In this series, we’ll:

• Talk about some of the themes and topics that are normally covered in your standard communications and give some ideas for non-traditional topics to cover
• List a few of the key people involved in creating the update and talk about how their contributions impact the communication topic
• Talk about some of the goals for each type of communication
• Suggest formats, topics, and external guests to help make the update more alluring

This is an eight part series and each of the updates covered are listed in links below. We won’t be covering investor relations updates; although this is one of the more commonly sent communications, we feel that everything covered in the rest of the sections adds up to a plan for success in investor relations. Within every communication, there’s an investor relations update.

Our Theories on Communications for Venture Capital Firms

We believe that all communication should be a mix of pre-recorded sessions and live interactions that give your investors and portfolio companies access to both your top minds and each other, building a community of best practices sharers. 

Pre-recorded sessions are integral for both presentation clarity and compliance, and live interaction gives your audience a reason to attend. Bringing in external thought leaders gives your audience yet another chance to creatively address business challenges. Offering more networking opportunities to your audience does that and also more closely connects them, further deepening their relationship with your firm for minimal additional effort. 

By both pre-recording a session and also having the internal/external thought leader in the event to answer questions live, you are demonstrating another level of dedication to the content (and your investor relations) and also the development of your aspiring unicorns.

Of course, virtual events often require more resources. We’d like to use a metaphor here to show how putting this time in up front can save you resources in the long run. 

Most malpractice suits come from a patient’s perception that a doctor has acted negligently and experts say that lawsuits can be avoided if doctors are demonstrating that they’re listening to their patients. Similarly, we’d bet that a sizable amount of your resources are earmarked for finding investors. Keeping them around for follow-on rounds is paramount. Packaging your comms strategy into virtual events gives you another opportunity to listen to your investors and portfolio companies, which is likely to get you actionable feedback to reduce churn. 

As you decide the channel for your future communications, consider virtual events and their benefits over what you’ve done in the past. If you’ve been doing virtual events, thanks for coming and thanks for your dedication to improving them.

Series Deliverables

These articles will help you:

• Identify new topics to cover in your communications strategy
• Narrow the field of external thought leaders to invite to contribute to your events
• Think of the audience first when delivering content
• Build a community within your staff, investors, and portfolio company leadership

Please follow one of the links below to start on your journey to private equity communications excellence!

• Virtual Events and Venture Capital – Performance Updates
• Virtual Events and Venture Capital – Market Insights
• Virtual Events and Venture Capital – Strategic Adjustments
• Virtual Events and Venture Capital – Risk Assessments
• Virtual Events & Venture Capital – Portfolio Company Reports
• Virtual Events and Venture Capital – Bonus: Personalized Investment Performance