Twice in the past, I have been "the guy" that one of the investors brought in to walk around and do a look-see. Among my recommendations, one of them, both times, was to fire every top level manager that wasn't you. There is no reason that current and potential future investors can not be kept in the loop with a one-page email once a week or once a month.

Despite my personal record for failing to do so 5 times out of 10, the core recipe is not that hard: build a product that solve a problem that people would be willing to pay to have solved and get them to hit the "buy" button.