with your potential investor. Keep communication high by providing news of new milestones, new opportunities and goals won, and by creating a general feedback loop. This can go a longway in keeping your investor interested. Show them you‘re a highly proactive owner.
– Blair Thomas, EMerchantBroker
7. Track Everything
Right after a promising meeting (or sometimes before) you‘re going to be sending them a pitch deck. Make sure you‘re tracking everything. I personally use PandaDoc for this. It will show you what pages they are looking at, not looking at and how long they are looking at each page. Next, follow up with them accordingly.
– John Rampton, Due
8. Send a Memorable Gift
You have a small time frame to make a big impression. A great way to follow up is to use a memorable and unique gift. I actually learned this in a boot camp a couple years ago from a corporate gifting guru. A thoughtful gift doesn’t need to be expensive; it needs to show you paid attention and care about the relationship. Send it quickly and stay top of mind.
– Drew Gurley, Redbird Advisors
9. Do What You Say You Are Going to Do
So many investor meetings are full of discussion, ideas and intentions. If you propose all of the things you are working on and thatyou intend to do, then show the investor that you are doing them. Talk is just talk. Follow up with the investor to give them a concise list of progress being made. Show them you are progressing and committed to doing what you say you are going to do.
– Shawn Schulze, SeniorCare.com
10. Say Thank You
Thanking someone for their time and consideration shows that you are thoughtful and appreciative. Be sure to mention that you truly appreciate their attention. Try to slip in any loose ends you feel weren’t addressed. Let them know you‘ll follow up in a few days/weeks to touch base again in case they have any more questions. Lay the groundwork to ask for referrals at the next meeting.
– Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now
11. Send Favorable Market Research
Investors want to know that others have quantified the size of the market opportunity. It’s one thing for you to give your assessment, but it’s much stronger for the investor to learn about the industry and current trends in a third-party report. If you don’t have access to the full PDF report, consider linking to an article on eMarketer, Forrester, or Gartner in your follow up note.
– David Ciccarelli, Voices.com
12. Call Another Potential Investor
Don’t stop until that money hits the bank account. So, calling the next investor increases your odds of getting a check, plus you will carry that positive energy into the call. Additionally, telling the next investor how good the previous investor meeting went puts the pressure on them to get in the game.
Learn more about Monthly Investor Updates:
Watch the interview with Justin Miller and learn how his monthly updates helped land his startup with $10 million in funding: http://vergehq.com/2015/08/24/how-monthly-investor-updates-scored-10-million/
CATEGORY: Raising