Investor Email Templates

Hi <phv><Investor><phv>,

I'm <phv><name><phv>, and I'm the founder of <phv><company><phv>, which is building <phv><solution><phv> for <phv><problem><phv> to <phv><mission><phv>.

It's an exciting time for <phv><company><phv> because <phv><traction><phv>.

We're currently raising <phv><terms><phv>. Our funding to date is <phv><details><phv>.

Our team is based in <phv><location/remote><phv>, our deck is attached <phv><attach it!><phv> and you can learn more about our work at <phv><website/demo><phv>.

Looking forward to hearing from you! If <phv><company><phv> isn't a good fit, it would be incredibly helpful to get your feedback to help me be more focused and effective going forwards.

Thanks,

<phv><Name><phv>

Hi <phv><FirstName><phv>,

<phv><Company Name + two-sentence description, including the problem you solve and why your solution is the best><phv>. Here are the stats:

• <phv><Stat 1><phv>
• <phv><Stat 2><phv>
• <phv><Stat 3><phv>
• <phv><Stat 4><phv>
• <phv><Stat 5><phv>

You can check out more details in our short deck here.

I’m seeking to raise <phv><investment amount/type><phv> to <phv><future plan><phv>.

I heard/read your interview/post/talk and your point about <phv><key point><phv> really stuck home. <phv><Sentence showing how the key point relates to your business plans><phv>.

I’d love to tell you more over a 30min call or a coffee. Do you have any time next week?

<phv><Name><phv>

<phv><Contact Details><phv>

‍

Hey <phv><Name><phv>,

I would like to get in touch with <phv><Investor><phv>. <phv><why would be a good mutual match; eg, “He has an amazing track record and is a graduate of UC Berkeley, which is our client since a few weeks, and could be a great strategic fit with XYZ”><phv>

A little about us:

<phv><include blurb here; see below an example><phv>

<phv><CTA, eg “Currently raising a seed and have 67% of the $750K round subscribed”><phv>

Please let me know if you need other information from my side

Thanks, 

<phv><Name><phv>

‍

Hi all,

This is <phv><StartupABC><phv> update email for <phv><month><phv>.

<phv><StartupABC Refresher: 1 sentence pitch to refresh everyone on what you do.><phv>

‍

SUMMARY/CORE METRICS SNAPSHOT:

<phv><1-5 Core metrics/points is fine. This section should act as your quick summary the health of your business. For investors its vital to see how you're doing and for advisors its great to inform the advice they will give you.><phv>

- <phv><Monthly Sales Revenue><phv>

- <phv><Cash in bank><phv>

- <phv><Monthly burn><phv>

- <phv><Growth metrics e.g. signups, new customers, product engagement><phv>

- <phv><Tech/R&D Progress e.g. suitable for deep-tech startups etc.><phv>

‍

HIGHLIGHTS:

<phv><List your top 3-5 highlights, 1 sentence each (expand on anything significant in a separate area if required)><phv>

‍

LOWLIGHTS/CHALLENGES:

<phv><List your top 3 challenges here. This is where your investors and advisors will at a glance be able to see and think about what they could help you with.><phv>

‍

KEY GOALS/FOCUS:

<phv><3-5 goals for next month. Think about covering all functions of the business e.g. Point on sales/customers, product and team.><phv>

‍

ASK

<phv><Super important section to include. This is where people can directly help out and feel good when they do><phv>

<phv><1-3 top asks for your advisors and investors e.g. introduction to new hire or expert on a topic><phv>

‍

THANKS

<phv><Publicly acknowledge the people who help you within the group (Creates a bit of competitiveness but also promotes the goodwill among your network) e.g. Thanks to Michelle for the advice on our pricing, it helped increase our margins!><phv>

‍

Thanks,

Founder

‍

Hi everyone!

Here are our updates for this month.

KPIs

• <phv><# of paying users: 40 (+25% compared to last month)><phv>
• <phv><# of logins/user/day: 1.73 (+38%)><phv>
• <phv><Users active after 60 days: 37.5% (-8%)><phv>
• <phv><Employees: 5><phv>
• <phv><Monthly burn: $42k><phv>
• <phv><Runway: 19 months><phv>

Notable Events

Great

• <phv><We were featured in TechCrunch which led to 173 trial customers and 8 new users. [link to TechCrunch article]><phv>
• <phv><We hired Joe Smith as our first VP of Sales. Joe was a Sr. Director at Salesforce for the last 6 years and graduated from Yale.   ><phv>

Good

• <phv><We are still looking for junior front-end engineer. We went to three college career fairs last month and now have 84 potential candidates in our hiring pipeline.><phv>

Bad

• <phv><Our main web server crashed on Feb 23rd and we have three and a half hours of downtime. Several customers called to complain, and we offered them a 50% discount for the month. We will be working this month on improving the fault tolerance of our system.><phv>
• <phv><We are still looking for a DevOps engineers and don’t have many good leads.><phv>

Ugly

• <phv><We’ve been trying to close a deal with XYZ corp for 4 months, and they decided to go with RelateIQ instead of us.  This would’ve been a landmark deal for the company. We’ve followed up with XYZ to learn what we could have done better and will be incorporating their feedback in March and April.><phv>

Thanks!

• <phv><Thanks to John E. for referring 3 potential front-end engineers.><phv>
• <phv><Thanks for Lucy K. for helping us think through our PR strategy.><phv>
• <phv><Thanks for Joe D. and Kathy R. for introducing us to over a dozen potential customers.><phv>

How you can help

• <phv><We are looking for a good DevOps engineer. If you know someone who might be a good fit, please let us know.><phv>
• <phv><We love getting intros to potential customers. Our ideal customers right now are startups with $1m-$10 in revenue and 3-10 salespeople. ><phv>
• <phv><If you have a few minutes, we’d love to get feedback on our newly redesigned Contacts page: [link to Contacts page].><phv>

‍

cheers,

<phv><Founder><phv>

‍

Hey Team,

‍

It's been an awesome, but intense, <phv><summer/fall/winter/spring><phv>. Many things are tracking well, but some challenges we’re working through.

‍

TL;DR

• Revenue is up <phv><XX%><phv>
• Scaling up <phv><Name of Important product initiative><phv>
• We finally closed <phv><Impressive Customer Brand><phv> for a major  
• Big time hire and closed <phv><impressive LinkedIn bio><phv> as our new VP <phv><product/marketing/engineering><phv>
• Me/Co-founder/Other significant employee had a <phv><major life event - wedding, baby, marathon><phv>

‍

Key Metrics:

We continue to have a ton of momentum across every important metric. From <phv><January><phv> to <phv><June><phv> we grew <phv><important KPI by XX%+><phv> every month. From <phv><June><phv> to <phv><July><phv> we grew <phv><XX%><phv>. We are also on pace for a really huge <phv><Most Recent Month><phv>.

<phv><Insert Happy Graph of Rapidly Increasing Sales Figures><phv>

We’ve learned something big this quarter in our <phv><pricing/sales/product><phv> model and by <phv><Near Future Month><phv> we'll be on a <phv><$XM><phv> run rate. Needless to say I’m cautiously pumped.

We've basically <phv><Xx'd on every metric so far this year><phv> and I believe will have <phv><XXx'd by end of year.><phv>

One big thing we are scaling up is our <phv><Important Product Initiative><phv>. We now have <phv><XX+ companies/X,XXX customers><phv> that have bought <phv><Our Important Product Initiative><phv> for all of their employees as a perk. In the last week we've added <phv><Cool Company #1, Cool Company #2 and Cool Company #3><phv>. Right now I've got more pipeline that I can handle but if you have any companies you think would be a good fit for this let me know.

​

Fundraising - Series A:

We are in active fundraising mode. This is super aggressive but my goal is to get something done by <phv><Month><phv>. I was in <phv><SF/NYC/Boston><phv> last week for some "sneak peek" conversations with friendlies. These went really well. 

Here is my current list of conversations - <phv><Link to Google Doc filled with impressive investors and notes about the conversations you had.><phv>

If there is someone missing from the list that you think I should get in front of, please add them to the bottom and I will connect with you about setting up an intro. If there is someone on the list already that you have a really great relationship with, please let me know :)

The deck is still a work in progress but you can take a look here - <phv><A link to a well polished deck detail your many impressive feats.><phv>

‍

Learnings since last update:

We now have a meaningful number of people that have hit their <phv><Contract Milestone><phv>. Our overall renewal rate is <phv><XX%><phv>, which I think is pretty amazing. What we've realized though is that if we can get you to do at least two <phv><Core User Interactions><phv> the renewal rate goes up to <phv><XX%><phv>!

We are also getting better at getting you to <phv><Core User Interactions Faster><phv>! Last year it would take us <phv><X-X><phv> months on average to accomplish this while now we are doing it in <phv><X-X><phv> months. We are starting to focus in on improving this even more.

We also started surveying our members. <phv><XX%><phv> said they were told about <phv><Company Name from another user and <phv><XX%><phv> said they told at least <phv><XX><phv> people about <phv><Company Name><phv>. Our NPS is <phv><XX><phv>. This is obviously huge but I still think we are just scratching the surface of how powerful our community can be.

‍

Team

The huge growth we've seen this year is a direct impact of <phv><X><phv> big hires we made at the start of the year for <phv><Key Function #1, Key Function #2 and Key Function #3><phv>. It's really taken our team to another level and it shows on what we've accomplished. 

Everyone is pumped and feels the momentum. We are stretched really thin though and while it's been awesome seeing everyone step up, I do worry about fatigue setting in at some point. 

‍

What I feel good about:

<phv><Insert Cool Graph><phv>

The graph on the left shows the huge rise in <phv><Core Sales Metric><phv> and the graph on the right shows the decrease in customer support tickets as <phv><Core Sales Metric increases.><phv> 

All the work we've done over the last year and half is paying off. We've built the foundation that is going to let us grow and provide an amazing experience.

‍

What I am freaked out about

For our <phv><Function #1, Key Function #2 and Key Function #3 roles><phv> I invested in director level people instead of junior folks we would then hire over. We've also been <phv><Utilizing Faster, But More Expensive Methods of Scaling><phv>. Our burn is up and we'll be out of money by <phv><Month.><phv>

‍

What's next

Get this round down and put money in the bank account. 

We've also got to finish <phv><Month><phv> strong. We are pacing really well but there is <phv><Industry Specific Seasonal Impediment Coming Soon><phv> so it's not going to be easy. At the same time we are preparing to take advantage of a massive surge for <phv><Industry Specific Seasonal Benefit.><phv> 

‍

What I need help with

‍

Please take a look at the list of investors we are lining up - <phv><Reuse that Link to Google Doc filled with impressive investors.><phv> 

Let me know if there are people we should be talking to or if there are people already on the list you have good relationships with.

Thank you to <phv><Investor #1><phv>  and <phv><Investor #2><phv> for helping get the ball rolling on these with intros and deck feedback.

Thank you <phv><Investor #3, Investor #4, and Investor #5><phv> for letting me practice the pitch on you.

‍

Thank you for all the support.

‍

Happy to answer any questions you might have.

‍

Thanks!

<phv><CEO Name><phv> 

‍

Hi <phv><investor first name><phv>,

My name is <phv><your name><phv> and I’m building <phv><product name><phv>, a <phv><product category><phv> that <phv><what your product does><phv>.

<phv><Target audience><phv> struggles with <phv><audience pain point><phv>, and <phv><product name><phv> helps solve this problem by <phv><how your product solves pain point><phv>.

We’re <phv><your goal><phv> and I’d like to <phv><what you want to do next><phv>.

We’d love to work with <phv><investment firm name><phv> because <phv><how you fit their investment profile><phv>.

I’ve attached a copy of our pitch deck if you require more details.

Thanks in advance for your time,

<phv><your name><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><Jess><phv>,

Thanks again for meeting with me on <phv><Sept 13><phv>. We’re now moving into the final stages of the round, so I’d love to know if you’d like to be involved? If I haven’t heard from you by <phv><Friday at 5pm><phv>, I’ll assume we should move forward without you.

As a reminder, here’s some quick company highlights:

1. <phv><$100k ARR growing 15%/month.><phv>
2. <phv><We are Oxford graduates with a decade of experience in this sector.><phv>
3. <phv><Pear VC is leading the $1M round.><phv>

‍

Best,

<phv><Mike><phv>

Hi <phv><Investor><phv>,

I am reaching out because <phv><affinities><phv>. My company, <phv><company name><phv>, is <phv><one-liner><phv>. We're currently fundraising and I would love to get your feedback.

More information on <phv><company name><phv>: <phv><company overview and deck link><phv>

I'd love to schedule a quick call to show you what we're building. Would <phv><time A><phv> or <phv><time B><phv> work for you? Happy to work around your schedule or feel free to book here, if preferred: <phv><calendar link><phv>

Look forward to chatting!

<phv><Your name><phv>,

<phv><email signature with your title, contact information, and links><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><name><phv>,

I'm the founder of <phv><xyz company><phv> and would appreciate an opportunity to meet with you to discuss our company's progress to-date, vision for become the market leader in <phv><abc market><phv> and how a funding partnership with <phv><123ventures><phv> can help take us there.

In short, <phv><xyz company><phv> is <phv><description here><phv>. We started the company because <phv><description><phv> and we've built a great team of <phv><# of employees><phv> to make it happen. So far we are happy with our start having <phv><# of customers><phv> on board representing <phv><current revenue amount or run-rate><phv>, but we know there is so much more opportunity ahead.

I am specifically interesting in talking with you because <phv><insert stuff about how you fit into their investment focus/stage focus/geo focus and/or insights on similar companies they've funded and/or positive things you've heard><phv>.

If you're up for it, I'd love to schedule a meeting to go deeper. At a minimum it should be an interesting conversation for us both.

Thanks for the opportunity,

<phv><Founder><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><Name><phv>,

Was nice meeting you at <phv><event name><phv>. We are raising a small funding round for <phv><startup name><phv> and would love to have a chat. Our goal is: develop <phv><x><phv> for <phv><y><phv>, using <phv><uniqueness><phv>.

Here is a teaser deck: <phv><link><phv>

We have soft commitments from: <phv><impressive name 1, impressive name 2><phv>
Our advisors are: <phv><Impressive advisor 1, Impressive advisor 2><phv>

How about a Skype call next week?

Regards,

<phv><Name><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><Andre><phv>,
Hope you’re well. My name is <phv><Peter Pan and I'm the CEO & Founder of Munich-based MoonshotVenture, a developer tools startup raising a €3m Seed round with €2m open for new investors.><phv>

I've been following your content for some time and feel that your experience with portfolio companies <phv><CoolCompany1><phv> and <phv><CoolCompany2><phv> would be highly relevant for us. I also spoke to our mutual friend <phv><GoodFriend><phv> and he shared your details for me to reach out. So here we go.

<phv><Problem A provides a $30bn market opportunity and is not yet served by incumbents like B or C because of x, y and z. Therefore, we have spun out and productized our research from university D,><phv> and launched our beta version last month via ProductHunt - it even became hunt of the day!

If this opportunity sounds interesting, feel free to pick a suitable slot for an intro call <phv><here><phv>
and let me know upfront if you have specific questions.

Thank you for your time,
<phv><Peter Pan><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><FirstName><phv>,

Were you interested in learning more about <phv><Company Name><phv>? All the details are in the email below, or you can reach out if you have any questions. 

<phv><Name><phv>

<phv><Contact Details><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><FirstName><phv>,

I wanted to let you know we’ll soon be closing this round of financing. We’ve currently raised <phv><amount><phv>, but it would be great to have you and your expertise on board as well. 

<phv><Name><phv>

<phv><Contact Details><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><FIRST NAME><phv>,

I’m the founder of <phv><Pied Piper><phv> and noticed <phv><Sequoia><phv> recently backed two enterprise software startups: <phv><Example #1><phv> and <phv><Example #2><phv>. We’re a enterprise software ourselves so I wanted to see if you’d be interested in backing us.

To give you some background, <phv><Pied Piper><phv> offers an enterprise compression algorithm that drastically reduces server costs for companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. We've already signed up 20 customers and received an LOI from Facebook. It’s only been a few months since our launch and we’re now looking to scale sales and marketing to accelerate growth.

Are you interested in learning more?

Cheers,
<phv><Richard><phv>

Hi <phv><FIRST NAME><phv>,

I’m the CEO of <phv><PiedPiper><phv> and I wanted to see if it's something your team is interested in backing. <phv><PiedPiper><phv> is a enterprise compression company, operates in more than 20 countries, and has over $500k in ARR.

Would you like me to send over more information?

Thanks,

<phv><Richard><phv>

Hi <phv><FIRST NAME><phv>,

We're raising our next round of funding for <phv><PiedPiper><phv> and I'm curious if we're a fit for your team. We offer a new compression solution aimed at drastically increasing storage capacity for data servers. Since our launch, we’ve generated over $500K in revenue and are seeing 5% growth month over month.

Are you interested in learning more?

Thanks,

<phv><Richard><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><FIRST NAME><phv>,

I’m the CEO of <phv><PiedPiper><phv> and I wanted to see if it's something your team is interested in backing. A little about us:

‍

- <phv><$500k in ARR><phv>

- <phv><Founding team has 2 successful exits><phv>

- <phv><PiedPiper is used in more than 20 countries><phv>

- <phv><We’ve received a LOI from Facebook and other major players><phv>

‍

Are you free sometime this week for a call?

Thanks,

<phv><Richard><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><FIRST NAME><phv>,

Just floating this to the top of your inbox. In case you missed my last email, <phv><PiedPiper><phv> offer compression software and has generated more than $1.5mm in revenue from 20+ customer since going to market.

Is this something your team might be interested in backing?

Thanks,

<phv><Richard><phv>

Hi <phv><FIRST NAME><phv>,

Friendly follow up. Just checking in to see if <phv><PiedPiper><phv> is a potential fit for your team’s portfolio. We’ve generated more than 500k in revenue to date and are now raising our <phv><series A><phv>.

Is this something your team is interested in?

Thanks,

<phv><Richard><phv>

‍

Dear Friends of <phv><Company><phv>,

Hope you are doing well! Here is a quick update from the last X weeks/month/quarter at the company.

Main Updates

<phv><Reminder: Underscore’s SaaS Metrics overview is here.><phv>

• Traction: We finished the last quarter at $XX ARR. Currently tracking at $XX and with the <phv><Customer><phv> season picking up again this quarter, we’re targeting higher growth for the rest of Q.
• New Customers: Added some great enterprise software logos: <phv><X Customer><phv>, <phv><Y Customer><phv>, <phv><Z Customer><phv>: and crossed X paying customers.
• Customer Love: Keeps on growing! New case studies and quotes on <phv><URL to Page><phv>. We are also on <phv><Rating Site><phv> now, trending strong at X/5.
• Burn & Runway: Still projecting cash runway until <phv><Month/Year><phv> assuming base case revenue growth.
• Team: We are now XX+ members strong. Really excited to have <phv><Name><phv> join as <phv><Title><phv> to help us <phv><Job Goals><phv>
• Customer Advisory Board: We are forming a customer advisory board of thought leaders and influencers in <phv><Industry><phv> – already 10 members strong.

Q3 Priorities

• Pipeline building remains the biggest GTM priority. We are actively working towards a free trial flow, and investing in ads and other salestech accelerants.
• Partnerships as a GTM channel is also something we are keen to experiment with this year. The <phv><Industry><phv> ecosystem is ripe for this – any suggestions here would be welcome.
• Our CS function is evolving to help us hit market leading NPS and NRR next year. We are now X member-strong and are building out motions for onboarding, success, and support to streamline customer ops.
• <phv><Customer Use Case><phv> is top of mind on the product side. We are working on some exciting products which will make doing <phv><Customer Use Case><phv> truly simple. More on this next month!
• Working towards doing a mini customer event in <phv><Month><phv> and a customer conference in <phv><Month><phv>.

Best ways to help are

1. Hiring recommendations for the <phv><Title w/ Link to Job Description><phv> role. Very important to close this.
2. Community Suggestions: We are looking to work with communities such as X, Y, and Z, where <phv><Customers><phv> hang out. Warm intros to any such community you know of would be helpful.
3. Advice on growth: Always looking for tactical advice on growth and partnership recommendations.
4. Warm intros: Can never get enough of ‘em. Anything especially at <phv><List of Companies><phv> would be great.
5. Customer Advisory Board: If you know any great <phv><Customer Role><phv> leaders who you think highly of, we would love to speak with them.
6. Use us: Many of our investors are using us for <phv><Use Case><phv>. It is a great way to know the product better and spread the word!

Thanks,

Co-Founders

‍

Hi everyone,

Hope you’re having a great summer so far. Here’s our monthly investor update.

But first, how you can help:

Does anyone know a good PR consultant? The holidays will be an awesome opportunity to get our message out to the media and other outlets that will be covering this.

July Summary

Highlights

• Closed our first 4-figure MRR / $35k ARR customer.
• We hired our first full-time Marketing Manager. <phv><Name><phv> comes to us from <phv><Company><phv> and starts this month.
• We’re now winning deals against major competitors (including <phv><Competitor><phv>, <phv><Competitor><phv>, and <phv><Competitor><phv>), onboarding larger brands such as <phv><Brand><phv>and won over a few previously churned customers last month. This signifies the investments we’ve made across product, sales, and support these last few months.

Financial

[Reminder: Underscore’s SaaS Metrics overview is here.]

• $X in the bank
• X total customers (+X% MoM)
• $XX Ending MRR  |  $XX Ending ARR  (+X% MoM)
• X months of runway, cash out date
• New sales bookings (% of target for month or quarter)

Product Updates

• We announced integrations with <phv><Product/Company><phv> and <phv><Product/Company><phv>.
• Launched a beta of our <phv><Product Feature><phv>.
• Expanded carrier support for numerous carriers throughout South America and Europe.
• Built integration with XYZ (not yet announced).

Challenges

MRR was a bit flat in July despite having a strong month in net new customers as we’re recovering a bit from last month’s churn and there’s a lag in reporting usage-based revenue, which will reflect in future months.

August Focus

We’re continuing to focus on:

• Building a great
• <phv><Product><phv> and officially rolling it out to all customers.
• Onboarding Marketing Manager – step on the growth pedal and prepare content and marketing campaigns ahead of <phv><Event><phv>.
• Preparing for our Q4 fundraise.

Happy customer quote of the month:

“XYZ”

Cheers,

Founders

‍

Investors,

June was a solid month where we continued to focus on transitioning to the new platform and shipping new features. Revenue decreased a bit in June, but many of the updates, launches, and features we shipped will lead to increased revenue in the coming months. Big things are happening in July already!

We also decided to delay the launch of our website/branding a few weeks longer, but we are very close. You’ll have another update there in a few weeks.

Business wins:

• <phv><Name><phv> is joining <phv><Company><phv> as our new <phv><Title><phv>. She’s coming over from <phv><Company><phv>, where she was <phv><Title><phv>
• Record number of applications for the month (XX)
• Signed X new client contracts
• Record number of API calls for the month (XX), up from XX in May
• Negotiated better contracts with X vendors to increase margins on <phv><Service><phv>

Product wins:

• Released <phv><Feature><phv> and <phv><Feature><phv> for <phv><Product><phv>
• Transitioned to a new design system, which will…
• Completed designs on new data analysis, which will…

Business losses:

• Did not hit the target for revenue ($XX), down to ~$XX, below target for the month
• X client launches pushed back to July
• Revenue fell from $X per <phv><Service><phv> to $X per <phv><Service><phv> due to new feature/product releases
• Average deal size decreased to $XX which was the 2nd lowest of the year

Product losses:

• Did not launch new branding
• Did not switch over to new website yet, will be doing this over the next couple weeks
• Delayed start of development of <phv><Feature><phv> to next month

Goals for July:

• Reach $XX in revenue
• Fill senior Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success roles

Asks:

• Still looking for great frontend and backend engineers
• We’d love to speak with anyone who is thinking about launching any kind of <phv><Service><phv> that requires any <phv><Industry Expertise><phv>

Reminder: <phv><Company><phv> does <phv><Boilerplate><phv>.

Onward,

Founder

‍

Hi <phv><name><phv>,

I hope all is well with you. As you know, I’ve been <phv><context: raising capital><phv>. I noticed that you’re connected to <phv><target name><phv> and was hoping that you could introduce us for <phv><reason><phv> if you feel comfortable doing so.

I’ve included an easy-to-copy blurb below, to provide context, but let me know if there’s any other information I can provide.

I appreciate your help!

<phv><Your name><phv>

‍

<phv><Greeting of choice><phv>

<phv><Statement that re-iterates the context in which we met or what we’re asking for><phv>

<phv><Reference to the contact we would like to be introduced to, reason behind why we're asking what we are><phv>

<phv><Closing question that clearly states what we're after, explains that we've made it as easy as possible to make the introduction, and something that appeals to their ownership over saying yes or no><phv>

<phv><Closing of choice><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><Nicky><phv>,

Pleasure meeting you today. I appreciated your questions around engagement and went through our data to get an answer on <phv>daily active users - we currently have 5,233 up from 789 six months ago<phv>. I’ve also attached our monthly cohort analysis, and our deck from the meeting.

I’d love to schedule another chat to review your questions. Would <phv><Oct 4 at 10am><phv> work for you?

Cheers,

<phv><Mike><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><Ajay><phv>,

Quick update here - we now have <phv><$700k spoken for out of the $1M><phv> target for this round with <phv><Sterling Road and Pear VC><phv> committing this week. We also just launched the MVP of our most requested feature: the iPhone app.

I would love to continue our conversation before the round closes, would <phv><2pm Oct 7><phv> work for you?

Cheers,
<phv><Mike><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><associate><phv>

I am a founder of <phv><insert company name><phv>.

I’m writing with a quick ask: My company sends out email updates on our progress and highlights when we hit key milestones, and I would be grateful if I could include you in the recipient list (which is always bcc’d).

I’d love for you to get to know our company early, before we start looking to raise money, as there could one day be a good fit for us to discuss a potential investment, based on my understanding of your fund’s thesis, sector, geo, and check size.

By way of background, we’re a <phv><location><phv>-based company that <phv><short description><phv>. We’re <phv><age><phv>, we’ve raised <phv><$><phv> in seed funding, and have <phv><most impressive result><phv>. Over the next few months we expect to <phv><ambitious, but achievable goal><phv>.

Would you please let me know if you have any objection to us sending you our update?

Best,

<phv><Your name><phv>

‍

Hi everyone.

It’s been a great <phv><quarter/month/etc.><phv> here at <phv><company name><phv>. Since our last update, our focus has been on <phv><thing 1><phv>, <phv><thing 2><phv>, and <phv><thing 3><phv>.

Key Results:

• <phv><key result 1, e.g., product advance><phv>
• <phv><key result 2, e.g., customer traction><phv>
• <phv><key result 3, e.g., financial milestone><phv>

This month, we’re focusing on <phv><new focus><phv>. Our goal is to <phv><goal><phv>.

The biggest challenges we’re dealing with right now are:

• <phv><challenge 1, e.g., technical challenge><phv>
• <phv><challenge 2, e.g., competitor just raised money><phv>
• <phv><challenge 3, e.g., customer request you don’t know to address><phv>

If you know anyone we should talk to about any of these issues, please reach out.

Until next time,

<phv><your name><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><Name><phv>,

You and I spoke a few years back. Now I'm starting the funding process for a new company, <phv><Your Company Name><phv>.

Briefly, <phv><Your Company Name><phv> is a simple solution for companies to manage sales and marketing presentations across the globe and across devices. Our current customers include NBC, HBO, Western Union, Hearst, DirectTV, and Dior. We are self-funded to date.

Can I send you our pitch deck?

Thanks,

<phv><Your Name><phv>

‍

Hey <phv><Michael><phv>,

My name is <phv><Tim><phv> and I’m building <phv><Twitch for cooking><phv>. I previously <phv><ran programming at the Food Network and my technical co-founder is a college friend><phv>. We’re working on our mvp and were wondering whether we should build out private messaging in addition to group chat or just group chat alone.

Thanks,
<phv><Tim><phv>

‍

‍

Hi <phv><Name><phv>,

I saw that you invested in <phv><Company X><phv>. First, congratulations! Second, it’s made me realize that we’d love to have you invest in <phv><Your Company><phv>, our <phv><SaaS platform><phv> for <phv><what your product provides><phv>.

<phv><We have a waitlist of over 25,000 people and are about to launch our beta version.><phv>

If you're interested I'd love to send you our pitch deck and schedule a meeting.

Thanks,

<phv><Your Name><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><Name><phv>,

I’m <phv><Name><phv>, CEO & Founder of <phv><Company X><phv>, a Metaprop portfolio company that <phv><builds computer vision software able to automatically identify gun threats and intruders with a high degree of accuracy. We’re currently working with one of the largest landlords in Manhattan to strengthen its security without investing in additional manpower><phv>. I’d love to chat about how phv><Company X><phv> can elevate your real estate ecosystem.

Quick facts:

• <phv><Bootstrapped $1 million><phv>
• <phv><10 million users in Manhattan><phv>
• <phv><Covering 5 billion square feet><phv>
• <phv><5-person team><phv>

Our deck can be found here: <phv><insert link><phv>. Would you be open to having an introductory conversation? I’d be happy to connect.

Best,

<phv><Your Name><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><REDACTED><phv>

I'm a second time founder (acq.) and engineer having worked in fintech, devtools and SaaS over at Lantern, LinkedIn, Dialpad and more.

My team and I built Archetype (https://archetype.dev), which allows developers and companies to publish and monetize APIs in minutes. We recently launched a beta a month ago and have a bunch of companies using Archetype.

Our key insight is that marketplaces suck and engineers hate spending months building the infra to monetize APIs.

We've gotten commits from founders at <phv><FAMOUS FINTECH><phv>, <phv><OTHER FAMOUS FINTECH><phv>, and folks like <phv><FAMOUS ANGEL><phv>.

I would love to share our insights in APIs and developer tools. What's the best way to chat?

Behailu

‍

Hello Team <phv><REDACTED><phv>,

I’m Erno, an experienced fintech founder from New York with a track record of building successful companies before - deep domain expertise in cash back. My co-founder Shlomi, has also a track record with exits and domain expertise in MarTech.

My last company gained $3B in gross transaction volume with over million merchants - I have deep industry insights - now we are building Benjamin Capital: “Banking made for merchant rewards” to help merchants get more customers and revenue while enjoying free fully-featured banking.

Highlights:

- Over 6,400 sign-ups to waitlist in less than 2 weeks 1 million merchants onboard, legacy from last company

- $55,000 investment reservations from friends in 5 days

- $50,000 investment from Expert Dojo accelerator, California

We are seeking pre-seed funding up to $1M, starting from $250k using SAFEs.

If you are interested, please get back to me and we can do a call!

Br,

Erno

‍

Hey <phv><REDACTED><phv>,

I am Fleuri, CEO of Ayanna. We help mobility entrepreneurs in Africa protect their business and grow their income by accessing a digital, instant smartphone financing solution.

Quick facts :

- The two-wheel ride hailing market is an $80B opportunity

- Kenya is our first market with 1 million of boda boda (motorcycles drivers)

- 100 smartphones sold with 90% repayment rate

- 10 000 drivers in the waiting list

- Signed partnership with Lami Insurance for smartphone and motorcycle insurances

- Ongoing partnerships with Bolt Africa and Uber Africa

Smartphone financing is the entry point. Our endgame is to become a super app with a lot of services (smartphone financing, 4G data bundles, insurances and equipment) for all mobility entrepreneurs in Africa.

I am raising a pre-seed round of funding at Ayanna so we can improve our solution, hire talents, sell more smartphones and propose new services.

Would you be open to having an introductory conversation ? I’d be happy to connect.

Best,

Fleuri

‍

Hi <phv><REDACTED><phv>,

I am Kenneth, CEO of Dasht (http://dasht.io/).

Dasht is a no-code business management platform for the growing number service-based SMBs & solopreneurs globally. Through our platform, current and budding entrepreneurs will be able to start, grow and operate their businesses all within Dasht.

We're integrating off-the-shelf SaaS functionality with no-code, to give entrepreneurs software that works for them while lowering the costs and inefficiencies of a large SaaS stack needed to run a service business.

Some details about us:

- Built & launched alpha in 2 months, and already in the hands of our first X alpha users,

- Waitlist of X registrants, purely by referrals and $0 on user acquisition,

- Experienced co-founding team of software operators, management and builder

We're raising an angel round to capitalize on our current momentum and positive feedback from our users. At the same time, we want to speed up development, which has been 100% done within the co-founding team thus far.

We are really excited at the prospect of speaking with yourselves, especially since we're building an ambitious product for a large market that is currently underserved in our opinion, which fits in well with <phv><REDACTED><phv>'s belief in taking on challenges with daunting odds.

We hope this has peaked your interest, and we look forward to showing you how Dasht will make starting and running a service business easier around the world.

Best,

Kenneth

‍

Hi there,

I wanted to reach out because we feel like a great fit for <phv><REDACTED><phv> - a B2B SaaS product with a technical founding team (one engineer and one PM who's used to being the most technical one on the product team).

- OnboardBuddy is a tool accessible to small- and medium businesses to easily bring new hires up to speed, with an emphasis not just on the "hard" onboarding (forms, trainings), but primarily on the "soft" (institutional knowledge, culture, team connections).

- We've signed our first few paid clients with engagements beginning 4/1/2022 after a successful pilot month with 5 small businesses

- Team is currently two senior full-stack engineers and one product-marketing-everything else person (me)

We'd love to discuss further if you're interested.

Thanks for your consideration,

Erik Silk

Co-Founder, OnboardBuddy

‍

Hi <phv><REDACTED><phv>,

We're Lettus Kitchens and we're building the largest distribution network of online food brands in Pakistan powered by food entrepreneurs and dark kitchens.

‍

Opportunity:

- 95%+ of all local/international food brands in Pakistan are concentrated in just 3/150 cities

- 120 cities in Pakistan still don't have a food delivery service

- Food verticals such as meal subscriptions/catering/plans are not digitized

- Pakistan is one of the most affordable countries in the world to launch a cloud kitchen i.e. just $22/sqft (equipment/fixtures included)

Our platform aims to improve the distribution of great food options across 100+ underserved cities of Pakistan where millions will experience food delivery for the first time.

‍

Lettus currently has 4 kitchens across 3 cities, with GMV growing 31% MoM.

The founding team consists of x-Careem AGM for Ridehailing and Food-delivery, two x-food entrepreneurs and an x-CTO of an online therapy platform.

We're raising $1M via a SAFE as part of a larger seed round to invest in more locations, tech and hiring.

‍

Looking forward to hearing from you,

‍

Bilal | Founder/CEO

Lettus build the future of food

‍

Hope you are well. Robert here, CEO and cofounder at RacketPal.

‍

RacketPal is the leading racket sports app that helps people find local sports partners, coaches, clubs, compete in local leagues and track their progress.

‍

Over the past months we’ve experienced an exponential growth (10X) in users reaching:

- 50,000+ users in London and Melbourne

- 30,000+ matches organised through the app

- 100,000+ chats between people

- 45% organic userbase

‍

Raising our seed round of £2m to build the largest and most engaged sports community in the world. £1m committed.

The 12 months plan is to reach 500k+ users while continuously focusing on engagement and retention.

‍

Would you be available for a quick intro call?

‍

Hi <phv><REDACTED><phv>,

‍

Trust all is well. We're currently in our Seed round of investment and see Versus Africa as a great fit with your investment thesis.

‍

Key Highlights:

- Techstars-backed company

- Raised over $950k to date

- Full product built and owned 100% by us. Patent (pending) & Trademark secured

- Soft launched product Aug 2021 & revenue generating

- Top brands from vast industries are paying customers: Arsenal F.C, Vodafone, Safaricom, GIZ.

‍

Please let us know if you need any further feedback on the investment opportunity. We have also included a link to our deck.

Look forward to hearing from you.

‍

Sincerely,

Kemdi Ebi

Co-founder/CEO Versus Africa

‍

Hello <phv><REDACTED><phv>,

We are building a B2B SaaS middleware platform to fill the huge gap in the BAU software market for 3rd party tools. I am a 3x Founder and have already secured our first major pilot reaching 1M customers.

Integrations have never been more critical to the distribution and usage of B2B SaaS. The problem is every single integration can take months and cost tens of thousands of dollars. We have built a platform that makes it 10x faster to launch 3rd party solutions to the B2B SaaS tools businesses use every day.

We are backed by Antler VC, and currently raising AU$600k SAFE note at $4M cap with 20% discount.

I understand you are looking for forward-thinking teams working on opportunities at the intersection of behavioral change. B2B SaaS technology is at the earliest stage of going through a massive transformation as the functionality decentralizes from core platforms. We are positioned really well to take advantage of this, and I look forward to tell you more exactly how.

Kind regards,

Matt - Founder, StackGo (https://stackgo.io)

‍

Hi <phv><REDACTED><phv>

My name is Paul, I'm the COO at Harba. We are modernizing the boating industry where 70% of marinas worldwide still rely on excel and cash type solutions. We are building the cloud based digital infrastructure to tap into the USD 230bn per year recreational boating industry.

We are market leaders in Denmark and have 160+ B2B customers (marinas) which brought us 27k+ users (boaters) in 19 countries.

We are now expanding further into the U.S. where we have competitive advantages and a great timing opportunity to dominate the market. Our B2B marina solution attracts boaters by the thousand almost cost free. We already have 3 paying marina customers in the U.S. and a local partner with a strong track record, we are ready to scale.

We are raising funds to deliver on our vision, I have attached a teaser deck and would be happy to send you more information or schedule a call.

Best regards,

Paul

‍

Hi <phv><REDACTED><phv>,

I am the co-founder of Bonded. We are a job marketplace that helps low income workers find jobs/gigs in less than 24 hours and get paid the next day hassle-free.

I came across No Such Ventures on OpenVC and loved the xy chart on your website. It sums up the industry very well.

‍

A few highlights from us:

- We have over 2 million candidates that made more than 8 million applications to 170,000 job listings from 130,000 companies. We are big on data.

- We are the market leader in Turkey and launched in Mexico where we plan to expand into the rest of Latam.

- Our revenue grew 4x last year despite the pandemic and we are set for another 4x growth this year.

- We have achieved PMF; $1 spent on marketing is $4 in revenue.

- We are raising $4 million to support our growth in EM.

‍

Me and my co-founder, we are missionaries set to change the future of work for the overlooked low income segment. We are confident that we would be a great fit for your portfolio.

We would appreciate it if we could have a short call to discuss the opportunity with you at your convenience.

‍

Many thanks for your interest.

Best,

Mert Yildiz

Co-founder, Bonded

‍

Hi Team <phv><REDACTED><phv>,

My name is Jarryd Faiers, I am co-founder of AOW (est. 2018) - Thailand's first quick-commerce company.

AOW is a Thailand-based B2C platform that offers delivery in 15 minutes, changing the way people shop by opening up new categories for on-demand access. We handle everything from fulfillment to logistics, which allows us to take a larger transaction fee of 25-35% and helps streamline costs so that we can offer free delivery. We sell a wide range of categories from FMCG to F&B, but our niche focus is on the rapidly growing healthy/organics space, where we are the local online market leader.

The current iteration of what we do is called q-commerce, where we operate hyper-localized warehouses that store products that we could then bundle for quick delivery.

We have spent the past few years building up key partnerships with leading brands while improving our cost of fulfillment to establish positive-unit economics, which we are looking to scale up across Thailand as we begin mass-marketing for the first time. As such, we are raising outside capital for the first time with a 2mn USD pre-Series A round at a 7mn pre-money valuation (50% already committed).

I look forward to hearing from you and appreciate your consideration.

Kind regards,

Jarryd Faiers

‍

Hello <phv><REDACTED><phv> team,

‍

I’m the Founder of crypto payment gateway Data Mynt, which:


1. Powers & embeds on-chain payments to & from all blockchains, all enabled wallets & all assets for traditional businesses and Metaverse builders alike;

2. Achieved $3mm volume & $90k revenue in last 2 quarters ($5mm revenue expected by end of year); and is

3. Launching in 100,000 merchants this year via distributor partnership.


‍

We raised $1.8mm pre-seed last year (including from Coinbase Ventures), have 40% of our seed round committed, & believe Expa might be a great fit to help & challenge us.

Are you free to meet in the next week?

‍

Thank you,

Alex Christian

CEO, DataMynt.com

Hi <phv><REDACTED><phv> team,

‍

My name is [REDACTED], our team is from Seattle.

- We buy Shopify brands, consolidate their supply chain, optimize and develop new marketing campaigns, and leverage economies of scale.

- We've built an online tool that Shopify merchants use to get a full cash offer from us for their stores in 24 hours.

- It's a data-powered multiplier that directly connects to the store via API.

- We have over 1,000 Shopify merchants on our waitlist.

- We're ex-Thrasio brand management & supply chain ops.

‍

It's a proven, profitable business model in the Amazon FBA space ($10bn valuation @ Thrasio), and we're joining a young and booming industry on the Shopify side of things.

‍

We're raising a $15m seed round to finalize our backend project management solution and deploy capital for further acquisitions.

If you're interested in a quick chat, I'd love to explain how I feel StoreCycle is a good fit for the Sapphire portfolio.

‍

<phv><REDACTED><phv>

Co-founder & CEO, <phv><REDACTED><phv>

‍

1. A nice personable message to start

We’re all human. It’s also great to hear the personal side of things too. Updates on life, family, Hobbies, etc.

2. Company Mission or short summary of who you are

Just to give your investors or prospective investors a refresher as to who you are and what your mission is.

3. Let’s get the financials out of the way (see FAQ if unsure)

1. What is your current revenue at the time of writing this update?
2. How much runway do you have left at the time of writing this update?

4. Core Growth metrics

Pick the top 3 core metrics that you track and add them in.

5. Updates

This section could be broken up into sub-sections based on your own preference. If you’re a smaller team that has made some team updates, you should show that. Any product or feature updates? What are your customers/users saying? Add them in. Operational updates? Of course!

6. What’s going well & what’s not going well

Here’s where you talk about all the great and not so great things going on with your business. Signed on a new customer? Awesome! Add it in. Hired a brilliant new machine learning engineer or Sales savant? In it goes.

It is also very important to add in what is not going so well. Here’s why:

1. It holds you and your team accountable
2. It shows that not everything is going well (because it most likely isn’t)
3. Investors empathise with that and can even offer additional support on the points that are not going so well.

7. Asks

Here is where you can ask your investors various things.

Do you need help to find more customers in the U.S? See if any of your investors know someone and can offer warm leads. What about knowledge of understanding how to properly remunerate your founding employees or new hires with ESOP? See if one of your investors knows.

At the end of the day, your investors are incentivised to help you make this work and be a success. They either personally know or know of someone who could help in some shape or form. Leverage that.

‍

Hey <phv><Name><phv>,

I would like to get in touch with <phv><Investor><phv>.

<phv><why we would be a good mutual match; eg, “He has an amazing track record and is a graduate of UC Berkeley, which is our client since a few weeks, and could be a great strategic fit with Funderful.”><phv>

A little about us:

<phv><include blurb here; see below an example><phv>

<phv><CTA, eg “Currently raising a seed and have 67% of the $750K round subscribed”><phv>

<phv>...<phv>

‍

Best,

<phv>name<phv>

‍

Hey <phv><Leo><phv>,

‍
I read post <phv><XYZ><phv> on your blog, and happened to notice that you invest in startups that are building interesting datasets. My company <phv><AutoAudit, is developing a tool that automates auditing of employee expense reports.><phv>

We've partnered with <phv><SomeAccountingStartup and are getting a ton of valuable expense report data, and our algorithm has already saved an estimated $750k for our 3 pilot customers! Because we get feedback on whether or not the expenses we flagged turned out to be fraudulent, our prediction models are becoming more and more accurate every day. One of our pilot customers is so excited that we're finalizing a $100k/year contract with them.><phv> I'd love to get your feedback on the product and see if there might be a good fit between <phv><AutoAudit and Susa Ventures><phv>. My one-pager is attached.

thanks!
<phv><Francine Founder><phv>

‍

Hi <phv><Name><phv>,

My name is <phv><Brett Fox><phv>. I am the CEO of <phv><Touchstone Semiconductor><phv>.

<phv><Touchstone is a high-performance Analog IC company (think Linear and Maxim) that achieves profitability with minimal funding.><phv>

The founding team, including the design team, are alumni of <phv><Maxim><phv>. The designers average over 20 years of experience.

We have a term sheet from a very good VC on Sand Hill Road, and we are looking for an additional investor. Please let me know how you would like to proceed.

Best regards,

<phv><Brett Fox><phv>

‍