How to write a great investor newsletter
If you haven’t been writing a newsletter to your investors, you’re missing out on a HUGE opportunity.
Why is this important? Two main reasons.
- It’s critical to keep your existing investors engaged – Plus make important asks when you need support.
- It’s a crazy effective fundraising tool – Add prospective investors to your list, keep them looped in, and convert them into investors later.
In the latest episode of Uncapped Notes, we walk through a stellar investor newsletter.
🔥 If you want to see the full template, go to this link and use it as inspiration for your own newsletter.
What’s inside an investor newsletter
The introduction
Eric likes to add a bit of humanity at the top of his newsletters.
This usually means sharing an update on what's going on with the team or his own life. It's a nice way to show everyone you're a team of good human beings.
Executive summary
Next, Eric recommends including an executive summary.
This should consist of the most important items, like:
- Major news (positive and negative)
- Top line review numbers
- Growth metrics
- Key hires
Not every investor will read the entire newsletter. This executive summary gives them the tl;dr of what’s most important.
Company description and key asks
Yes, founders should “repitch” their company again.
Believe it or not, investors sometimes forget what they invested in. Or prospective investors on your list need a quick refresher on what you do.
A short summary to remind folks of your mission and what you do is beneficial for everyone.
Next, include your key asks. These are areas you could use help.. like hiring, coaching, or fundraising advice.
Investors want to help you but don’t always know how.
This section makes it easy for them to reply, “I know somebody at Stripe! Let me connect you to them now,” or “I have a recommendation for an executive coach. Here’s their website.”
Goals and highlights
Investors like to see founders set clear milestones and reflect on past goals. Short bullet points are perfect.
This is called the highlights section.
The highlights section helps investors better understand what the founders are going through.
Like in the section On revenue (in the photo), it’s totally ok to say, “We set this goal. We didn’t really make it. But this is what our projections look like now and the lessons that we’ve learned.”
Final stats
It can be helpful to reiterate some important metrics again toward the end of the newsletter.
Founders don't need to include a final stats section every time. But if there’s a massive milestone you want to emphasize, include that here.
Thank yous
It’s possible to train people to read a specific section of your newsletter by giving them a chance to see their own name listed.
In our Hustle Fund investor newsletter, we sometimes give a dozen shout-outs to people who have helped us in the previous month. People often read all the way to the end to see if they’re listed.
This is also a subtle name-dropping element.
Including the people who have helped you gives everyone a sense of the community you’re surrounding yourself with. This can also potentially FOMO people into helping you as well.
Bonus tip: Offer times for scheduling meetings with you
Last but not least, consider adding a link where prospective investors can schedule a call with you. This investor newsletter is essentially a drip campaign, but for fundraising.
These monthly newsletters show prospective investors all the work you’re doing, along with a progress report of how it’s going.
So when it’s time to raise money again, you have the opportunity to include a Calendly link and say something like,
“Things are going great. We're thinking about doing a little round with our insiders first before we raise something bigger. Here's my Calendly link if you want to schedule time.”
If you've done your work well, you're going to see a lot of people schedule a meeting with you.
Key takeaways
Phew! That was a lot. Let’s review.
Be consistent
Consistency is paramount. Whether it's once a month or once a quarter, you want the folks on your investor newsletter to get used to hearing from you at a regular cadence.
Newsletters create FOMO for investors
Newsletters can be a way to slowly pitch your company over time.
And it works.
At Hustle Fund, investors who have passed on us have turned around and said yes because of our newsletters.
If someone says no to you on an investment, invite them into the newsletter anyway. You might find that over time you’re able to land them as an investor.
BTW: To see a video breakthrough with Eric and Janel, watch the full episode of Uncapped Notes. To see the newsletter template in its entirety, go to this link.
