Learn from my friend Alex Kwon.
He pitched his company to a bunch of investors. Got rejected by most of them — nothing unusual there, it’s just the way it is.
But he still wanted to keep building the relationship with these investors. Instead of sending boring update emails, Alex started offering something of value first, without expecting anything in return.
He started connecting good companies to the VCs that rejected him. Knowing many other founders in the same space (in his case, consumer social), he was able to make a bunch of warm intros.
Some VCs ended up investing in the companies he introduced and thanked him. Some even offered him carried interest.
Now, his motive wasn’t entirely altruistic. He was doing this to maintain relationships with the investors. And that carried interest doesn’t hurt either. 🙂
But the key difference is that he was providing something of value first. Founders are usually focused on what they can get from investors. Very few think about what they can give.
In some cases, founders don’t even put in the basic effort. They don’t personalize cold emails; sometimes they even copy/paste the same email, addressing VCs by the wrong name.
So founders – take the time to think about how you can offer value to investors. Doesn’t have to be something big – maybe delivering your pitch in a way that’s clear and easy to understand, or heck, not misspelling their name by copy/pasting, can also be a good starting point!