Landing Investors

The Ultimate Guide on How to Find an Investor and Get a Meeting

Which is harder – finding an investor and getting a meeting or closing the investment? You might get different answers from different Founders. This guide was put together to give you tips and best practices for finding and approaching investors to increase your chances of getting a meeting.

If you have any further questions or need help putting together any of the materials, talk to me!

Do your Homework First

Go to their LinkedIn, Blog and Website – Get to know the investor or firm. How do they ask to be pitched? Do they have a link you can submit to? Do they say no cold emails?
Make a Spreadsheet – Once you’ve narrowed it down, keep a spreadsheet to track all efforts to reach out and notes on any interactions so you can keep track now and for next round.
Know Who You’re Reaching Out to – Avoid faux pas – get the spelling of their name right, find out if it’s a man or a woman, know that they are still actively investing.
Have Your Investment Materials Primed and Ready! – Before you even start reaching out, have a great Investor Deck , a Send-Out or Teaser Deck – (5–8 ESSENTIAL slides to send out) and a great intro blurb that briefly tells who you are and why they should meet you.

How To Reach Out to Investors? (From Worst to Best)

1. Cold Emails – Some investors respond to every email they’re sent, some won’t even open an unsolicited mail. The good news is – it doesn’t hurt to try – because if they don’t even open the mail they won’t know who you are and you can try another way.
2. Pitch Events/Competitions – There are often investors on the panels and in the audience so the exposure could be good, but most investors say it’s rare they invested in a company that they met this way.
3. Demo Days – If you are in a reputable accelerator like YCombinator or Alchemist on the West Coast and ERA on the East, you have a good chance of investors not only coming to your Demo Day, but actually meeting you sooner to hear your pitch.
4. Warm Intros – Investors often see connecting with them as part of the quest. How you get to them wins you points, and there are several ways to get warm intros:

A Trusted Advisor (lawyer, accountant, service provider, advisor) in their network
Another Investor in their network that you might not be a good fit for due to stage, sweet spot, competing portfolio company, etc.
A Founder they’ve already invested in. This is inarguably the best way! Try to seek out and create relationships with experienced Founders. Get advice, ask for mentoring, perhaps to join your company as an advisor and then, hopefully a referrer to their Investors.

Look for people in your alumni network, intros through friends, through your LinkedIn connections. Yes, people are busy, but they were once in your shoes and probably got help from more experienced entrepreneurs. Hopefully you’ll find people with the “Pay it Forward” spirit.

Move Fast!

The minute you start fundraising, you’ve put an “expiration date” on yourself. If you’ve been raising for over 6 months, investors will start to wonder why it’s taking so long and this is not a good signal.

There are many factors to getting an Angel Investment – chemistry, timing, great team, great product, huge market and more. The more prepared you are for the process, the better your chances of landing a successful meeting are. If you want to make sure you have stellar investment materials – talk to me!