Founder follow-up cadence calculator
There's no single right cadence, because the right pace depends entirely on what kind of relationship you're maintaining. This calculator gives the next-touch date, plus the reasoning, for seven common founder relationship types.
Recommended cadence
2–3 weeks
Add a last-contact date to compute the next touch.
Warm investors will keep you in mind for a few weeks. Re-engage at 2-3 weeks with a substantive update; don't ping just to ping.
The rules of cadence
- Always have something to say.A check-in with no substance is worse than no check-in. The other person reads it as “please pay attention to me” instead of as a genuine update.
- Match their pace to your asks.The people you ask the most from need the most outbound from you. If your cadence ratio of “ask” to “give” flips above 1:1, you’re burning the relationship.
- Cadence is a ceiling, not a floor. The calculator says “every 6 weeks” because that’s the longest you should go. If you have something useful to share at 3 weeks, send it.