So I just got the email that no venture capitalist wants to get.

@sammrchant

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monthly investor update email template

Why it worked

The video uses a relatable "founder's regret" narrative combined with actionable advice on investor communication, tapping into the common challenges faced by startups seeking funding.

Summary

The speaker shares a story about passing on a founder who later raised a significant Series A round. He explains that while he didn't believe in the market or product at the time, he now regrets not trusting his gut and not keeping up with the founder's progress. The speaker then advises founders to send monthly investor update emails, highlighting wins, losses, and future plans, and suggests including a section that calls out helpful investors to motivate them.

Structure

1Receiving a rejection email followed by news of a successful funding round.
2Explaining the reasons for the initial rejection (market and product disbelief).
3Acknowledging the founder's potential and the mistake of not trusting gut feeling.
4Highlighting the importance of consistent communication and updates.
5Advising founders on how to structure monthly investor update emails.
6Explaining the psychological benefit of creating a 'leaderboard' for investors.

Product placement

Original caption

I just received the email no VC investor wants to receive … Honestly, I’m delighted for the founder, he deserves all the success he’s getting! And he’s done a great job of keeping me updated with his success since we spoke. Steal his template for your own monthly investor updates! #startup #business #founder

More from @sammrchant

Their other posts in the index, biggest breakout first.

The video discusses the importance of monthly investor update emails and implies that a template for such emails is available (likely through the creator's services or content).

Call to action

Steal his template for your own monthly investor updates!

On-screen text

So I just got the email that no venture capitalist wants to get. Hey Sam, you passed on our pre-seed round, but we've just raised a Series A round of $25 million dollars at $150 million dollar valuation. Great. The obvious question is why did I pass on this founder in the first place? Well, two reasons. 1, I didn't believe in the market and 2, I didn't believe in the product. What I did believe in though was the founder. I thought he was absolutely exceptional and had a gut feeling that he could make something happen. At the time, I didn't listen to my gut, I listened to my head. And now I'm paying for that mistake. And as annoying as it might seem, I'm actually delighted for this founder. I love seeing people win, seeing them succeed. And one thing that this founder does unbelievably well is he always keeps me updated with his progress and his wins. So if you are a founder and a VC has said no to you, how can you keep them updated and how can you turn them into a yes maybe further down the line? The easiest way is a monthly investor update email. And it's a very simple template that you can use. You should share your wins, your lows, what you're doing differently next month. But one thing I encourage everyone to do is to include a little section where you call out any investors or people who have helped you on a month by month basis. What this does is it ultimately creates a leaderboard of people who are providing the most amount of value. Now investors being very ego driven people, you will find that every investor wants to be top of that list. And all of a sudden people start helping you more than they normally do. For many investors, they build up a better picture of a startup and a founder over time. So this is why investor updates are really, really important when you go out to raise and ultimately when you then go on to look for subsequent funding further down the line.

Transcript

So I just got the email that no venture capitalist wants to get. Hey Sam, you passed on our pre-seed round, but we've just raised a Series A round of $25 million dollars at $150 million dollar valuation. Great. The obvious question is why did I pass on this founder in the first place? Well, two reasons. One, I didn't believe in the market and two, I didn't believe in the product. What I did believe in though was the founder. I thought he was absolutely exceptional and had a gut feeling that he could make something happen. At the time, I didn't listen to my gut, I listened to my head. And now I'm paying for that mistake. And as annoying as it might seem, I'm actually delighted for this founder. I love seeing people win, seeing them succeed. And one thing that this founder does unbelievably well is he always keeps me updated with his progress and his wins. So if you are a founder and a VC has said no to you, how can you keep them updated and how can you turn them into a yes maybe further down the line? The easiest way is a monthly investor update email. And it's a very simple template that you can use. You should share your wins, your lows, what you're doing differently next month. But one thing I encourage everyone to do is to include a little section where you call out any investors or people who have helped you on a month by month basis. What this does is it ultimately creates a leaderboard of people who are providing the most amount of value. Now investors being very ego driven people, you will find that every investor wants to be top of that list. And all of a sudden people start helping you more than they normally do. For many investors, they build up a better picture of a startup and a founder over time. So this is why investor updates are really, really important when you go out to raise and ultimately when you then go on to look for subsequent funding further down the line.