TBC: The Human Side of Investor Relationships

TBC131: Are Relationships Only for Business?

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[00:00:04] Jason Yeh: Hey there. Welcome to another episode of the Back Channel. In today's episode, I wanna pull apart a word that gets thrown around a lot within fundraising and sort of business overall. It's a word that I think people instinctually know. Instinctually, instinctively. Instinctively, no. Is important for fundraising, but people often don't double click and really understand why.

[00:00:31] In fact, I think people get the wrong impression of why this word is important. The word I'm talking about is relationship. I hear a lot of people react to the idea of, wow, this founder, Jason had a relationship with this investor. That really changed the game when it came to his fundraise. In fact, I hear a lot of people, or at least observe people, have a distaste or turn their nose up at the fact that, oh, there's a [00:01:00] relationship there and this person got a deal done because of relationship.

[00:01:05] Right. And when I see that happen, I know that maybe part of that, that part of that distaste is. Understandable, but most of that is just a complete misunderstanding of what relationship is. They believe that there's a relationship there and because of the relationship there is, um, something's overlooked or a bar is lowered or some kind of backdoor that got them into a deal.

[00:01:29] Um, and what I think it's missing is really the core of what people need to understand. Relationships are relationships and why. It extends to more business being done and fundraising, running smoother is that the, the core of a relationship has to do with the building of trust. Okay? And just because there's a connection or a touch point doesn't mean you have a good relationship or a trusting relationship that will ease and accelerate any business [00:02:00] deal or any fundraise.

[00:02:01] But when you say there is a relationship in place that has impacted it, then you can assume that there is some kind of trust built there. And when you think about relationships and what it all actually comes down to is that a, a relationship in place kind of means that there has been additional time spent between two people and with additional time.

[00:02:26] A lot of stuff can happen. More time can be spent understanding someone's business, understanding the story where it doesn't have to be consumed in a 30 per a 32nd blurb or a 32nd soundbite, and then. Excitement be created, that over time you can learn more about something and get excited about. It also means spending more time with an individual and uncovering some of the special qualities with someone not needing to do that.

[00:02:53] In between pitch notes, in between slides, in a first call over Zoom, [00:03:00] and these are the two important things that. You have to realize that relationships add to when it comes to a fundraise process.

[00:03:09] There are a ton of easy to make mistakes when growing a startup. I feel like I've either made them all myself or seen them all as an advisor and investor. One super common one is waiting too long to bring in expert help around managing company finances. I get why that happens though. You're not a tiny company anymore, but you feel like you're not big enough to have an in-house finance team and don't wanna waste money.

[00:03:32] My advice to you is to avoid the mistake of just winging it. This is not a time to fake it till you make it. At least talk to someone early so that you can hear about how the additional help could actually save you money and improve your operations. If you're looking for recommendations on who to talk to, check out Propeller Industries.

[00:03:50] They've worked with hundreds of venture to growth stage startups, so have a ton of deep knowledge to help you avoid major bumps and set your company up for success. [00:04:00] Whether it's talking to investors or planning for future growth. Set up a free call by going to funded pod.com/propeller. That's P-R-O-P-E-L-L-E-R.

[00:04:11] And tell them we sent you, they're giving funded listeners a one-time $2,500 new client credit if you work with them for three months.

[00:04:19] And so because of all of that, I think when we take a step back with this context around what is relationship and what, why is it important?

[00:04:27] When you think about the idea of building a relationship, people are always always asking me, well, how do I network with an investor? How do I network with this person? And people often jump to the idea of, well, how can I be helpful? I wanna try to be helpful for these people before I make an ask. And yes, that is a, that is a, a move that can be made that allows someone to create some re reciprocity and wanting to, you know, maybe help them in advance or help them back in, in a, in a future interaction.

[00:04:55] But what I think it overlooks is the value of [00:05:00] non-business generating relationships. Non-business focused relationships. We often think about this idea that kids just kind of like the other kids that they see playing with them on the playground. Kids will generate trust, will will sort of build trust and start liking other people that they get to play with.

[00:05:24] And that is an instinct that is not just. Confined to kids. In my opinion. It's just something that we overlook and forget. It's something that I think as an adult, we should all lean into a little bit more. In fact, some of my most valuable relationships have been people that I've met on the basketball court, at business school, people that I played golf with, people that I've gone out to dinners with, who certainly have become great.

[00:05:54] Relationships are great people to know within the business world, but that's not how I [00:06:00] started spending time with them, build rapport with them, started doing things we really enjoy. So as part of this episode, my, my encouragement is to find people in the networks that you want to get more deeply involved with, that you want to extend some kind of connectivity into.

[00:06:19] When we think about fundraising, it's, it's, it's people with connections, it's investors, et cetera. But think about those people and,

[00:06:24] and

[00:06:25] Jason Yeh: how could we even meet them under the context of having fun or enjoying something. That will really be about be able to drive your relationship forward.

[00:06:34] And now that's not something that means that all of a sudden you're going to target very specific people that might be an investor in your company and think, oh, if I have dinner with them, or if I invite them to play tennis with me, or if I meet them at a workout, then all of a sudden that's gonna turn into an investment.

[00:06:51] That's not how we should think about it. It should be thought of as the basis for maybe creating a relationship with someone who in the future could be a [00:07:00] champion. It could be someone that may be invest in you, but maybe just says something nice about you and puts their support behind you as they make an introduction to another investor.

[00:07:10] Okay, so this is the backdrop of relationship that I think is important for everyone to understand. And also the segue into talking about a project that I've been working on, something that I call capital interests. Okay. Capital interest is my company and my teams work around building databases and lists of investors organized not by the things that people naturally do, which is okay, uh, what are the industries that they invest in, what are their strategic thesis and, um, strategic organization around investing?

[00:07:44] What are their check sizes, et cetera, but instead saying. Who are the investors that are all into this passion? Who are all the investors that I could potentially invite out to paddle out, to go surfing, to fill out my foursome on the golf course to go to a cooking [00:08:00] class with, to go watch UVA basketball with?

[00:08:04] And these are the lists that I think are really interesting relationship. Builders. Um, and it's a project that I wanna work on to help create more conconnectivity and more community with the investing and startup communities. So I hope you go check it out. It's on our website, adm t.com, and we'll talk a lot about it on my social media.

[00:08:23] But look for us talking about capital interests and aada mentee.com/capital interests. All right. Thanks so much. I hope you enjoyed this awesome opportunity to think about relationships and build it, and I'll see you on another episode of the Back channel. ​

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