Investor Guide for Content Creation

Making (Investment) Media that Matters

Sharing my perspective and tips on the saturated world of investment content. Spoiler: I recommend doing it.

Does the world need more investment content? No. 

Do I recommend investors produce content? Yes.

If anyone can appreciate asymmetric upside, it should be investors.

I am often asked to chat with investors about their new podcast initiative, content process, or something along those lines. What I share is in those conversations is summarized below. While this focuses on writing high-impact pieces, you should assume it applies to podcasts, videos, and any outward facing effort. 

Remember, all it takes is ONE person for content to make a difference.

It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers. You are not playing that game. To make an impact, it only takes one person engaging with your content and then viewing you differently.

  1. When I wanted to talk to a particular VC, I published a deepdive on “Transportation Disruptors”. Sadly, I did not reach that particular VC but I reached many others. And two years later (when I was no longer at GS), a different high-profile VC found me, reached out, and started a highly valuable relationship. He then acted as a reference for my next role.
  2. When I wanted to interview a favorite Sports Media personality, I published a separate interview on a topic I knew he cared about. It found its way to him, he liked it, and he posted about it publicly. I interviewed him months later.
  3. When I wanted to learn more about an investor I was interested in. I published my Guide for Management Meetings, knowing it would be something they were interested in. I shared it directly and built a relationship that evolved into long-term consulting.

A SIMPLE PROCESS (TAKE A SCREENSHOT)

  1. Pick one goal: fundraise, find founders, recruit. Having an ideal outcome will sharpen your writing.
  2. Write to one person. Picture the exact CIO, CEO, or founder. Then be honest, if you were them, would you read it?
  3. Ask: Is this controversial/consequential? Saying the same thing rarely has impact.
  4. Always answer first, explain later. Respect attention spans.
  5. Personal (stories) and Proprietary (work) are what differentiate writing. Don’t get stuck in generalities.
  6. Delivery matters. Emailing individually beats an inbox blast. Your work is not done when you hit publish.

Now, what power does content have? 

Significantly more than $1bn in AUM1 has been raised via podcasts, Twitter, and blogs. It is not the only variable, but it would NOT have happened without the content. That number is not gimmicky retail schemes. It is high-quality allocations into legitimate investment managers. 

I’ve seen this up close. Hosting a podcast has opened more doors than my GS tenure. And while getting into rooms may be fluffy to you, it goes well beyond that. These all came from relationships that formed via content:

  • Offers to seed me in new ventures.
  • Fundraising opportunities for my own investing. 
  • Deal access to private investments that weren’t shopped.
  • Unmarketed jobs 

How can YOU, an investor, drive value from content?

The decision-makers YOU care about consume content. Fish where there are fish.

If the cynic in you thinks that writing or going on podcasts is a negative signal, it is time for a reality check. What is more efficient:

  1. Having a 50 first meetings where you get to know some allocator, founder, or recruit with a deck and some numbers; OR
  2. Having a definitive whitepaper or podcast interview that takes 2 hours of your time and can be listened to by all 8 billion people on Earth.

Meetings are still the holy grail, but they have a clear agenda: TRANSACTIONAL. Content is a space for influence without any expectation of a transaction. Your audience is opting in, when they want and how they want. It’s easy to gloss over how this can be a BETTER ENVIRONMENT for your message to land.

Creating content means you can build trust and start a relationship before a formal meeting. Not to mention, it lives on forever, waiting to be consumed by the next decision-maker that encounters it.2

How to make “high-impact” content

I am definitely geared towards quality over quantity. That said, those firms and funds that publish frequently have a reasonable case for doing so, it is a signal of establishment. People may want to hear what they have to say on every topic. Be honest with yourself if you care about those things.

The most value comes from high-impact, definitive pieces. What makes your firm special? How can you capture it with stories and details that paint a full picture? 

This is a concise list of content commandments expanded from the summary above.

1. Pick one goal: fundraise, find founders, recruit. 

When you write pieces, you should have an outcome in mind. Seems simple, but this is glossed over WAY TOO OFTEN. Who do you think Paul Graham was writing to with “Founder Mode”? 

If you write a piece detailing your investment framework, you are writing to LPs/Allocators. This doesn’t mean that founders or future recruits won’t find value in it. If it strikes fear in you that you can’t be as open and honest, THAT is a lesson (which I will leave to you). But most importantly, the clarity that comes from this approach sharpens your output. Pleasing everyone typically pleases no one.

2. Write for one person: picture the exact CIO, CEO, or founder. 

To have any impact, someone needs to read/consume your work. How do you increase the likelihood of that happening? Put yourself in their shoes, what do they ask about? What drives their decisions? Give someone something they care about and you have impact. If you need evidence that this works in brutal form, look around social media for things like “People have been asking me about this, so here is what I shared”. That falls into the dark-arts of content where you play off of psychology: if someone else is asking, I want to know too!

By picturing a single individual, you write to them (and not in corporate speak). We often hedge our writing with generalities and caveats that dilute the product. Your reader that you picture is smart. Would he or she roll their eyes? You can reference Graham Duncan’s popular essay: Letter to a friend who may start a new investment platform. He had one person in mind, but it was valuable to the masses.

And when you are finished writing, be brutally honest, if you were them, would you read it?3

3. Ask is this controversial/consequential? If you aren’t saying something new, do you need to say it?

Being the next person to have a view on AI will not differentiate you. If you bring unique data to the table, that will differentiate you. The easiest way to get lost in the shuffle is to cover the same topics that everyone else covers. That happens when you already have your audience and live in the zeitgeist. Yes, you may have a dedicated audience that prefers your Year Ahead Outlook, but you aren’t increasing your chances to form new relationships. 

When Marathon Asset Management released their podcast on the AI Capital Cycle, it was a great example of a small podcast getting a HUGE episode. Notably, many of the points they made about AI capex ROI were not new. But Marathon Asset Management is known for capital cycle investing. The value of content compounds. 

4. Answer first, explain later. Attention spans are too short for build-up.

The worst thing taught in school is the 5 paragraph essay. If you want people to read or listen, you need to give them the conclusion upfront. The title, opening paragraph, and all headers should tell you something definitive. 

My own writing changed when I read David Ogilvy and the Roman-Raphelson book on writing. His suggestion. But his rule reigns supreme here: 

“Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.” – Ogilvy

Make sure it is crystal clear what you are saying.  

5. When asked, acknowledge the weak points and be thoughtful about differentiating risks.

Buffet infamously started many shareholder letters with a reference to some weak point in his business. You are seeking trust, not attention. 

2024: “Mistakes: Yes, We Make Them at Berkshire”

2022: “Disappointments are inevitable. We are understanding about business mistakes; our tolerance for personal misconduct is zero.”

2021: “I make many mistakes.”

Your audience is intelligent. If you don’t acknowledge any risks, you are too good to be true. There is way more value in dissecting a risk with intellectual honesty than dismissing it outright.

6. Frameworks are undifferentiated without personal stories, anecdotes, and examples. 

A first-person narrative is significantly more powerful than third-person. For authenticity and trust-building, the message coming from a human is significantly more powerful than from a corporation. And when you speak in generalities about feedback loops, marketplaces, compounders, you need to detail WHAT is happening and WHERE it is happening. If you plan to use an obvious example like Uber, make sure to include a less obvious example as well. You aren’t giving away secret sauce. 

Be ready for the inevitable question “Can you give me an example of how you’ve applied this?”

7. Delivery matters. Emailing individually beats an inbox blast. Your work is not done when you hit publish.

Cold blasting pieces is part of business, but do not rely on that method. You must appreciate that you are competing for someone’s attention. Investors have a funny way of expecting that when they emerge from the shadows and publish something, everyone will stop what they are doing and consume it. 

By personalizing a note about why someone might benefit from reading it, you are probably 10x’ing the likelihood they consume it. 

8. Silence is a strategy. You’re paid to invest, not to craft prose. Opt out until you have something.

Don’t force content. You can get into the practice of writing by doing internal work. The feedback will shape your external work. 

Final Thoughts

The actual guts of a good content piece would take up another 20+ pages. If I had to narrow it to a recipe, these are the ingredients that pack the most power:

  1. Proprietary Work – this could be differentiated data analysis, detailing an insightful meeting, or a story only YOU can share. If you review the piece and say “only we could have written this”, you are there.
  2. Strong Visuals – a great chart/exhibit tells a story. Strong visuals are portable power; they are easier to pass around than text. And best of all, they breakup the overwhelming text. 
  3. Authentic Proof-of-Work – there is a reason the Internal Tech Emails account has half a million followers. People LOVE seeing what it is really like on the inside. The Sequoia YouTube memo is a great example. Today, it’s a cult favorite. But if you look closely, maybe it just checks all of the boxes for diligence? I’d argue it doesn’t really say anything too enlightening and I don’t mean that in a cynical way. Put differently, there may be another YouTube-esque business that just got seeded today. If you published your investment memo, no one would care. In 20 years, they will.

For some tangible examples of how contact has impacted me.

  1. When I wanted to talk to a particular VC, I published a deepdive on “Transportation Disruptors”. Sadly, I did not reach that particular VC but I reached many others. And two years later (when I was no longer at GS), a different high-profile VC found me, reached out, and started a highly valuable relationship. He then acted as a reference for my next role.
  2. When I wanted to interview a favorite Sports Media personality, I published a separate interview on a topic I knew he cared about. It found its way to him, he liked it, and he posted about it publicly. I interviewed him months later.
  3. When I wanted to learn more about an investor I was interested in. I published my Guide for Management Meetings, knowing it would be something they were interested in. I shared it directly and built a relationship that evolved into long-term consulting.

If you want to chat more, please reach out: matt@mattreustle.com 

  1. I’d guess this is closer to $10bn+ and may be multiples higher. I can directly track $1bn comfortably so I use that. ↩︎
  2. I get ongoing outreach about my “Guide to Mgmt Meetings” 6+ months later. And the Media podcast I stopped publishing in early 2024? It’s Nov 2025 and I’ve received new outreach from NPR, Bloomberg and a nice “New Media” business in the past 2 weeks.
    ↩︎
  3. Scrapping work isn’t wasted effort. You will communicate better after crystalizing your thoughts. ↩︎