Get Investors to Come to You

Every once in a while, a founder tells me

We have a ton of inbound VC interest.

Awesome for them… but what about YOU, right?

Here’s a secret that most founders don’t get:

One of the best ways to raise: Get investors to come to you.

The founders with inbound interest? Yeah, they made that happen.

And it wasn’t by:

• Spamming an email list
• Stalking VC investors on every social
• Doing BS networking events all the time

Some call it “vibe investing,” but it’s true:

Investors take signals from social media very seriously.

And as the captain of your own ship, it’s up to you to take your social media game seriously too.

Here's how, step by step:

Step 1: Pick ONE platform, and dominate

The crux of this strategy: get PAYING CUSTOMERS.

To make this work, forget about investors - they are NOT your core audience!

Choose your platform based on where your core customers are most likely to be, for example:

LinkedIn will most likely be better for B2B sales, versus TikTok will most likely do better attracting customers for a funky consumer-facing brand.

Warning: Don’t dilute your efforts. You’re only allowed to go to another platform once you are absolutely crushing it.

Staying laser-focused on attracting your best customers, and you’ll have more wins to announce.

However…

Step 2: Be consistent

Big milestone wins are awesome to announce & can be some of the highest-performing content out there, but they’re not everything.

You’re not going to have a home run every day of the week.

Win the long game by being consistent over the long-term:

• Deliver value in everything you post
• Plan 5 posts per week
• Schedule posts in advance with a tool like Taplio

Stay on-mission, though - it’s easy to get distracted on social media.

We have a whole system. I have a dashboard where I plan the next month’s content, and have a part-time social media manager. That’s intentional, because social is the cornerstone of our growth strategy.

By growing your business (and your customer base) you’re laying the foundation for the dead-easy twofer: by attracting Customers, you will get VCs noticing you too.

The more successful you are, the more investors will just “show up!”

But just getting noticed isn’t gonna do it. Next, you need to…

Step 3: Convert & engage

Why don’t you have a heading on your website that says ‘Investors’ with a form where you can collect some info, they can send you a message & request to sign up to your Investor mailing list?

Because you should.

When an investor signs up:

1. Speak with them (Zoom, for example)
2. Vet them to make sure they’re a good fit
3. If you’re not raising, put them in a holding pattern “We’re not actively raising, but we do have an open SAFE right now”
4. Unless they’re a terrible fit who you’d never touch with a 40-foot pole, get them to opt-in so you can keep them posted “Want me to pop you onto our investor update mailing list, so you can get an early look once we do start gearing up for our next round?”

You would be shocked how simply keeping potential investors up-to-date via a quarterly email can be when raising your next round.

Summary: Customers → Inbound Interest

Focus on profitability, and the VCs will show up too.

After all: The best time to raise money, is when you don’t need it.

Next week, we’ll talk about what to do when those VCs do start coming inbound.

See you then.