When your meeting with an investor concludes, you still have work to do. A lot of investor meetings end with something like “I will think about it and get back to you”. You should expect to follow-up — multiple times — to convert this to a “yes”. Here’s how to follow-up after an investor meeting.
First Follow-Up
In most cases, you’ll need to convince the investor to spend more time researching your company. The majority of investors will not reach out right after your meeting, so you must take the next step.
After the meeting, you should follow-up via email and include:
- The deck you reviewed with the investor in the meeting (attachment or docsend is fine).
- Answers to any outstanding questions from the meeting.
- Any materials the investor requested.
Example Email:
Hi Nicky,
Pleasure meeting you today. I appreciated your questions around engagement and went through our data to get an answer on daily active users — we currently have 5,233 up from 789 six months ago. I’ve also attached our monthly cohort analysis, and our deck from the meeting.
I’d love to schedule another chat to review your questions. Would Oct 4 at 10am work for you?
Ongoing Follow-Ups
Recency bias is powerful and many investors will get more interested in investing over time, as you make continued progress. Although emailing investors without reply is hard on your confidence, continue your outreach until they give you a clear answer.
Your ongoing follow-ups should be sent every 3–5 days and include:
- Mention of the round is filling up (use the reservations system).
- New investors in the round, who have signed and wired funds.
- Product and Sales launches wins (traction, launches & new customers).
Example Email:
Hi Ajay,
Quick update here — we now have $700k spoken for out of the $1M target for this round with Sterling Road and Pear VC committing this week. We also just launched the MVP of our most requested feature: the iPhone app.
I would love to continue our conversation before the round closes, would 2pm Oct 7 work for you?
Final Follow-Up
Most investors don’t like saying no, even if they will not invest. Thus, after 2 weeks without a reply, you should push for a decision even if it will be a “no”.
Your final follow-up should include:
- A reminder of the original meeting.
- Top company highlights (traction, team, investors).
- Decision deadline.
Example Email:
Hi Jess,
Thanks again for meeting with me on Sept 13. We’re now moving into the final stages of the round, so I’d love to know if you’d like to be involved? If I haven’t heard from you by Friday at 5pm, I’ll assume we should move forward without you.
As a reminder, here’s some quick company highlights:
- $100k ARR growing 15%/month.
- We are Oxford graduates with a decade of experience in this sector.
- Pear VC is leading the $1M round.
Following up with potential investors is an essential part of the fundraising process. Use templates with specific information to help you get it right and close your round faster.
This article is part of a series on Seed Fundraising.
1. When to Raise Money
2. How to Build a Deck
3. VCs vs. Seed Funds vs. Angels
4. How to Get a Meeting
5. How to Request an Introduction
6. How to Get Early Momentum
7. How to make a Good Pitch Great
8. The 5 Most Common Pitch Mistakes
9. Meeting Requirements
10. The Basics of Meetings
11. How to Handle an Angel Investor Meeting
12. Know these Numbers for your VC Meeting
13. 4 Investor Gotcha Questions
14. How to Follow-Up After an Investor Meeting
15. How to Close the Lead Investor
16. The 4 Stages of a VC Process
17. How to Raise a $2 Million Seed Round
18. Go from Investor YES to Cash in Hand
19. When Investors Say Yes but Mean No
20. When and When Not to Use an Investors Name
21. Stop Making These Common Fundraising Mistakes
22. How to Avoid Bad Terms that Kill Startups
23. What to do After Receiving a Term Sheet
24. Term Sheet Problems Part 1 — Money Talks
25. Term Sheet Problems Part 2 — Boardroom Blues
26. Term Sheet Problems Part 3 — Side Letters
27. 10 Traits of Successful Founders
Sterling Road invests in pre-seed B2B startups based in North America. Full process here: sterlingroad.com/process.
You can reach me here: ash@sterlingroad.com
Thanks to Kaego Rust for their help on this article.
Photo by Rae Tian
