Follow-Up or Fade Away
How many opportunities have you missed because you didn't follow up?
Do you ever wish to go back in time and smack some wisdom into your former self?
There's one skill I wish I had mastered from the start of my entrepreneurial journey—the art of following up. Now, I know it doesn't sound as glamorous as being charismatic or having strategic thinking, but let me tell you, it's the secret sauce of entrepreneurial success. Following up is how you wiggle your way back into someone's busy mind, grab their attention, and get shit done!
The power of following up became crystal clear to me while working closely with the CEO of Medal.tv, Pim de Witte. I was Medal.tv’s COO following the acquisition of my company Megacool.
Pim was a master of relentless follow-ups, using them to maintain momentum and create urgency in fundraising and partnership conversations. We made it a rule to follow up within 24 hours, even if we didn't have all the requested material. We'd hammer it out and send it off at lightning speed.
If we didn't promptly hear back, we'd follow-up. Not just once. We followed up again and again. Each time, we'd include additional relevant information to keep the deal moving forward. This could be answers to other investor questions, mentioning if we were expecting a term sheet, dropping some positive metric growth, or announcing an exciting hire.
And it worked. We raised over $60m while working together!
If you look at this from the investors' perspective, they are looking for founders who will work hard and smart on billion dollar problems. The tenacity of follow-up is a great way to filter out the talkers from the doers.
As an entrepreneur, you are evaluated from the first interaction and all the way. They constantly ask themselves: is this the person with enough grit and perseverance who will make it? And if you don't follow through on your commitments in a timely manner … strike, and you're out!
Following up is at the core of any relationship building, which is essential for sales. Yes, I said it—sales! Even if you cringe at the word, as an entrepreneur, you're always selling. You have to convince investors to believe in your company, motivate potential employees to take a leap of faith in you and entice customers to recognize the value of your product and start paying for it.
Before moving to the US to start Megacool, I thought I was decent at following up. Little did I realize that my politeness from growing up in Norway was getting in the way.
"Oh, they are probably too busy," "Timing is probably not right," or "They will probably remember to get back to me in the future…"
And I wasn't alone in this struggle. I saw it in other Nordic entrepreneurs too. We are burdened by our secret cultural pact of not bothering others unnecessarily.
After surrounding myself with extremely successful entrepreneurs, I realized that valuable follow-ups aren't viewed as noise. No, my friend, they're the fuel that propels you forward and gets things done. It was a wake-up call—I had so much more to learn, and I needed to set aside my polite Nordicness.
So here's some wisdom I'd smack myself with if I could go back to the start of my entrepreneurial journey and now instilled in everyone I work with:
Investors. If an investor asks you how you'll become a billion dollar company and you don't know the answer? You figure it out, and you follow up within 24 hours. Get help from others if you have to.
Mentors. You connect with a potential mentor at a networking event. Instead of leaving it at a fun drunken conversation about balancing entrepreneurship and family life, you suggest a coffee meeting in the next two weeks to dive deeper into their industry expertise.
Support. A user reports a bug or proposes a new feature. You immediately respond, thanking them for reaching out and acknowledging their concern/opportunity. Once you have a fix or solution, you personally follow up with the good news and thank them for their patience. This is the best way to drive retention from churned users!
Team members. You've had a 1:1 meeting with a report and said you would follow up with answers to their stock option plan questions. You follow up within the next day. This shows that you take your team members' concerns seriously and understand that uncertainty for a team member is a huge productivity loss.
Conferences. After attending a conference, you promptly email a follow-up to the good speakers to express your gratitude, acknowledging the wisdom they shared and how it impacted your perspective.
Customers. You email a potential customer but have not heard back within 3-4 days. You follow up with them to verify that they received your email and to answer any questions they may have. This shows that you're organized and that you're committed to clear communication.
Introductions. Someone made an intro for you to a potential customer/investor. Once you've had the meeting, you follow up with the one making the introduction to thank them and briefly summarize the value of the meeting. This makes that person 100% more likely to proactively make introductions for you in the future. Today, I only see ~1/25 intros closing the loop like this.
Pitching competition. You participate in a pitching competition. In the aftermath, you follow up with the judges, thanking them for their time and requesting feedback to refine your presentation skills further. You also connect with them on LinkedIn with a kind note.
You plant a seed with each of your follow-ups. It's compounding for you. You remain top of mind.
Here are a few best practices for following up effectively:
Think in halflife of opportunities. Follow-ups must be prompt because each passing day dims our presence in their memory. To keep the opportunity alive, follow up quickly and repeatedly. But it's not about throwing a sheep and leaving it at that. Generally, I follow up on day 3, 7, and 14 when seeking a response. If I still haven't received a reply, I reach out again whenever I have valuable updates or information to share.
Be specific. Don't just send a generic email. Be specific about what you're following up on, what you hope to achieve, and a new valuable nugget of wisdom they would benefit from.
Be personal. Reference something you know about them. This shows that you're interested in the other person and not just sending out a mass email.
Be positive. Always follow up in an upbeat tone. This will help you leave a good impression on the other person.
Some additional tricks to leverage this as your superpower:
Use a CRM with an email drip campaign feature to send out customer emails.
Use your email clients’ "remind me" on emails you send out. They will automatically return to your inbox at the set date if there's been no reply in between.
When connecting on LinkedIn, always include a note about how you met them.
Use a task manager and tag tasks with "waiting-for".
Schedule one hour each week to review:
Outstanding follow-ups and "waiting-for" s.
Your calendar and send thank you emails to anyone who made introductions for the events to happen.
Your meeting notes and recent new LinkedIn connections for forgotten follow-ups and act on them.
In a world where attention spans wane and commitments easily fall by the wayside, those who master the art of following up stand out. By embracing this seemingly small but significant skill, you demonstrate your dedication, reliability, and genuine interest in nurturing relationships. Following up is not merely a formality; it is a testament to your character and a gateway to new opportunities.
What are you waiting for? Send that outstanding follow-up that has your consciousness shrieking while reading this, and thank someone for something they recently did for you! Follow-up and close the loop 🤝
This is great! Something I really need to work on. Thanks!
I love this advice. I remember when I was in sales, they said it took an average of 8 messages to get a response (and most people stop at 1). What surprised me over my career was how many people responded positively, "oh thanks for reminding me, this got buried." The positive (and silence) outweighed the negative by a ton. This exercise of the 24 hours follow up is one I may have to try!