A couple of weeks ago, we screened the Arctic15 deal flow together with experienced lead angels, Helsinki Business Hub, and New Nordic Leads program participants. During the online session, we discussed the importance of open investor-founder communication. Here’s what we learned!
At the beginning of the session, an experienced angel investor and FiBAN board member Tuomas Pahlman gave us an introduction to screening criteria, after which we screened the startups. While screening we noticed the benefits of having a diverse screening board since it helped us in evaluating the market potential and competition on a wider scale. Something that can be more difficult to spot if cultural diversity is not in place.
We also discussed the importance of open investor-founder communication. Based on the best practices discussed, here’s a few tips on how to motivate open communication:
Best practices to enhance open communication
- Build psychological safety
Motivate open communication by building trust and psychological safety. Let the founders know that it’s not the end of the day if the company is performing poorly. What matters more is that this information comes to the investors so that the challenges can be tackled together.
2. Keep monthly reporting simple
Keeping the monthly reporting simple can help to lower the barrier of communication. Bullet points are always a clear and easy way to communicate the most important points!
3. Discuss both the challenges and successes
Communicating both the challenges and successes is extremely important when it comes to innovation and growth. Listing a few main challenges, and discussing these together will help in finding a solution on how to move forward. Regularly celebrating successes will keep everyone motivated and aligned with the mission and contribute to the mission.
How would you motivate open discussion? Join New Nordic Leads to share and learn best practices!
- Show your interest here and join our LinkedIn group.
- Attend the lead angel training and create connections
- Get access to the deal flow and get familiar with startups
- Show your interest in becoming a lead angel or co-lead
Read more: newnordicleads.com.
New Nordic Leads is a lead angel and investment program by FiBAN and EstBAN to facilitate cross-border investments. The program is based on educating lead angels to have all the necessary skills of what it takes to evaluate startups and to manage international syndicates. The startups joining the program will be provided international high-level meetings with investors, VC and corporate partners.
More Information:
Johanna Ahtiainen, Training and Development Manager at FiBAN, johanna@fiban.org
Anu Oks, Managing Director at EstBAN, anu@estban.ee
