Guide

The Investor playbook

For investors and VC associates. Keep every founder, intro and deal in one place, so you know who you met, who introduced you and what comes next.

Start with what you need today.

Investor or VC associate
1 · Founders : meeting founders, jump to this chapter 2 · Intros : introductions, jump to this chapter 3 · Deal flow , jump to this chapter 4 · Timelines : founder timelines, jump to this chapter 5 · Team and portfolio , jump to this chapter
Chapter 01~3 min read

Start here

This guide is for people who invest in start-ups. You might be an analyst, an associate, a partner, a scout or an angel investor. It works for venture capital (VC) funds, angel groups and VC fellowships.

Investing is a job about people. You meet a lot of founders and other investors, and most of them come to you through someone. When your notes live in your head, your inbox and a spreadsheet, it is hard to see who you know and what to do next.

The 16 plays in this guide help you answer five questions:

  • Founders: Who have I met, and how?
  • Introductions: Who introduced us, and who can I introduce?
  • Deal flow: Is this company already in our pipeline?
  • Timelines: What has happened with this founder so far?
  • Team and portfolio: Who on the team knows them, and what did we promise?

You do not need to read the guide from start to end. Start with the question that matters most to you now.

How each play works

Each play starts with a familiar problem. It then shows one way to set it up in Humble, what to check and what gets easier.

These are ideas, not rules. Change them to fit the way your fund already works.

How every play works in Humble

A few simple ideas come up again and again:

  • One record for each person:Save each founder and investor once, from LinkedIn. Add to it every time you talk.
  • A list is a tag:Tag people as #founders or #investors. One person can be on more than one list.
  • Always note the intro:Link the person who introduced you. It is hard to work out later.
  • Your pipeline stays where it is:Keep deal flow in Airtable or Notion. Humble shows it on the pages you visit.
  • Every promise is a task:An intro to make, or a document you need from a founder, gets a task with a date.
  • Share what helps:Share notes with your team, so two people don’t contact the same founder.
Chapter 02~6 min read · three plays

Meeting founders

Who have I met, and how?

This section helps you keep a record of every founder you meet, sort people into lists and keep each company’s details with its founder.

The plays in this section

  • Save every founder you meet.
  • Sort people into lists with tags.
  • Keep the company with the founder.

Play 1: Save every founder you meet

The situation

You meet ten founders at a demo day. A week later, you can’t remember which one was raising money, or what they asked you for.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Open the founder’s LinkedIn profile.
  2. Click the Humble icon in your browser and save them as a contact.
  3. Add a note: where you met, what they are building and what they asked for.
  4. Add a task for the next step, such as Book a first call.

Check this

A useful test is: Could I say where I met this founder, and what they need, in ten seconds?

Next time you open their profile, the Humble icon turns green. That tells you there is already a note.

What changes: every founder you meet has a record, with how you met and the next step.

A founder’s LinkedIn profile with the Humble panel open: a note on how you met, two tags and the next step.

Play 2: Sort people into lists with tags

The situation

Founders, other investors and the people who invest in your fund all sit in one long list. When you need every health investor who leads seed rounds, you scroll and guess.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Tag each person with a list, such as #founders, #investors, #LPs or #advisers. LPs are limited partners: the people and firms who invest in your fund.
  2. Add a second tag for the theme, such as #health or #climate.
  3. Open a tag to see everyone on that list.

Check this

Lists that many investors find useful:

  • #founders: everyone you might invest in.
  • #investors: other investors you share deals with.
  • #LPs: people and firms who invest in your fund, or might.
  • #advisers: experts you call for a second opinion.

A useful test is: Can I find every health investor I know in one step?

What changes: your lists stay up to date as you meet people. There is no spreadsheet to keep.

Notes on people in Humble, grouped by tag. Each tag is a list you can open.

Play 3: Keep the company with the founder

The situation

The pitch deck is in an email. The website is in a tab. Your notes are in a document. They are all about the same company, but they are not together.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Open the founder in Humble.
  2. Link the company website, the deck and the data room. The data room is the folder of files a company shares with investors.
  3. Link the AI chat you used to read up on the market, such as a ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini chat.
  4. Link any other people at the company, such as the co-founder.

Check this

Before a call, ask: Is everything about this company one click from the founder?

What changes: you stop hunting through tabs and emails before each call.

Chapter 03~6 min read · three plays

Introductions

Who introduced us, and who can I introduce?

Many of the best deals come from an introduction by someone you both know. This section helps you record who introduced you, find a person who can introduce you and keep the people who send you founders up to date.

The plays in this section

  • Note who introduced you.
  • Find someone who can introduce you.
  • Tell the person who introduced you what happened.

Play 4: Note who introduced you

The situation

A good founder came to you through a friend. Six months later, nobody remembers who made the introduction, so nobody thanks them.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Save the person who introduced you as a contact, if they are not one already.
  2. Open the founder in Humble and link the person who introduced you.
  3. Link the introduction email too. In Gmail or Outlook on the web, the browser extension links an email to a person or task.

Check this

A useful question is: For each company in our pipeline, do we know who sent it to us?

What changes: you can see who sends you the best founders, and you can thank them.

A founder’s record in Humble, with the person who introduced you linked under People.

Play 5: Find someone who can introduce you

The situation

You want to meet a founder. Someone on your team may already know them, but you don’t know who. So you send a cold message instead.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Search Humble for the founder’s name or company.
  2. Open their record. See who introduced them and read the notes your team has shared.
  3. If a teammate knows them, ask that teammate for an introduction.

Check this

Before you send a cold message, ask: Does anyone on my team already know this person?

What changes: more of your first messages come with an introduction.

Play 6: Tell the person who introduced you what happened

The situation

Someone sends you a founder. You meet, then decide not to invest. The person who introduced you never hears back, so they send their next founder to another fund.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. When you accept an introduction, add a task linked to the person who made it, such as Update Priya on Northwind Bio.
  2. Give it a date a few days after your first call.
  3. When you decide, send the update and tick the task off.

Check this

Once a week, ask: Has everyone who sent us a founder heard back?

What changes: people who send you founders always hear back, so they keep sending them.

Chapter 04~9 min read · four plays

Deal flow

Is this company already in our pipeline?

Many funds keep their deal flow in Airtable or Notion. Humble connects to both. You don’t move your pipeline. You connect it once in Humble, and the browser extension shows it on the pages you visit.

The plays in this section

  • See if a company is in your pipeline, without opening it.
  • Add a new deal in one click.
  • Check for overlaps before you contact someone.
  • Ask founders for what you need, as tasks.

Play 7: See if a company is in your pipeline, without opening it

The situation

You open a start-up’s website. Is it already in your pipeline? To check, you log in to Airtable, find the right base and search.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Connect Airtable or Notion to Humble, once.
  2. Visit the website of any company in your base or databases. The Humble icon in your browser turns green.
  3. Click the icon to see the related records.
  4. Add a note. You can send it to the record in one click.

Check this

A useful question is: Did I check the pipeline before I wrote to this founder?

Green means the page has related records. If the icon is not green, the company is not in your base yet.

What changes: you know at a glance if a company is in your pipeline, with no logging in and no searching.

A start-up’s website with the Humble icon green. The panel shows the company’s record and founder from Airtable. Notion works the same way.

Play 8: Add a new deal in one click

The situation

You meet a founder you like. To add them to the pipeline, you copy their name, role and company by hand. So it waits, and sometimes it never happens.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Open the founder’s LinkedIn profile and click the Humble icon.
  2. Use magic fill. It adds their name, role and company to Airtable or Notion.
  3. Write your note from the call and send it to the record in one click.

Check this

At the end of the week, ask: Did every founder I met this week get into the pipeline?

What changes: the pipeline stays full and up to date, because adding to it takes seconds.

Play 9: Check for overlaps before you contact someone

The situation

Two people on your team write to the same founder in the same week. Or a founder you said no to comes back, and nobody remembers why.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. If you use Airtable, open the founder’s LinkedIn profile. Humble shows if that person is already in your base.
  2. On the company’s website, check if the Humble icon is green. That means the company is already in Airtable or Notion.
  3. Read the notes before you write. They tell you who spoke to the founder last, and what was said.

Check this

Before every first message, ask: Has anyone here spoken to this founder before?

What changes: fewer double messages, and founders deal with one fund that knows its own history.

“Manage deal flow like pros. Sharing new deals, checking for overlaps in your database... a total lifesaver.”
Freya
Senior Associate, Ascension Ventures

Play 10: Ask founders for what you need, as tasks

The situation

You need the latest accounts, the cap table (the list of who owns which shares) and access to the data room. You ask in one email. Two weeks later, you are still chasing two of them across three threads.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Make each thing you need a task, such as Send the latest accounts or Share the cap table.
  2. Assign each task to the founder, with a due date.
  3. Link the task to the founder and the company, so it appears on their timeline.
  4. The founder ticks each task off when it is done.
  5. Filter your tasks by the founder to see what is still open, without asking.

Check this

Requests that often help in a first look at a company:

  • The latest accounts and key numbers.
  • The cap table.
  • Access to the data room.
  • Contacts for two customers you can call.

After you invest, you can ask for the monthly update the same way. A useful question is: Does every request to a founder have a date?

What changes: founders see one clear list of what you need and when. You send fewer chasing emails.

The task board filtered to one founder: only what you asked of her, each with a date. She ticks each one off when it is done.
Chapter 05~6 min read · three plays

Founder timelines

What has happened with this founder so far?

A deal can take months. This section helps you see everything with one founder in order, keep your research with the deal and see where your time goes.

The plays in this section

  • Open the timeline before every call.
  • Keep emails and research with the deal.
  • See how much time you spend with each company.

Play 11: Open the timeline before every call

The situation

Your call with a founder starts in five minutes. The last call was three months ago. What did they say about sales? What did you promise to send?

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Open the founder in Humble.
  2. Look at their timeline. It shows every note, meeting, email and task with them, from the first hello to today.
  3. Read the last note and any open tasks.
  4. After the call, add a note while it is fresh.

Check this

Before each call, ask: What did I promise this founder last time?

What changes: every call starts where the last one ended.

A founder’s timeline in Humble: every note, meeting, email and task with them, in order.

Play 12: Keep emails and research with the deal

The situation

The founder’s update is in Gmail. Your notes on the market are in an AI chat. The investment memo, the short paper that makes the case for a deal, is in Google Docs. Before the partner meeting, you hunt for all three.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Add a task such as Write memo: Northwind Bio, and link it to the founder.
  2. In Gmail or Outlook on the web, use the browser extension to link the founder’s emails to the task.
  3. Save your ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini chat against the task or the founder.
  4. Link the memo in Google Docs to the task.

Check this

A useful test is: Could a partner find everything about this deal from one task?

What changes: your research stays with the deal, ready for the partner meeting.

Play 13: See how much time you spend with each company

The situation

Some founders take hours of your week. Others you mean to see, and don’t. It is hard to tell where your time goes.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Connect your Google or Outlook calendars. Your work and fund calendars sit in one view.
  2. Filter the timeline by a person or a company. You see every meeting with them, and how much time you spend with them.
  3. On the Team plan, you can see the time the whole team spends with a person or company.

Check this

Once a month, ask: Am I spending my time on the companies that matter most?

What changes: you can see where your time goes, and change it on purpose.

Chapter 06~6 min read · three plays

Your team and portfolio

Who on the team knows them, and what did we promise?

This section helps you share what you know with your team and partners, and keep the promises you make to the founders you back.

The plays in this section

  • Share what you know about a founder.
  • Share the pipeline without extra seats.
  • Keep your promises to portfolio founders.

Play 14: Share what you know about a founder

The situation

You know a founder well. You know how they like to be contacted and what they care about. Your partner is about to call them and knows none of it.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Write a short note on how best to approach the founder.
  2. Share your notes on that person with your team.
  3. Your team can then see who knows the founder, and the best way to approach them.

Check this

A useful question is: If I were away, would my team know how to approach my founders?

What changes: what you know about a founder helps the whole team, not only you.

“Eliminating overlap with other sellers on my team and instantly qualifying new leads, all within a single view. Humble provides a warm lead cheat sheet for every account.”
Dave Cavalier
Business Development, Era Seven Partners

Play 15: Share the pipeline without extra seats

The situation

A scout, a venture partner or another fund needs to check your pipeline. An Airtable seat for each of them costs money, and shows them everything.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Connect Airtable or Notion to Humble.
  2. Share the view with your team and partners.
  3. They see what is in your base on the pages they visit. They don’t need extra seats or full access.

Check this

A useful question is: Does each person see what they need for their part, and no more?

What changes: scouts and partners can check for overlaps on their own, without a seat.

Play 16: Keep your promises to portfolio founders

The situation

After a board meeting, a founder you back asks for three introductions and a hiring contact. You say yes to all of it. A month later, two are still not done.

One way to set this up in Humble

  1. Add each promise as a task, linked to the founder, with a date.
  2. Link the person you will introduce them to.
  3. After a call, send Humble a voice note in Slack. It appears on your timeline, so you can turn it into tasks later.
  4. Once a week, look at the open tasks for your portfolio founders.

Check this

A useful question is: What have I promised my portfolio founders, and is any of it late?

What changes: founders get what you promised. That builds the trust that brings you the next deal.

Chapter 07~3 min read

The weekly rhythm

The plays work best as a habit. The plan below is a starting point. Change it to fit your fund.

Every day: before and after each call

You can start with a short look at:

  • Today’s calls and meetings.
  • The timeline of each founder you will speak to.
  • Tasks that are due today.

During the day, save things close to where they appear:

  • A founder on LinkedIn → a contact with a note and a tag.
  • An introduction email → linked to the founder.
  • A promise on a call → a task with a date.
  • A thought on the way out → a voice note in Slack.

Every week: the pipeline review

  • Did every founder you met get into Airtable or Notion?
  • Did anyone on the team contact the same founder?
  • Which requests to founders are still open?
  • Who sent you a founder and still needs an update?
  • Which promises to portfolio founders are late?

Before a partner or investment committee meeting

The investment committee is the group that decides on each deal. Before it meets:

  • Open the founder’s timeline.
  • Check the memo task has the emails, deck and AI chats linked.
  • Note who introduced the company.

Every month: look back

  • Where did your time go, by company?
  • Which people sent you the best founders? Thank them.
  • Are your lists up to date?
Chapter 08~4 min read

How to organise this in Humble

There is no single correct setup. The structure below is a simple place to start.

What goes where

When you have… A useful place for it
A founder or investor you meetContact saved from LinkedIn, with a note
How you metNote on the contact
The person who introduced youPerson linked to the founder
A list of peopleTag, such as #founders or #investors
A theme or sectorSecond tag, such as #health
A company in the pipelineRecord in Airtable or Notion, connected to Humble
The website, deck or data roomLinks on the founder
An email from a founderLinked to the founder or a task
Research in an AI chatChat saved against the founder or task
The investment memoGoogle Doc linked to the memo task
Information you need from a founderTask assigned to the founder, with a date
A next step or a promiseTask with a date, linked to the person
An update you owe someone who introduced youTask linked to that person
A thought after a callVoice note in Slack, then a note or task

Shared spaces

A few shared spaces are usually enough. For example:

  • Deal flow
  • Portfolio
  • Fundraising, for your work with LPs

Share each space only with the people who need it.

Tags

People lists
#founders#investors#LPs#advisers#portfolio
Themes
#health#climate#fintech

Keep the deal stage in Airtable or Notion, not in tags. Then there is one place to change it.

Naming

  • Contacts: the person’s name, as it is on LinkedIn.
  • Notes on a meeting: Met: [place], such as “Met: demo day”.
  • Tasks: start with a verb, such as “Send Amara the intro to Maya”.
  • Memo tasks: Write memo: [company].
  • Updates you owe: Update [name] on [company].
Chapter 09~2 min read · 30 min to do

The 30-minute setup

You can use this checklist to set up Humble in half an hour. It does not need to hold everything to be useful.

0–5 minutesInstall the browser extension. Connect Google or Outlook Calendar.You’ll have: Humble on LinkedIn and every page, and your meetings in one view.
5–10 minutesConnect Airtable or Notion, where your deal flow lives.You’ll have: A green icon on the website of every company in your pipeline.
10–20 minutesOpen the LinkedIn profiles of five founders you are talking to now. Save each one, note how you met and link who introduced you.You’ll have: Your live deals, each with its story.
20–25 minutesTag them, and tag the investors and LPs you speak to most.You’ll have: Your first lists.
25–30 minutesAdd Humble to Slack and to your phone. Add a weekly pipeline review to your calendar.You’ll have: A way to save things from anywhere, and a rhythm to keep it going.

The end state

You should be able to answer:

  • Who have I met, and how?
  • Who introduced us, and who can I introduce?
  • Is this company already in our pipeline?
  • What has happened with this founder so far?
  • Who on the team knows them, and what did we promise?

You bring the judgement and the relationships. Humble keeps the people, introductions and deals connected, so less of it depends on what you can remember.

See how it works in Humble

The plays in this guide use features available in Humble today.

See how Humble keeps your founders, notes, tasks and deal flow connected.

See how Humble works Get Humble
Chapter 11~1 min read

About this guide

This guide was written by the Humble team, based on how investors and VC associates can use the product in their day-to-day work.

It is a practical guide to one way of working, not the only way to invest. Every fund is different, so use the parts that help and change the rest.

The quotes are from real Humble users, shared with their permission. The people and companies in the examples, such as Amara Okafor and Northwind Bio, are made up. The guide describes Humble as of October 2026. Some product details may change over time.

To read more about the tools in this guide, see Humble with LinkedIn, Airtable and Notion.

Last reviewed: 1 October 2026.

Found something wrong or missing? Email hello@thehumbleai.com. We read everything.

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