A few years ago we interviewed Lindsay Tjepkema, Founder of Casted, about starting a podcast. One of her key tips was to “wring out your content.” If you’re going to take the time to record a podcast, you should take the time to repurpose and distribute that content on different channels.
The same is true for investor relations and fundraising. If you’re going to take the time to send an investor update, you can “wring out” your metrics, big wins, asks, audience, etc. to fuel other fundraising materials. An investor update can be re-purposed to help build out other fundraising assets — for example:
- Potential Investor Monthly Updates — For a simple hack, take your normal investor update and edit it down to a few key metrics and wins to nurture potential investors.
- Pitch Decks — If you’re sharing data in your investor updates, this can be used to help build out the different metrics and data you’ll need in a pitch deck.
- Data Rooms — Data rooms are a combination of all of the data and assets you’ll share over the course of a fundraise. Including past investor updates is a surefire way to show potential investors your history of regular communication.
- Cold Emails to Investors — Investor updates can be a starting point for crafting a cold email to potential investors.
- Board Decks — There is likely a lot of crossover between the content in an investor update and a quarterly board meeting. Investor updates can be a great backbone for building out the different slides in a board deck.
- Team Updates — A modified version of your investor update is also a great way to keep your team in the loop and build trust.
Investor communication is no easy feat for founders. Taking the time to send monthly updates already puts you ahead of 50% of portfolio companies — taking the few minutes to wring out your investor updates will help you speed up your next raise when you are ready.
