Custom reports, frequent calls, unsolicited questions and conflicting advice from many investors can take a meaningful share of a founder's time. Good investors minimise the work they create.
9 min read · Level 5
I think every investor should occasionally estimate how many hours of founder time they consume each year and ask whether their contribution justifies it. For most small investors, the honest answer is that the best help is to read carefully, ask rarely, respond quickly and make the occasional introduction that genuinely matters.
Investor involvement has a cost measured in founder time. A small company with many investors can lose substantial hours to managing them.
Suppose a company has 12 angel investors, and each asks for a separate 30-minute catch-up call once a quarter:
12 investors x 0.5 hours x 4 quarters = 24 hours a year
Add preparation, follow-up emails and custom information requests, and the real total can be several times that - often weeks of founder time spent on investors rather than customers or product.
Common ways investors create work:
Asking for custom reports instead of reading the standard update Requesting individual calls that repeat the update Sending opinions that require a response Giving conflicting advice from different investors Pushing their own portfolio services or contacts that do not fit
Ways to reduce it:
Read the standard update fully before asking questions Group questions into one message Accept that small investors will not get individual attention every quarter Offer help without requiring a reply
Because founder time is the company's most constrained resource in the early years. Hours spent managing investors are hours not spent on the things that determine whether the company succeeds - and therefore whether the investors get a return.
It is also a matter of proportion. An investor holding a small stake who demands the attention of a lead investor imposes costs out of balance with their role.
Educational, not personalised financial advice. Nothing in the Investor Academy is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold anything — what is right for you depends on your own circumstances and the rules where you live.
Two ways to follow up on an update.
Investor A, after the update: "Could you send me a custom breakdown of revenue by region? Also, can we do a call to go through the numbers? And have you thought about expanding to Europe?"
Investor B, after the update: "Thanks - clear update. One question when you have time: is the slower Q3 growth seasonal or something else? No need for a call. Happy to intro you to two logistics buyers if useful."
Investor A has created a report, a call and a strategic discussion. Investor B has asked one grouped question, offered specific help and explicitly released the founder from a call.
Treating founder time as free, and requesting individual attention or custom information in proportion to your curiosity rather than your role.
Check whether your question is already answered.
Send a single short note rather than several separate requests.
Say explicitly when no response or call is needed.
Accept that a small stake does not warrant the same attention as a lead investor or board member.
Whenever you are about to contact a founder you have invested in.
Do not avoid asking about genuinely important issues, such as cash or a key departure, for fear of creating work. Serious questions are worth the founder's time.
Founders and accelerators widely recommend sending a single structured investor update to all investors at a regular cadence, partly to avoid repeated individual requests, and many founders describe this as significantly reducing the time spent managing a large group of angels.
Support founders' consolidated updates by reading them fully and keeping individual requests to a minimum.
Create a free account to read the rest and apply it to your own investing.