Follow-up and investor relations
How do I turn existing investors into repeat investors?
Short answer
You turn investors into repeat investors by earning trust on the first deal and keeping everything simple and clear. Deliver what you said you would, make the deal easy to understand, and stay patient with the relationship. People come back to sponsors they trust and understand. I would not push for the next check until the first deal has gone well.
The second check is earned during the first deal
Repeat money comes from how the first deal goes. An investor who had a clear experience, got what was promised and felt respected is much easier to call a second time. I treat the first investment as the sales process for the second one. Everything else on this page builds on that.
A guest explains how repeat relationships built over years shape the way their firm does business.
I like that quote because it shows what repeat business looks like from the other side. Trust builds over years, not weeks. The same guest also said to make the deal simple when you present it. If an investor struggles to explain what they own, they will hesitate to put in more.
Make it easy to understand what they own
Clarity applies to your brand too. A client came to us through Pitchdex, our investor relations marketing agency. They did equipment leases, and investors earned a return I recall as around seven to eight percent, with the equipment as collateral. When we asked why people invest with them, the answer was the collateral and the income. So we rebranded them to Collateralized Income Investments. They told us things picked up and became easier, because people understood what the company did and why.
In this branding episode I walk through the equipment lease rebrand and why a clear name makes investors easier to keep.
Summary and key takeaways from this video
A clear name and a clear story also make it simple for an existing investor to explain you to others. They can also say yes again faster when the next deal arrives.
Give the relationship time instead of chasing
Do not rush it. On a panel with family office guests, one summed it up well. Working with a new or current investor is really about perseverance and patience. Another guest described a group in Dubai that took a year, year and a half to cultivate.
This panel covers why family offices pick relationships over capital and how long those relationships can take.
Summary and key takeaways from this video
Someone in the audience asked how often to reach out without overwhelming people. The panel did not give a number and I will not invent one. My view is to send something useful and relevant, and to remember how full their inbox already is.
Stay visible between deals
Past investors should keep seeing your name in a natural way. On our short term rental platform we have equity in 84 assets. Every guest logs into the Wi-Fi using investorresidences.com as the username and password. I hope that over time it leads to a strategic relationship, an investor or a repeat booking. The same idea applies to you. Keep your name, brand and updates in front of past investors so the next deal is not a cold call.
Many sponsors talk to a securities attorney about how to approach people with a new offering.
From my books and event talks
One thing I would add is that repeat investors are easier to reach when you have a system for them. An investor funnel is something you set up to routinely attract investors and then move them down the path to actually investing, more fluidly and more often. Past investors belong in that funnel too. Instead of treating each raise as a fresh start, I keep them in the same stream of updates and relevant material, so when the next deal is ready they already know who I am and how I operate.
Facts and figures
- One guest said their lending firm has had to use recourse only twice, and credited a lot of repeat borrowers they built trust with over the years.
- A family office group in Dubai took a year, year and a half to cultivate into a relationship, according to a panel guest.
- Family Office Club has run for 16 years and hosted 190 live events. An equipment lease client said things picked up after rebranding to Collateralized Income Investments.
Sources
From Richard C. Wilson's Centimillionaire Strategies YouTube channel: From Tech Exec to $100M+ Investor: How He Built His Family Office from Scratch, Co-Investing: How to Partner with a Family Office to Close Your Deal, Branding & Positioning for Investors | Ep 3. Quotes come from the video captions, lightly edited for readability. Figures are the speakers' own estimates and experience.
General education only. Not legal, tax or investment advice.
Talk to a securities attorney to explore options around new offering outreach, investor eligibility rules and offering documents. Do not use AI to write your own legal agreements.
Next moves
- List every past investor and write down how their first deal went.
- Rewrite your next deal summary so it is simple enough to explain in two sentences.
- Send past investors a short, useful update on a regular basis.
- Put your brand name in front of them in small, natural ways.
- Consider talking with a securities attorney about how to offer a new deal to past investors.
More questions on this
How often should I contact past investors?
I do not have a magic number, and the panel I saw did not give one either. Send something useful and relevant, and keep in mind how much email people already get.
Does my brand name matter for repeat investors?
Yes. A clear name helps people understand what you do and why, which made things easier for the equipment lease client we rebranded. It also helps past investors describe you to others.
Can I just offer my next deal to my past investors?
Many sponsors talk to a securities attorney about how to approach past investors with a new deal.
Related questions
- How do capital calls work for LPs?A capital call is a request from the GP asking LPs to send in part of the money they already committed.
- Do I need an investor portal for my fund?No, many managers do not use a portal when they first start raising a fund.
- How do I communicate with investors when a deal underperforms?Tell investors early, plainly and in the way they prefer to be reached.
- What should a quarterly investor letter include?A quarterly investor letter should cover results against plan, cash and burn, anything that went wrong, changes to the cap table or debt, and what you will do next quarter.
Work through it with the investor meeting follow-up checklist. See all follow-up and investor relations resources.