Effective communication with LPs (Limited Partners) can play a crucial role in a VC’s success as it helps solidify long-term relationships with (current and potential) LPs which can pay off when it comes time to fundraise. For many Venture Capital Partners, one of the most important times to foster LP relationships occurs during annual LP meetings.

The Covid challenge: How to run an LP meeting virtually

However, in 2020 with COVID keeping everyone stranded at home, face-to-face LP meetings are no longer an option and VCs are finding new ways to maintain effective communication with their LPs.

“When COVID hit, it put all travel to a halt so we knew that we needed to explore new digital ways to engage our LPs. Since everyone is used to Zoom, we were able to effectively host our 2020 LP meeting there and securely share our materials ahead of time with DocSend,” says Kevin Pineda, Finance Manager at August Capital.

The benefits of virtual LP meetings

While face-to-face networking interactions are fairly absent from virtual LP meetings, there are some benefits to hosting your meeting virtually: increased attendance.

“The digital format made it easier for people to attend since there was no travel required which also made it more cost-effective for certain LPs,” said Kevin. “Due to the increased accessibility, LPs were more inclined to invite additional team members, especially junior colleagues. As a result, our attendance was roughly twice as large as our last in-person meeting.”

DocSend enables easy and secure sharing of sensitive meeting materials

When it comes to DocSend, August Capital leverages DocSend’s secure virtual data rooms to share all materials ahead of time with their LPs while ensuring that all sensitive information is kept secure. This not only makes all meeting materials more accessible but also allows Kevin to make updates to documents up until the time of the meeting without the need to re-share the files.

Using analytics to drive better LP engagement

In addition, by sharing through DocSend, Kevin receives valuable feedback on how LPs engage with the materials for the meeting. This feedback helps him confirm assumptions on what information LPs find interesting so that he can increase LP engagement in future meetings.

“Before DocSend we based our content strategy mostly on feedback surveys from our previous meetings. That said, I’m a big data guy so being able to understand how each LP is engaging with the information we’ve presented in DocSend helps us more effectively identify ways we can continue to bring insightful content to our investors in the future,” Kevin said.

Close communication with LPs while everyone is remote will continue to be top of mind for VC firms throughout 2021 and beyond. The good news is that it is still feasible and there are even some benefits to running your next LP meeting remotely. VC firms who are able to adopt new technologies like Zoom or DocSend will surely be the ones to see the most success as we continue to navigate this new work from home lifestyle. If you’re interested in trying DocSend for your next investor update or LP meeting, click here to start a two-week trial.