How can you communicate with investors after a successful fundraising deal?

The best way to set expectations is to present your existing investor communications and reporting. Yes, this means you need to start an investor relations program prior to starting a fundraising round. Start documenting monthly progress of the business, not marketing only highlighting good things. Be honest, be transparent, be consistent. This does require some time, and I know startup teams are time deprived, but this is an investment that will make you stand out in the process. And in the current challenging times, anything you can do to 'derisk' their investment the better the odds of you raising funds, more quickly, with a better valuation and terms.

From my experience of structuring and closing over 50 deals we find investors want transparent - but concise reporting every month or quarter. They like quick replies when there are questions and they like simple reporting so it is not burdensome to get through and as visual and numbers based as possible. The reporting and execution is where you, in part, are earning a referral or re-investment over time. Most importantly if things don’t go well be very clear about it, lessons learned and admit that things didn’t go as planned vs sugar coating it.

Nurturing Investor Relations After Successful Funding Effective communication post-capital raise is crucial. Here's a concise guide: 1. **Timely Updates:** Regularly share milestones and challenges to keep investors informed. 2. **Structured Reporting:** Implement a clear reporting system with KPIs and financial metrics. 3. **Personalized Touch:** Tailor communication to individual investor preferences. 4. **Interactive Meetings:** Schedule regular virtual or in-person meetings for engagement. 5. **Utilize Technology:** Use secure platforms to share documents and updates efficiently. In conclusion, these strategies ensure ongoing investor trust and support in the journey of your business.

Many investors don’t trust anyone who acts like the returns will be for sure huge, they haven’t been humbled by gravity yet and they are dangerous to your net worth. It is better to under promise and over deliver and respect known and unknown risks, if you think there are no risks you are double off - as there always are some.

On the one hand you need to keep major donors updated, but you also need to respect their time. I like to do quarterly updates that allow donors to stay current on how their funding is helping our nonprofit, while also providing enough space so they aren’t overwhelmed with information.

The best investors are one who made their money in your niche. For our medical practice investments 50-75% of the capital comes from investors and family offices who are doctors or who already sold their dental or medical practices. This way they are strategic capital, help with due diligence, ask helpful vs painful questions and they help on offense and defense on the deal. This is critical and a huge edge when investing and building a company or deal platform.

Remember if you are raising capital you need to position yourself to be #1 in something for a very specific investor demographic and if you are an investor you must source deals first, see deal exclusively and invest at better valuations than others due to your strategic value - that is how you scale a balance sheet rapidly.