How Often Should You Follow Up With Investors?
“I haven’t heard back from ‘Robbie,’” I told one of our investors, Gill. “It’s been a few days, and I’m beginning to worry.”
“Stay on him,” Gill said to me. “He (Robbie) tends to get really busy.”
“Okay, I will.”
Robbie was the lead investor for our latest round of funding. He’d given us a term sheet that we’d signed the week before, and now he went dark.
Needless to say, an investor going dark on you is not a good sign.
My paranoid mind was racing. It’s always hard raising money, and I was coming up with all sorts of crazy conspiracy theories:
Did Robbie have second thoughts about the investment?
Were his partners pissed?
Maybe Robbie got hit by a car and he was incapacitated?
You need to be a polite pest when you follow up with investors.
It had been a couple of days since I last called Robbie. I picked up the phone and called him again. I went immediately to voicemail. Shit. I left another message for Robbie:
“Hey Robbie, it’s Brett Fox calling. I’m just following up on our discussion. Give me a call when you get a chance. Thanks.”
You should follow up be phone and by email.
I immediately sent an email to Robbie with the same message:
“Hi Robbie, I just left you a voice message. I’m just following up on our discussion. Give me a call when you get a chance.
Best regards,
Brett”
The fear went away. I’d taken action. But I knew that within a few hours the fear would be back if I didn’t hear from Robbie.
The reason you’re not hearing back from someone usually has nothing to do with you.
I forgot who taught me that little psychological trick, but it’s helped me navigate through several tense situations. Usually, the reason someone isn’t responding to you has nothing to do with you.
There are an infinite number of stories we can tell ourselves when someone doesn’t call us back. The story I tried to tell myself was, “Maybe Robbie got busy with a problem portfolio company.”
I had no idea what the reason Robbie wasn’t calling me back was. But I just reminded myself that it likely had nothing to do with us.
He probably just got busy with something. That’s why you have to be a polite pest. A polite follow up a couple of days later is fine.
Remember. You’re not making your investors money, yet.
My good friend, Steve, always told me this when I complained about the slow response from investors that had already signed a term sheet. It just made no sense to me why they weren’t moving faster.
The reality is that you’re not making them money. Until you are making your investors money, you have to punch through the noise as a polite pest.
Friday night, two days after I called and emailed Robbie, Gill and I heard back from him. I would have never guessed Robbie’s response:
Subject: Delay
Guys — I appreciate your patience on my response. I am still hoping to get something to you in the next day or so, but as I mentioned perviously, I have been delayed due to what has become a serious family matter.
My eldest son has had a high fever for the last week or so and we have been trying to get it under control. Late last week, he was diagnosed with acute osteomyelitis (bone infection) of the left arm/shoulder and required immediate surgery. He has been recovering since Friday and is a real trooper. If his progress continues, he will be able to leave the hospital by the middle of this week. As you can imagine, I have been fully occupied with this matter.
I expect to have a discussion regarding Touchstone with my partners tomorrow and get back to you with my thoughts and a path forward to close. I will be in and out of the office this week, but I am available by phone, email and text as usual. While my family is clearly my first priority, I want you to know that I take my responsibilities to my LPs and portfolio companies very seriously.
Thanks for you patience.
Robbie
It made sense. There was no logical reason that Robbie would back out of the deal, so his lack of response had to be something that had nothing to do with us.
As a parent, I could totally relate to what Robbie was going through. If my daughter had a similar problem, my sole focus would be on her.
The situation with Robbie’s son went on for several more weeks. His son completely recovered. In the end, our patience and support was rewarded.
For more, read: https://www.brettjfox.com/whats-the-one-type-of-investor-you-absolutely-must-avoid
