After reviewing 500+ pitches, I noticed one glaring pattern in investor relations. Here is how the top 1% do it differently.
The Reality Nobody Talks About
A lot of the advice on investor relations rests on assumptions that made sense five years ago. The world has moved on.
The first thing to understand is that you need to move fast and break things. I've seen this play out across dozens of companies. The pattern is unmistakable.
Many teams spend months on the wrong path before realizing that most founders overthink this and underspend on execution. Once they make the switch, everything changes.
The Counterintuitive Truth
In investor relations, the best practitioners often do less, not more.
The lesson: the data tells a different story than your gut. It sounds simple. It's incredibly hard to execute.
The AI Angle
Any discussion of investor relations in 2026 has to include AI. As someone who's invested in Anthropic, OpenAI, Scale AI, and Hugging Face, I have a front-row seat to how AI is transforming this space.
The short version: AI makes good practitioners better and bad practitioners worse. It's an amplifier, not a replacement.
Some teams use AI to get far more out of investor relations. Others spend heavily on AI that solves the wrong problem. The difference comes down to understanding what you're actually trying to achieve.
This connects to broader themes around revenue-based financing, investor relations, fundraising timeline, pitch deck design that I've been thinking about a lot lately.
Final Thoughts
There are no shortcuts in investor relations, but there are smarter paths.
The strongest teams treat investor relations as a competitive advantage, not a checkbox. They invest in it early, measure it obsessively, and never stop improving.
If you're just getting started with investor relations, don't be intimidated. Everyone starts somewhere. The key is to start with the right mindset and the right framework, and then execute like your company depends on it. Because it probably does.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:What's the most common pushback you get on this?
People often push back by citing exceptions or edge cases. And they're usually right that exceptions exist. But building a strategy around exceptions rather than patterns is a losing game for most founders.
Q:How can I apply this thinking to my own situation?
Start by identifying the core principle behind the opinion, not the specific example. Then ask yourself: does this principle apply to my context? If yes, test it in a small, low-risk way before going all in.
Q:How has this view evolved over time?
My thinking on most topics has changed significantly over the years. Early in my career, I held many conventional views that experience proved wrong. I try to update my beliefs when the evidence changes.
Q:Do all experts agree with this view?
No, and that's fine. The best ideas in business are often contrarian. I share my perspective based on my experience and data, but I encourage you to seek out opposing viewpoints and form your own conclusions.