After a founder who has been unsuccessful raising money discovers the concept of Calendar Density, they eventually realize that the best path forward is starting a new, tightly organized fundraising process. Soon after, the question usually surfaces: âShould I reach out to investors that passed once before?â
This question arises in a variety of situations, so understanding an approach to unlocking value from this cemetery of old leads is worth a deep dive.
First, we need to identify if the original pass was truly not a good fit. Actual bad fits come from mismatches around stage or industry focus. No matter how sophisticated your fundraising strategy, reaching back out to a growth stage, biotech investor who passed because youâre raising a seed round for a social media app wonât change the outcome. These we donât touch at all.
The rest of the passes, no matter how they were delivered, fall in the category of âso youâre saying thereâs a chance.âÂ
I know that some of you might be confused as to why I would even recommend spending time with an investor who wasnât excited the first time around. After all, I preach the importance of defining your specific story, sticking to that story, and then searching for your match (the investor who thinks like you and is excited to find you).
Here are a few thoughts on why we spend time with old passes:Â
The first thing you should realize is nothing will change if you donât change the dynamics of the investment opportunity. That means reaching out directly saying âWeâre back out raising again, would you like to take a look?â or in other words âHw about now??â is not going to work. Â
The dynamics of an opportunity only change if you change how attractive the opportunity is. So what will affect attractiveness?
First, you need to update the story with an evolution that occurred since your last communication. Your old story didnât work so when you come back, it has to be different.Â
When it comes to story updates, think about these 4 Lâs: Learned / Launched / Landed / (en)LargedÂ
Next- with a new story in hand, itâs time to send them a message, right? Well, you could. With the right âI donât care if youâre interested, but you probably want to know about how awesome weâre doing đââď¸â tone in a short, polite email, itâs possible to reignite interest in your deal from an investor that passed.Â
What would be better than reaching out is if the idea of re-engaging came from someone else. Even though it may sound silly because youâve already met before, finding someone who can offer the investor an intro to you would be helpful. Â
The investor might say âI actually already know them,â but thatâs OK! If an investor who passed hears about your new fundraise / trajectory / story via another channel, a conversation about the companyâs updates will be much more readily accepted. Even being âreintroducedâ by a mutual contact who mentions they heard you were raising again b/c of X, Y, and Z new happenings at the company can create a better opportunity for success.Â
The re-introduction is just one of a number of ways you can incept the idea of reconsidering your deal. If you realize the re-introduction is just a particular method of recasting a desirable light on your deal, you should be able to creatively come up with alternative approaches to setting up the reconnection.
You might still be feeling the sting of past passes but you can use that burn as fuel for arming yourself with a compelling story update and connection strategy. Savvy investors will pick up on your grit and determination, potentially leading to a closer look at your new and improved opportunity.