Module 07 · The investor update~15s dwell · weight 9
Asks
Name exactly what help is needed this month, specific enough that a reader can act on it in under a minute.
Elizabeth Yin (Hustle Fund) treats specific asks as the highest-leverage line in the update, since a vague ask gets zero replies.
Include
- 1-3 specific asks: named role, named company type, or named question
- Enough context that a reader can forward the ask to the right person immediately
Cut
- 'Let us know if you can help with anything', which asks nothing
- More than 3 asks in one email
Red flags a reader notices
- The same generic ask appears month after month with no update on whether it was ever fulfilled
Pitfalls behind them
- Asking for 'intros to enterprise customers' with no industry, size, or use case specified
- Burying the ask at the end of a long paragraph instead of its own line
60-second self-test
- · Could a reader forward this exact sentence to one specific contact right now?
- · Did I say what happened with last month's ask?
Template
Ask: [specific role/company type/question], ideally [detail that narrows it further].
Weak
"If anyone in your network could be helpful to us in any way, we'd love an intro, always looking for good connections."
Strong
"Ask: an intro to a VP of People at a 200-500 person company using Slack heavily across regional offices, our best-fit next customer profile."
Nimbus Payroll's ask is narrow enough to hand to a specific contact.
Quick quiz
Pick an answer. Nothing is graded, and correct answers stay hidden until you choose.
1. What makes an ask actionable?
2. How many asks should one update include?