Investor Relations.. for Founders. Maintaining great relationships through valuable updates

Being a founder is as much a game of relationships as it is building a business that can scale. The relationships you maintain with your stakeholders can determine how far you go. Keeping in touch with the people who have backed you, is absolutely critical for maintaining a healthy company.

In my experience working with investors, I’ve never once heard anyone complain of being updated too frequently by founders. In fact, the more a founder keeps in touch, the more visible they are, meaning they’re more likely to raise more funding. The general consensus is, investors, want to be kept informed as much as possible.

This is not just a nice ‘give’ to your investors. Once money changes hands and terms sheets applied, there’s an obligation by the founder to provide up to date data on the state of play. So best prepare and give it your best shot.

No, no news is NOT GOOD NEWS for investors

Startups are fraught with risk, such that when no one hears from a founder in a while, it could be suspected things have wound down. To put everyone at ease, frequent touch points with interesting news can keep the irons hots.

Here’s a good way to look at it:

Highlights  

• Key metrics
  

• What do you need help with?
  

• General updates/ News
  

Financial

• Revenue YTD
• Runway
• Monthly Burn
• Capital raised (updated cap table)
  

Team

• Team, full-time and contractors (diversity stats help here) 

Product/ Customers

• New Product/Services
• Traction
• New customers/ growth

Founders are always raising capital (always be raising), the lifecycle of investment rounds are blending together, especially in the early stages. While follow-on funding is becoming the norm for VC firms, unlocking funding at later stages requires a solid commitment on both sides. Having a reputation for keeping everyone up to date will positively benefit you in the long term.

At muru-D, we are thrilled to be introducing a new tool for our portfolio of startups, where they can keep key company data in one place. Once up and running we will continue to share updates on how to keep your investors sweet.

Article by Nicola Farrell, muru-D