How do you keep your relationship with investors alive - before you even start fundraising? Building strong VC relationships isn’t just about the pitch - it’s about staying on their radar before you need capital. Here are a couple of strategies to keep things fresh: 1️⃣ Schedule catch-ups: There’s no hard rule for frequency, but these touchpoints show who’s genuinely interested in your journey versus those just having casual chats. 2️⃣ Send updates: Periodic updates to your dream investors are a great way to build excitement and even create a bit of FOMO. Just remember: share progress that keeps the momentum going. Updates can turn casual observers into eager participants when it’s time to raise. Fundraising is tough. But by consistently engaging with the right VCs, you’re not just pitching; you’re creating partnerships with those who’ll truly back your vision. #vc #investor #pitch #founder #fundraising
Building relationships is so important. Investor updates are great, but one of the challenges is that once you've started there is no going back. So it's important to have a plan for how the updates lead up to the actual fundraising start. And it is a good idea to think about the cadence, too frequent updates risks becoming too much work plus there might not be enough progress to report on... It is also key to be smart about the catch-ups, to not reveal too much but still provide the investor with data points and a rough idea of when the fundraise will start. And to remember that you are being assessed in every meeting..
Engaging with investors before fundraising is a smart move. These strategies can definitely make a difference. Appreciate the advice Doreen Huber 👏
Founder at DataKnowl (Artificial Intelligence for Customer Service and Engagement), Ph.D. Artificial Intelligence (NLP and KRR)
4dDoreen Huber This point resonates with me a lot, and I haven’t found a perfect solution yet. Coming from a bootstrapped background—transitioning from a service-based to a product-based company—my view of investors isn’t just as financiers of operations, but as long-term partners with whom to share the journey. For this reason, I see fundraising as a process similar to building a meaningful relationship: before committing, there should be a phase of getting to know each other, like an engagement before marriage. We considered launching an email newsletter to keep potential investors updated and engaged, but it felt like a demanding effort. Other alternatives were also ruled out. That said, if an investor isn’t willing to take 30 seconds to subscribe to a newsletter, perhaps they’re not truly interested in the first place. What do you think? How do you approach this challenge?