I made a last minute trip up to Boston to go see Mere (@ptrain) because we hadn't seen each other in a while. We weren't planning on seeing each other after Christmas and we were both insanely busy, but I made time to go up anyway.
So, when she brought up the fact that I wasn't doing some of the little things, like asking her how her day was enough or wishing her good luck on her finals, I was kind of thrown. In typical male fashion, my first response was, "But I drove all the way up here!" and "But you don't even care about your grades...you're not going to law school...you don't need the ranking!"
I totally didn't get it... not until I compared it to my own experience with our angels, who are pretty good at this kind of thing. A week or two ago, Pete and Josh just "checked in" to see how we were... not to pressure us, but just to see if there was anything they could do for us and just to catch up. When the Silicon Alley list came out, I got a note from Fred saying that he was more excited that I got on it than being on it himself.
Little emails...they just take two seconds to write, but sometimes they feel just as important as any money we got from these folks, introduction they could make, or strategy they could advise on.
When you're in any kind of relationship, be it dating or an investment, its easy to mark time with big events--board meetings, anniversaries, vacations, launches... but what does the relationship feed on in between? Neither startup life, or, in my case, long distance relationship life, is easy. Sometimes you need a little quick fix to keep you going... cheap love.
I'm generally no good at cheap love in relationships. It feels too easy... a text message, a rote "How was your day?" I'm a big things kinda guy, but now I get it. You just want a ping every now and then just to let you know that the other person is still out there, still thinking about you, and still excited to be part of this relationship.
Send your significant other or angel investment some cheap love today!