Nate keeps everyone who said no on the current investor updates. Many were pre-revenue passes or wrong-stage passes, and a lot have come back to congratulate the team on its growth — relationships he expects to be valuable in the next 6 to 12 months for the following round.
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Nate says "all the people that have said no to us are still on our current investor updates," because a lot of the passes were just about stage and timing — he was pre-revenue in sustainability and e-commerce, "which, you know, for some people isn't the sexiest sort of industry," and many wanted to see a few hundred K in IRR or "customer love" with strong retention and minimal churn that the product couldn't yet show. He keeps them engaged because "a lot of them have come back to me and like said, congrats. Really happy to see your growth," and he expects them to be valuable in the next 6 to 12 months. His throughline is staying authentic: "I just kind of kept it authentic, to be honest. I wasn't trying to sell anything that wasn't true."