Andy Tang decodes what investors really mean when they say "we'll get back to you" or "talk to my partners." These phrases usually signal genuine interest. He explains how to use deadline requests as leverage, turn investors into advocates by letting them pitch to their bosses, and why keeping your word matters in fundraising.
Chapters
Okay, let's go back to financing. We're closing a few deals now. We'll get back to you as soon as we free up. What does that mean?
It's not gonna happen.
You're out.
You're out? Sorry, dude.
Anyone else? Pretty cynical. You have one in the back?
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye? Okay. Man, you guys are pretty cynical. Maybe they want more time. So always remember, if an idea is really good, people will find time. Just like dating, right? If you meet the right person—
She's awesome.
Now this guy in the back here. So it's— I think it's— If it's the right investment, people will find time, but it is pretty rare you have such a crazy attractive deal you want to like move everything aside. So in a way this doesn't say much because most— very rarely you find that kind of investment opportunity, just like rarely you will find that kind of soulmate when you internet date.
Right.
Make sense?
Yeah.
One other dating advice from The Economist I thought was interesting, and I'll share that with you. It's the idea of opportunity cost, right? So he was saying it may feel like dating here and there is not hurting you, you're not doing anything anyways, But it's preventing you from finding your soulmate, right? So if you're not in the perfect relationship when you're internet dating, if you're not completely happy or if you're just like, eh, you want to get out because what you're losing is you're losing time to meet other people. So when it comes to financing, it's the same way. If you meet a lot of investors, if you're sort of getting the vibe it's not working, strike a balance being persistent and keeping your opportunity cost low. Does that make sense?
Yes.
Okay, good. How about this? Talking to my partners, get back to you, when do you need to know by?
They are forming up with investing.
Okay, so sort of competition or some other people who might be Part of the syndicate. Doesn't want to lose out on the opportunity, hence is asking. Yep, doesn't want to lose out. What else? Interested but need time.
Interested but need time.
Good. So this is a pretty obvious signal, right? If you ever hear that, the person is trying to work, right? Anytime people ask for your deadline, You know, people are trying to not miss it, right? Make sense? Positive signal, so go with that. Bring this up to our Monday morning meeting so that doesn't get more positive than that, right? So that's obvious. Investors love it. Whenever you hear people Talk about like bringing up— and in fact this is a good lesson learned even beyond investing. Let's say you're a sales guy, right? If the customer says, well, this is too expensive, and you give them a discount, still too expensive but I'll take it back to my boss. What does that mean?
He's going to ask his boss.
I'll do it again, right? So I'm a sales guy and you're the customer. Too expensive? I'll give you a discount. Ah, still too expensive? I'll take it to my boss. So I'm the sales guy, what do I do now? Wait for the surprise. So clearly he's not the decision maker, you gather. Right, he's gonna take it back to his boss, right? Second, if he's not convinced, he's not gonna take it back to his boss. So I already sold him. If I sold him, what do I do? I shut the hell up, right? I say, oh yeah, go talk to your boss, right? Now he is a salesman now. He's selling on my behalf. So I don't need to sell anymore. Anything I say will probably just hurt me. Can you show the people the slide before? That person becomes your salesman. You are no longer the salesman. You're not selling that piece of paper now. That person is selling the piece of paper, right? You see how subtly that transition happened?
Okay, good.
So what's the difference with that one, let me talk to my partners and get back to you and give a date? I will bring this up. It's very specific. You see that? Like they're telling you next Monday, there's— very specific.
As an angel investor, you can't show much interest in a deal?
I try to be transparent. If I like something, I tell people. I mean, some people may not, right? So for this talk, I tried to help you with a transparent, rational investor sort of fundraising 101. Fundraising 102, you'll have different kind of Avatar coming your way. They may say things they don't mean, but that you have to— that's harder to teach because there's a million permutations of personalities. So I want to prepare you at least when people say what— mean what they say, right, and say what they're thinking, you could make the rational decision, right? So kind of like playing baseball, make sure you could hit the The ball in the strike zone out first, and then you can focus on the curveballs, the breaking balls. Yeah, okay.
It's also like you can have— you can receive a, how do you say, a yes, but never get the money.
Sure, sure, absolutely.
Sometimes an investor— I mean, I've seen that with sales. They'll be like, yeah, definitely send me the invoice, You see that in life. Never fail.
And that's why in our oath, one of the things we put down is I will keep my word. It makes the communication a bit more— at least in our community, right, you don't commit very easily, but when you do commit, even verbally, you go through with that. It makes the social transaction cost a lot lower. Right, you don't have to second-guess what they mean. Does that make sense? Yeah, okay, good. How about this?
They're really interested.
Yeah, they want to do the deal. When I said deal momentum, this is deal momentum.
It's working.
Yeah. And you should help his associate, right? You should ask them what they need help with because associates, being thrown into working on this, right? So the associate probably is not as much of an expert as you are, so help them. Okay, let's keep moving. How about this? I'll call somebody to check on this. Because he wants to verify the work. Yeah. Yeah, you need some sort of reference check, right? So you could also help. How do you help? You give him more people to call.
Right?
How about this? You have— you'll hear this from time to time.
I'm interested.
Do I need to hurry? Who else is on? Interested. What is the proper response? And what is a proper response to this? Good. Confidential. I can't tell you. Okay, so how do you— he's right. How do you solve that?
So you do not want to disclose who they are so that you have the upper hand in the negotiation.
Okay, so if somebody asks you who else is looking at this, first of all, there is some etiquette. Somebody asked about investor etiquette. You can't— like you and I talk about something, it's not right for you to quote me or to mention we met and that kind of stuff. If you do that, it actually hurts your credibility because I'm thinking, well, you're probably going to say something about me. I would feel a bit scared interacting with this kind of person. Now what we can do though is this. You can say, well, I can't tell you who I'm talking to, but they are an institution that makes early-stage investments. They're based on the East Coast. They are experienced investors in consumer internet. That's okay.
Does that make you uncomfortable like as an investor if we were to—
No, no, no, that's a fair game because that's actually being transparent and not hurting the other party.
So it's like giving them a generic idea what it's all about, but you're not disclosing the right information.
Right, right. You're helping, you're not— you're protecting both parties, you're protecting the party you talk to by not revealing the identity, You're also protecting the party you're talking to, to help him make the best decision that he can, right?
