Write one line per investor on the way out, then work the list for a few weeks

Keep one line per investor: their fund, the stage and cheque size they named, who introduced you, what they asked, what you promised, and the next step with a date. Send what you promised first, then work the list in the weeks after the event.

A demo day gives you short conversations with people who each hold a different fund, stage and view. By the evening they blur together. If you meet several investors in one evening, write a line for each while the conversation is fresh, so you can follow up with the right thing.

Eight things to capture for each investor

Capture the fund, the stage, the cheque size, the fit, who introduced you, what they asked, what you promised and the next step.

1. Fund and name. The fund as they said it, and the person, spelled correctly.
2. Stage. The rounds they invest in, in their words.
3. Cheque size, as they told you. The range they named.
4. Thesis fit. One honest line on where your company sits against what they back, including “probably not a fit”.
5. Who introduced you. A person, a programme or nobody. It tells you whose name to use.
6. What they asked. The question in their words. Answering it is a good first follow up.
7. What you promised. The deck, the metrics, the introduction, each with a date.
8. The next step and its date. One step, one day. A row with no date is a wish.

The investor tracker template lays these out as columns, with a filled row.

Sort the list the same evening by what you owe

Put the investors you owe something to at the top, the interested ones next, and the polite exchanges last.

• You owe them: they asked for a deck, a number or an introduction.
• They are interested: they said to keep them posted, with nothing outstanding.
• Courtesy: a pleasant chat, no sign of fit.

Work the list over the weeks after the event

Send what you promised within a day or two, and use the weeks after to send news, not reminders. Aim each follow up at something that was left open.

• The next day or two. Send the group you owe first, each with the promised item attached and one dated next step. The messages after an investor meeting cover the wording.
• The following week. Write to the interested group, but only if you have something new: a customer, a milestone, an answer to what they asked.
• A few weeks on. Review the list. In the next step column, note whether they are in conversation, waiting, passed or not a fit, and why when they told you.

A pass is information. Record the reason in their words.

Five habits that cost you the investor

Do not send one message to the whole list. It cannot answer what each person asked.

• Do not write “just checking in”. Say what is new, or wait until something is.
• Do not record a guess about cheque size as fact.
• Do not promise a date you cannot keep. A date you meet beats an early date you miss.
• Do not keep the only copy in your inbox. A thread is not a list.

One voice note files the investor and the promise

Marrow is an app on iPhone and Android. Say who the investor is, what they asked and what you promised in a voice note, and Marrow files the person, the meeting, a note and a follow up with its date when you named a day; photograph their card and it becomes a person with the name, role, company and contact details. Marrow is in Beta.

Yusuf Demirkan, Bosphorus Growth Partners, met at the fintech summit. He asked who runs cold storage for food importers in the Gulf, and I promised an introduction to Salma Qattan. Remind me on Thursday to send him the deck.

Marrow has no pipeline, stages or amounts, so the stage and the cheque size you were told sit in the note, in their words. The Follow ups tab shows what is overdue, due today and coming up, with Done and Snooze on each item.

Ask “prep me for Yusuf” before the next meeting and the answer comes from your record; if Marrow has no recent brief of his company, asking also runs a company lookup that counts as one lookup. Ask “who do I know at Bosphorus Growth Partners” and that answer comes from your record. Marrow can draft a message from what you told it, marked not sent. You copy it and send it yourself.

Who should not bother: if you work the round with a co-founder or a team on one shared tracker, keep that tracker, because Marrow is one person’s record with no shared workspace.

Related

• Founders
• Investor tracker template
• Follow up messages after an investor meeting
• How to follow up after a conference
• What to record about someone you just met

Last updated 11 October 2026. By Marrow team.