Startup Updates That Get You Noticed
Two startup founders, Stacey Ferreira and Scott Ferreira from AdMoar,
recently asked me what format I thought worked well when it comes to regular
communications with investors. That got me thinking. I get a wide variety
of update messages in my inbox from startups that I am invested in. And from
others where I have talked to the entrepreneurs at some point or otherwise got
connected.
I started by noting that a fundamental issue
most all startups have is that … no one
knows who you are. (Which
is why founders who ask for NDAs from angel investors get tagged as rookies –
experienced investors know that having your idea stolen is typically the least
of your problems. Rather it is getting anyone to pay any attention to it at all!)
If you accept that premise then it seems obvious
to me that a startup should use all of its friends, supporters, advocates etc to
magnify its voice. That
way you can get an assist in solving your “who knows me” problem and
specifically can use your growing ecosystem to help drive leads, add credibility,
grow visibility, crowd source answers to questions you might have etc.
The smartest start ups I know combine regular investor
updates with more general communications in one place. So in addition to investors they us their
regular update communications to target:
a) investors they have
talked to but who didn't invest - keep them warm, you never know if they might
come back!
b) investors they have
talked to who might invest in the future - keep them warm and hopefully
impressed with your progress.
c) advisors/mentors – who
have volunteered to help and who appreciate being kept in touch. (I know I do.)
d) industry/media
contacts – you can’t break through their noise and get attention unless you are
part of it.
Communications in this context typically means
a push mail. But how often? For me and I suspect others once a month is optimal. (More
often = noise//annoying; Less often = no consistency//lose mind share)
When it comes to email there are two basic
options for style that I have seen work well:
a) informal
email - +ve feels personal, is easy and convenient for small lists/ -ve looks
unprofessional. But this is definitely a good place to start.
b) structured email (using mailchimp etc) - +ve looks professional and is much better for a longer
lists especially since your audience can self subscribe/unsubscribe and you can
track that/ -ve feels impersonal -.
So more
appropriate as your list and reach grow and also as you want to project a
different more image. Angela
Campbell at Agora Fund has a very
slick message in this format.
What about content? I have seen excellent concise
messages that combine business updates, team updates, fund raising updates,
media coverage, upcoming stuff but also with some fun included. (I always enjoy
the Hitlist GIF of the month from Gillian
Morris CEO of Hitlist!) All this content can be used to convey a sense
of progress and momentum. (Which is vital for your “not yet but might be investors”
to sense.) By the way Gillian treats her updates like a blog post … so there is
a backlog out there too. And she has her own
guide to what to include in an update. Check out: “How We Got to
200,000 Users With No Marketing Spend”
Importantly, in my view at least, the better
notes ASK for something. The conversion rate on these asks might be low
but the startup community likes to feel involved and helpful so will respond
when they can.
Given before you get: celebrate others! Maybe it’s just me but some of the updates I appreciate the most and find the
most “genuine” are not all about the founder/company sending them. Rather they
give before they get, by which I mean they celebrate people in their ecosystem.
So folks that helped them in some way. For example Erica Berger at Catchpool incorporates and “In gratitude”
section.
Unless you are into full (and competitor
helpful!) transparency formal “investor only” reporting with financials is a
separate communication. This
will typically be to preset
“information rights” timetables.
BUT in your financial report outs to investors
you don't want to make ANY extra work for your self: don’t reinvent the reporting
wheel. For example if you have
committed to quarterly financials by way of information rights in a note, but don't
have a Board yet, just take the three basic financial statements out of
quickbooks and sent them out each quarter. Maybe with some commentary in body
text – but that’s it.
Keep It Simple (Stupid) when you do have a
Board. Even if it’s a three
person Board lite, you will do have to some more detailed financial on a
quarterly if not monthly basis. In this scenario repurpose and send to
investors a subset of that material which you have had to prepare anyway. i.e.
don't create any extra busy work just to service investors. (Depending how many
investors you have and how engaged they are maybe do an occasional conference
call with them too.)
Assuming you get
further along the growth curve and your Board reporting requirements go up …
just go with that flow in terms of repurposing what you have prepared already.
Obviously the later stage Board sees considerably more than you would want to share
with shareholders. So in this scenario the question should always be what you
cut out, never what you should add. At least from my portfolio the standout in
terms of substance and usefulness are the updates Erica Trautman
the CEO of Series B funded Rapt Media
provides.
