23 days to go: re-engaging with investors & focussing on customer acquisition
A recap of week twenty nine as a full-time Founder.
Hey there 👋🏾,
For those of you who are short on time, here are the sections of the newsletter you can skip ahead to…
Win🏅: Movement with 2x Angels and warm intro’s on the horizon
Loss🤕: Conversations with investors slowed down as automations stopped
Lesson💡: Why you should collect reviews & testimonials from day 0
Hacks 💥: How to re-engage with investors who have gone quiet (with 3x email templates)
Resources 📚 : 18x investor lists, equity calculator and accelerator applications
✨ My Ask
Before we get into this week’s update, I’d love to get your feedback. Either leave a text or video testimonial to let other people know what you think of the 240 Days newsletter and podcast. Thank you in advance for your feedback and support 🙏🏾
🎯 Objective
Re-engage with investors & acquisition via The Mane Cut
Last week was busy as I had not one, but two podcasts going live back to back 😅 and channelled a lot of energy into re-engaging with investors that have either shown an interest in Mane Hook-Up or I sought warm introductions to people who are a great fit.
Plus, as we’re in the final three weeks of the countdown, I’m thinking about what to do when the clock gets to 0 (don’t worry, there are no spoilers here 😉). But in all seriousness, while this has been far from easy, I do feel like a better Founder after two months of preparation and five months of raising. Over the next few weeks, I’ll think of ways to summarise and distil the most valuable lessons I’ve learned.
As always, I appreciate feedback, so feel free to leave comments or reply to this email with your thoughts.
P.S. Next week, you’ll get to listen to the second episode of The Raise! I’ll send my next fundraising update in a couple of weeks.
🔋 Progress recap & highlights
Biggest wins
WIN 1️⃣: Positive movement with 2x Angel conversations, warm intro’d to a small fund + 2x warm intros promised💰
Now that I’m mainly maintaining relationships and going through processes with investors, most of my updates will shed light on where we are with each conversation and what questions investors are asking. Here’s what happened last week:
Questions that are coming up on repeat 🔁
What will the revenue model look like?: Given we’re pre-revenue, this is to be expected. I get the impression investors want to see how long it will likely take us to start generating revenue from the platform and how well we’ve thought this through.
When do you expect to reach X revenue?: Some funds will have an ideal revenue number for a start-up to hit before they’re willing to bet on them. Or, they’re trying to see if you have forecasted a reasonably far ahead into the future. Either way, this requires a financial model and I firmly believe that all pre-seed businesses should have one, even if the numbers are based on some guestimation right now.
Conversation progress⏩
Angel 1: Has offered to make warm introductions and support with a syndicate. We’re making some tweaks to our financial model together and then they will begin to share across their network.
Angel 2: Conversations have slowed down as they’ve been busy travelling but we recently reconnected and I’m waiting to hear more about the next steps.
Angel 3: After completing their application process, they notified me that we are through to the next stage and we’re now waiting on the follow-up questions.
Fund: We initially connected just after Easter, and booking a second call has been challenging. After following up every 7-10 days, I have a call scheduled this week.
Warm introductions🔥
1x made by a VC partner to a micro fund.
2x have been offered via a Founder in my network, including an introduction to one of our top five investors.
1x postponed as a Founder is still building their relationship with the investor that we’d like to speak to (I may go for cold outreach instead).
Overall, it’s been a positive couple of weeks, even if the volume of conversations has been lower than usual. I can see that investor calls come in ebbs and waves.
It’s clear that the automations genuinely made a difference to the number of calls booked as that’s slowed since the last batch stopped running. There are weeks where I will be swamped with calls and others where it feels like crickets, but neither scenario tells me how strong my investor pipeline is. It all comes down to relationships in the end, so my focus now is on building and maintaining a strong foundation with all of the investors I speak to.
TIPS FOR BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH INVESTORS: Ask for advice in areas of the business that they specialise in and share regular monthly updates. This gives you a chance to have conversations with investors about more than just money. It also gives them an insight into what you're like as a Founder (which is a bonus). WIN 2️⃣: I got some fundraising advice from Founders 🤔
Speaking to Founders who have already raised (especially in this climate) gives me a chance to learn a lot from people who have been there and done it before. While I’ve been very fortunate to speak to a few Founders through The Raise, there are many people in my network that have reached out to freely offer their advice.
Here are the best tips I’ve received in the past few weeks.
Ask for advice, not money, and you will probably get both 💁🏾♀️: Interestingly, this is not the first time I’ve heard this, and it works. Having been in situations where I have asked for advice, and been able to explain what Mane Hook-Up does (without it being a hard sell), I’ve found this has opened the doors to conversations about funding. It’s worth remembering that you don’t always have to be talking about money to sell the future that your business will create.
Don’t be too British about it — create some FOMO 😱: “We are going to do this with or without you”, that’s the feeling I was told to create when speaking to investors. No one wants to feel like they’re about to miss out on the next big thing, so it’s my responsibility to make people feel like this is a one-way train to success. Not an easy change to make when you tend to lean into being modest, but it’s necessary.
Your time is precious, so remember to set boundaries with investors too 🚧: Angel investors and funds have their processes to assess whether Founders are the right fit. But, if someone has you wrapped up in a process for months that, arguably, isn’t a good use of time. Having experienced this already, it was good to be reminded that I also need to apply pressure on investors for decisions to be made in a reasonable time frame.
All sound advice that I’ll bear in mind as I speak to more people. I’d love to know if you would add anything to the list. Feel free to mention them in the comments!
TIP FOR SPEAKING TO FOUNDERS: Fundraising or not, Founders are always pretty busy. If you want to be nudged to the top of their priority list, look for a warm intro and come to the call prepared with questions that will help you to move forward. Also, remember that Founders can make great advisors if there's some cross over between your industry and theirs. So look for opportunities to get their support in the long run. WIN 3️⃣: The first episodes of The Mane Cut and The Raise have gone live 🎙️
Releasing two podcasts at the same time has been a ride (some would call me mad, I call it wild optimism 😆).
Both The Raise and The Mane Cut have gone live, been downloaded over 200+ times in the first two weeks and led to a 5% increase in sign-ups. This is great as it suggests people appreciate the content we’re creating.
It’s been great to support two communities that I love and provide them with insights that they may not be able to get elsewhere.
As these have both been in the works for the past few months, there are already some things I’ve learned along the way:
Having a process for meeting guests will make or break an episode: I made the mistake of booking a few guests without having a quick call with them first. This made it a bit challenging to come into the podcast with the best possible questions. So, I’ve changed this process and now have a 20-30 min chat with guests before booking them in for the podcast to information gather and learn more about their story.
Some guests need support to open up and be themselves: Some guests are really open during our private chat and need some warming up when we’re recording the podcast. To tackle this, I’m adding some buffer time so we can have a quick chat before recording to help everyone feel relaxed.
Time makes me a better host: I’ve recorded about 13 episodes (for both podcasts) and each time I do so, I become a better host. Whether it’s steering the conversation or asking questions that give people the answers they really need, each recording leaves me feeling better and more well-prepared, which is a win.
And, for anyone who has feedback on the first episode or has some amazing Founder to recommend for future episodes, just reply to this email with your suggestions.
TIPS FOR CONTENT LAUNCHES: Any recurring piece of content is a huge undertaking. Don't do it alone. I have 2x interns and video editor helping me with both The Mane Cut and The Raise. Do your best to create a team who can help you make each issue or episode a successful one. WIN 4️⃣: Created the prototype for our new platform👩🏽💻
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that we’re moving Mane Hook-Up to low code. The team have since deep-dived into the platform and begun to map out exactly what needs to be built and how.
I designed and built a prototype to help us get there a bit faster. It’s nothing fancy, but it goes a long way to helping us build Mane Hook-Up more efficiently.
We’re now starting to divide and conquer, with myself and our Head of Product working on the customer journey and two of our Advisors supporting with the build. While building may not take too long, we also need to map out how long it’ll take to add our first 100 stylists too.
TIPS FOR PLANNING PRODUCT CHANGES: If you don't have a designer (freelance or in-house), the next best thing is building a prototype in a tool that's inexpensive and easy to use. WIN 7️⃣: Automations update 🤖
Similarly to last time, our current automations started to pick up once the third email was sent to investors.
Performance so far
💃🏾 42 people added to automations
📧 233 people have opened my emails (50% open rate)
🖱️ 32 clicks on our pitch deck (6% of opens)
↩️ 21 people have replied so far (4% of opens)
I’ve also found some great investor lists on LinkedIn over the past few weeks and will be launching some automation specifically for them. More on that in the next newsletter!
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Biggest L’s 🤕
LOSS 😩: Conversations with investors have slowed down as automations stopped
There are weeks where I’ve been rushed off my feet, praying for an extra 3-4 hours to be added to the day. But last week was the opposite… much slower with investor conversations and, while I did have a chance to breathe, it felt like a loss after weeks of heavy momentum.
I’m itching to spend more time on the product and the more time I spend on the round, the longer it takes to be 100% committed to building. So, a slow week can feel pretty inhibiting.
That said, I’ve realised that:
Automations play a huge part in maintaining my investor pipeline: At best I had 3x calls a week coming via cold outreach, which meant I could take calls with very little effort into searching for investors. That said, there is an easy way to turn this around by getting more email lists (which is already a work in progress).
The process isn’t as simple as input = output: A full pipeline of investors does not necessarily mean a higher volume of commitments coming through. I’ve had weeks where I have spoken to one person and that led to a commitment vs. weeks I speak to three people and had none. It’s all about finding people who are the right fit and align with our mission.
Quiet weeks give me more time to focus on the product and community: With stylist interviews to conduct and prototypes to build, the moments I have fewer calls can be spent on other important areas of the business. So, it’s not a total loss.
Even bearing the above in mind, I still felt a little low, but that’s also part of the process. The most important thing is picking myself up and dusting myself off to make sure the next few weeks count.
TIP FOR MAKING SLOW WEEKS PRODUCTIVE: If you're fundraising, there are probably 101 things on your to-do list. When investor conversations slow down slightly, use this as an opportunity to get other things done. That newsletter that needed to be sent? Draft it. That project that needed to be planned? Jump into it. You won't get many moments like this, so use them to your advantage. 💡 Lessons learned
Quote of the week
“The customer's perception is your reality.”
— Kate Zabriskie
LESSON 👩🏾🏫: Collect reviews & testimonials from day 0
Social proof is everything.
Most people are pretty risk-averse and don’t want to be the first ones to try a product or service. That’s why it’s important to collect customer feedback, reviews and testimonials as soon as you can. Giving potential customers or clients the reassurance that your product isn’t a new thing to be tested puts you in a position of strength.
I’ve only started integrating reviews into the customer journey for Mane Hook-Up and I regret not doing it sooner (especially as we’ve had some stellar ones along the way). The important thing to remember is it’s never too late to start and there are plenty of great tools you can use for free like Google Business, TrustPilot, Senja and Bonjoro.
Here are some instances that you should probably ask people for a review:
After an event (online or in-person) 🎟️: the buzz of an event can go as quickly as it was gained, so sending a message out the next day will increase your chances of getting a review from attendees.
When they’ve given you positive feedback without you asking 🌟: if a client or customer just feels like sending you a message that sings your praises, ask them to post the same comment on your review platform. At this stage, they probably just have to copy/paste their text over, which minimises the effort for them.
When they’ve been a customer for 30+ days 🗓️: Creating an automated email journey that requests reviews and feedback from customers after 14-30 days is a good way to gather reviews steadily over time without having to think about it.
When you’ve identified a super user or super active community member 💪🏾: active customers and community members are far more likely to go out of their way to help you and the business. Spend some time identifying who they are and build long-term relationships with them so you’re in a position to request a video testimonial or case study.
So, whether you’ve been working on your start-up for three days or three years, make it a priority to speak to your customers and gather their feedback so you can share that publicly as it’ll go a long way to breaking barriers with new customers and markets.
And, if you’re nervous about collecting reviews because you’re not sure how customers feel… do it anyway. There’s no sense in running away from an outcome that you’ll probably get to eventually. Get the feedback now as there are probably nuggets of gold in there that will help you take your product to the next level.
TIP FOR CHOOSING THE RIGHT REVIEW SYSTEM: This really comes down to the type of product you're building and how customers typically find you. E.g. B2B platforms may be better off using G2 or Capterra. Know there's a high search volume for your brand? Google Reviews or Trustpilot is a great option. You can also get a sense of what platform to use based on where your competitors are. 💥 Hack of the week
How to re-engage with investors who have gone quiet (with email templates)
Anyone who has done investor outreach knows the pain of having someone who’s super engaged suddenly go quiet.
Whilst silence isn’t necessarily an indication of disinterest — it pays to remember that investors are people, with families, lives and other things to crack on with — all Founders want clarity. With clarity, we’re equipped to do the right thing for both parties and that means either continuing the conversation or bringing it to a close.
From my experience, three types of messages stimulate some kind of response from potential investors: an update, a question of interest, and a deadline.
Below are message templates that you can use for these different scenarios.
The Update
Updates are a great way to re-engage, especially when there’s been some significant progress. That way, you can jog their memory — in a positive way — and jump back into a conversation.
Hi [Name],
I hope you and the team are doing well.
Just a quick follow-up — there have been some developments on our side with [X change] that I’d love to share. We’ve managed to hit [goal 1] since our last conversation as well. Let me know if you’re free to discuss this in the next couple of weeks as we can already see this having an impact on our raise.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best,
[Name]
Question of Interest
This is a great email to send if you’re unsure how an investor or fund feels about your business. I’d recommend sending this if you’re also concerned about following up too often. Whether it’s a yes or a no, you will at least have the answer you need.
Hi [Name],
Hope you're doing well.
I can imagine you're super busy, but it would be great to arrange our next call.
I also don't want to risk bothering you with too many messages if you/the fund are unsure whether we would be a good fit. Regardless, we’re always looking for opportunities to improve so please let me know if you have any feedback on our product and/or the deck.
Have a great week and looking forward to hearing from you.
Best,
[Name]
A Deadline
Finally, if you’re trying to wrap things up and people aren’t getting back to you quickly enough, create a sense of urgency with a deadline. Only use this when you plan to commit to the deadline (not just to put pressure on people).
Hi [Name],
I hope you're well -- it was great catching up on [day/date].
As we’re keen to wrap up conversations with investors in the next [X] weeks, we’re giving everyone until the [day/date] to get back to us with final details and commitments (giving our team plenty of time to get the administrative work done too).
Let me know if you have any questions.
Best,
[Name]
The main thing to remember with investor comms is… don’t take it personally. As challenging as it can be, remember this is all part of the process and (the further along you get in your journey) the less painful these interactions become.
Give me a shout if you have any questions about these templates — I’m always happy to help where I can!
📚 Resources
If you made it all the way to the end of this newsletter, you deserve a reward. So here’s a list of the best resources I came across last week to help you with your raise.
Fundraising
18 investor lists: Kevin Jurovich shares several lists of VCs and Angels for founders to use. Not all of them come with email addresses, but very helpful if you’re using LinkedIn as an outreach tool.
$100,000 accelerator opportunity: Praxis 2025 Business accelerator program applications are now open. Get yours in by the 22nd of May.
Salary equity calculator: Asif Ahmed shares a handy benchmark for the amount of equity employees should get at different stages of the journey.
General advice
Clear home page product positioning: Creating an incredible product is one thing, but making sure the message resonates with your customers is another. Anthony Pierri shares some great actionable advice on how to create a home page that wins customers over.
🧰 Founder’s toolbox
Anyone who knows me knows that I love finding tools, apps and systems to add to my arsenal. Here’s a list of the best tools that I found last week.
Senja: collect, manage and share testimonials
What’s it for: Senja is a reviews and testimonial collection tool. You can use it to gather text and video feedback from customers and then share them as a form of social proof.
How it helped: I’m starting to collect feedback from stylists and customers alike. We also have some reviews on other platforms like Google Business and TrustPilot. Instead of losing these reviews by moving to another platform, Senja pulls them all into one place with ease.
Price: Free (for up to 15 testimonials) and then starting from $19 a month.
Questions? 🤔
Feel free to drop any questions in the comments below! Until next week,
J x
P.S. Here are some of my other posts:
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