The most effective framework for investor communications + Fundraising Fieldnotes - 12.3.21
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Hey - it’s Jason Yeh 🕺🏻
This is my Friday recap of thoughts I’ve had while helping founders solve their fundraising challenges this past week (12.3.21)
If you have any questions, please reply! I try to get to every comment/question I get :)
The most effective framework for investor communications - WWPCD
Obvious: A great founder and a good business idea attract investors to inject capital into early stage companies.
Not Obvious: How an investor determines the quality of a founder or a business... especially if that founder is young and inexperienced and if the business she runs has yet to launch.
This conundrum is the reason investing, and therefore fundraising, is an art and not a science. It is also the reason I have an endless number of topics to write about in my newsletter.
As is the case with most newsletter issues, today’s subject was triggered by an email from a founder. The founder said (paraphrased) “An investor asked me ______. How should I respond?”
While this is an incredibly common question, there are surprisingly few articles on how to communicate with investors during fundraising outside of “how to write a cold email.” In early-stage fundraising, communication is particularly consequential in shaping a potential investor’s perception. And in the absence of undeniable metrics or solid years of proven success, perception is the main driver of outcomes.
One of the complications of writing a how-to guide on responding to investors is the fact that all situations have nuance and each founder’s interaction with an investor is slightly different. If I’m asked the question “how should I respond” and have time to discuss live, I can help explain the situation and offer specific responses that will help cultivate the right feeling in the investor.
Unfortunately, I rarely have the time to sit down with founders to walk them through options on how to respond. In the past, I’ve considered creating a written guide to responding to investors but have been deterred by its impracticality (both excruciating to produce and difficult to consume).
Because of that, I’ve mostly relied on a simple guiding principle for founders. When founders are stuck and don’t have me or another advisor to consult, I often share a framework called WWPCD.
What Would Patrick Collison Do? (continue reading…)
I loved doing this in Brazil 🇧🇷. I want to do more! People should do more!!
If you’re in Miami this weekend (FOMO)!
Till next week. Stay adamant and be chased.
Jason
p.s. Today I learned… dog jealousy is a real thing!
Small asks!
If you thought this was helpful or enjoyable in anyway, I’d love for you to:
Forward this newsletter with others who would enjoy it
Follow me on Twitter where I’ve begun building in public (my course, my podcast, etc)!
Listen with a friend to Funded, my podcast that tells the rollercoaster stories of how founders raised millions (and subscribe🙏)
Ask me your fundraising questions so I can help you and cover them in a future issue
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