How often should I follow up with investors?
Often enough that each person hears something useful from you, but ask for a decision rarely: keep many value-first touches over time and only a few direct asks.
Key points
- Count touches and asks separately: touches can be frequent, asks should be rare.
- End every conversation with a next step and a date the other person agreed to.
- Every follow-up should carry something new, such as an answer, an update or a useful note.
- Under 506(b), a follow-up about a live deal goes only to people you may offer it to; everyone else gets relationship follow-up.
- Write down why someone said not now, so your next message speaks to their reason.
Alejandro Davila, founder of Mownt, Updated
Touches and asks are different things
Advice on follow-up seems to contradict itself. Some raisers say it takes many contacts before someone invests; others say that more than one or two follow-ups after a call starts to feel pushy. Both can be right, because they are counting different things.
A touch is anything that keeps the relationship alive: a useful article, an update on what you are working on, an invitation, a short personal note. An ask is a direct request for a decision on a specific deal. Plenty of touches over months, and very few asks, is the pattern that tends to hold up.
A cadence you can start from
Treat the timing below as a starting point, not a rule. Adjust it to how each person likes to hear from you, and when in doubt, ask them.
The first message goes out on the day of the conversation, while it is fresh: a short recap, the answers you promised and the next step you agreed. If you said you would be in touch on a certain date, be in touch on that date.
After that, space your messages out and make each one useful on its own. A note that only says you are checking in gives the other person nothing to reply to.
Day 0: the same day
Send a short recap, the answers you promised and the next step you agreed.
About day 5: the agreed check-in
Follow up on the date you set together, and offer to answer by email instead of a call.
Weeks 2 to 4: something useful
Share one note that answers a question they raised.
Every month: a short update
Say what you are working on and what you passed on, with no ask.
Every quarter: a personal note
Call or write to ask how their plans have changed.
Frequent, useful touches and very few asks: the asks wait for a real reason.
Make every follow-up worth opening
The best follow-up answers something. If an investor asked a question you could not answer on the call, find out and send the answer quickly. A missing answer loses more people than a missing reminder.
Other good reasons to write: a short explanation of a deal you passed on and why, something you learned touring a property, an event in their city, or an article that speaks to a concern they raised.
Keep it true. Any statement about demand, such as how full a deal is or how soon it will close, has to be accurate on the day you send it.
Respect the exemption in every message
A common way issuers show they did not use general solicitation is to offer only to people they, or someone acting for them, already have a substantive relationship with, meaning one that began before the offering and in which they learned about the person's finances and sophistication. Under 506(b), a message about a live deal is itself part of offering that deal, so a person you met after that deal began gets relationship follow-up instead and can be considered for a later offering.
Under 506(c), messages about a live deal may reach people you have not met before, but every investor must be accredited and you must take reasonable steps to verify that before accepting money.
Texts and calls carry their own consent rules, and follow-up email is commercial email with its own requirements. Get permission before you text someone, and make it easy for anyone to stop hearing from you.
When the answer is not now
A "not now" is information. Thank the person, write down the reason and a date to revisit, and let your next message speak to that reason: money that will free up later, a partner or adviser they want to consult, or a concern about the market.
Stay in touch without asking. Updates, invitations and the occasional note about a deal you turned down keep you in mind. Ask again only when their reason has changed, or when a new offering opens that you are allowed to tell them about.
How Mownt helps with this
- Mownt sends the email sequences you set up when you tag a contact. You decide the steps and the delay before each one.
- Mownt records your investor list when you import it. You decide how its columns map to your fields.
- Mownt records key steps in an activity log. You decide what goes into your own records.
Written by Alejandro Davila, founder of Mownt. Mownt sells the software described here.
The full checklist is inside Mownt. Read "Follow-up: the 14-day cadence, no-shows and old leads" in the Capital Raiser Playbook when you join. Apply for early access
Frequently asked questions
How many times should I follow up after a first call?
Once on the date you agreed, and perhaps one more personal note. After that, stay in touch with useful updates and wait for a real reason to ask again.
Is it pushy to follow up at all?
Not if each message is useful and the person agreed to hear from you. What feels pushy is the same ask repeated with nothing new in it.
What should I send when I have no news?
Something useful: an answer to a question they asked, a lesson from a property you looked at, or why you passed on a deal.
How often should I contact past investors?
Regularly. A short update every month and a personal call or note every quarter keeps them informed without asking for anything.
Can I follow up about my current deal with someone I just met at a conference?
Under 506(b), generally not about that deal, if your relationship with them began after it started. Get to know them for a later offering, or ask your attorney whether the raise should be under 506(c).
Keep reading
Running the raise
How do a preferred return and a waterfall work?
A waterfall is the order in which a deal's distributable cash is paid out, and a preferred return is one step in that order: investors are paid first, up to a stated rate, before the sponsor shares.
Updated
Getting past friends and family
What do I do after friends and family?
Keep going through three routes: deepen your wider network under 506(b), promote openly under 506(c), or meet people in person, knowing that each route carries its own rules.
Updated