Building Relationships With Potential Investors

𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧/𝙁𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙁𝙞𝙩? 👇🏽 I spent the weekend reflecting on my own experience, first working with investors as a founder and now engaging with founders as an investor. Hopefully, these thoughts will help you do due diligence on your potential investors. Choosing investors is as important as choosing your co-founders. In the early stages, you’ll be spending a lot of time with them, so you need an ally. Founder–funder disputes are common, but divorce is painful in startups. Never prioritise money; always aim for partnership, conviction, and alignment. Here’s a framework I follow when we invest: 𝙄𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙋𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙮 Understand how the investor defines success and where your company fits within their strategy. This shows whether they’re patient capital or chasing quick returns, and how much conviction they’ll have when things get tough. It’s about seeing if your long-term view aligns with theirs. 𝘿𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣-𝙈𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 You need clarity on how decisions are made, by whom, and how fast. Some funds have deep investment committees, others move on instinct. Knowing this helps you plan your fundraising timeline and avoid surprises. 𝙋𝙤𝙨𝙩-𝙄𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙄𝙣𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 Money is easy; partnership isn’t. You need to know whether they’ll be active mentors, passive supporters, or micromanagers. Their level of involvement should match what you actually want, not what they assume you need. 𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙍𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙨 How investors behave during hard times matters more than when things go well. Ask questions that reveal how they handle conflict, underperformance, or pivots. It shows whether they treat founders as partners or portfolio assets. 𝘾𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 Follow-on strategy and signalling risk can make or break future rounds. Understand how much they can or will support you if things go sideways or skyrocket, and how they behave when they choose not to reinvest. 𝘼𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 You’re not looking for validation; you’re checking whether they truly understand what you’re building and why it matters. Alignment ensures they’ll have conviction through market cycles and won’t push you towards short-term outcomes. 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 Strong relationships rely on clear communication. Learn their preferred style, whether structured updates or informal check-ins, and how they react to bad news. Set expectations early for honesty on both sides. 𝙍𝙚𝙥𝙪𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙁𝙞𝙩 Every investor has a reputation among founders and other VCs. Do your backchannel checks. How they handle board tension, layoffs, or exits reveals their true character. You’re assessing fit as much as credibility. I hope this is helpful. If you have any questions or clarifications, comment below. #gew #investors #founders

During my career, I’ve secured tens of millions in funding. But looking back there are some things I wish I’d known before I started. Here are four tips I’ve learned the hard way about approaching potential investors with your business idea: 1️⃣ Know your numbers inside out Investors want to see not just passion but also a deep understanding of your business model. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a “numbers person”. Frankly neither am I. I just work hard to master them. Be prepared to discuss your financials in detail: multi-year revenue projections, cost of sales, fixed expenses, and break-even points. Comfort with your numbers demonstrates that you’ve done your homework and are serious about your venture. 2️⃣ Tailor your pitch to the specific investor Not all investors are created equal. Research who you're pitching to and adjust your message accordingly. What do they value? What sectors do they invest in? Who else have they backed and why? Use part of your pitch meeting to ask them about their history and motivations. This is absolutely not about changing your business plan or finances, but thinking about what you emphasise to align your narrative with their interests. 3️⃣ Have a clear exit strategy Investors will back enterprises for all sorts of reasons: a passion for the sector, enthusiasm for the founder, or market potential. But the number one reason they’ll back you is to yield an attractive rate of return. Be ready to discuss how and when they’ll make money from investing in you. Whether it’s through acquisition, IPO, or another exit strategy, showing that you have a plan to return a multiple of their initial investment will instil confidence. It’s not just about the immediate future; it’s about how you envision the long-term growth of your business. 4️⃣ Practice your storytelling People connect with stories, not just facts and data - important as those are. Use storytelling to convey your vision, the problem your business solves, and why you’re the right person to tackle it. A compelling narrative that links to the forecast performance of your business will engage investors emotionally, making them more likely to remember you and your pitch long after the meeting is over. What’s your experience of pitching for funding? What are you still wary of with investors? Share your tips or questions in the comments below!

Most searchers wait until they're under LOI to start talking to investors - DO NOT DO THIS. That's not fundraising. That’s panicking. Even thinking about raising millions of dollars in 90 days without a network or prior relationships gives me shivers. Easy way to set yourself up for failure. Leave you with a great deal on the table but no ability to close it without equity. Here’s a much better path… Searchers who have already built relationships with investors before an LOI close a higher % of deals than searchers who do not. Plain and simple. It’s always a green flag for us when someone is raising let’s say $2M, and they’ve already raised the first $500k - $1M. They walk into a deal with a ton of momentum, social proof, and support. Rather than trying to build it all from scratch when they should be doing due diligence. Another benefit is that having a wide selection of investors to choose from actually helps you grow the business faster than just taking people’s money because dollars is the only thing you’re focused on. 2 types of investors… a) some investors who you may not want to deal with, who are overburdensome and overinvolved b) some investors will have strong industry experience or relationships/partners who can give you an advantage you might otherwise not have if you’re just focused on raising a $ amount Having a strong network gives you a higher chance of finding type B investors and will help you avoid type A investors. My advice is to start building relationships 6 months before you need capital To do this, you have to start with a definition of your investor profile. Do you want passive checks or strategic partners? A few large investors or many small ones? Know who you’re trying to talk to so you can find the right person with a strong intention of why they should talk to you. Then, get on intro phone calls and then create consistent touchpoints. I follow several searchers who send monthly updates to their investor list. They share deals they're evaluating, why they passed on opportunities, market trends they're seeing. Investors loooove this. When you’re getting ready to raise, they will already understand how you think and make decisions. They’ll already know you, and you don’t actually have to manage 40+ investors 1:1… Just write the same email update to all of them Next step - get them involved in your process "Hey, I'm looking at this HVAC business but don't know much about commercial contracts. Can you give me some pointers? Suddenly they're not just a check writer — they're a thought partner. Most investors enjoy that role. And before you assume they’re onboard, you have to establish soft commitments early on. Ask about check sizes, deal criteria, decision timelines, etc. Nobody likes surprises, so get ahead of the ball and give them lots of heads up. If anyone has any other tips on building investor relationships, drop them in the comments

Nobody handed me a network. Most people think warm intros are about who you know. They're really about what you've built over time. Here's how to start from zero. 👇 Step 1 — Get clear on which investors you actually want to reach Not all VCs are the right fit. Research fund stage, sector focus, cheque size, and portfolio before you approach anyone. A targeted list of 20 right investors beats a spray of 200 wrong ones. Step 2 — Start with angels, not VCs Angels move faster, require less proof, and make introductions to institutional investors when the time is right. Getting one respected angel on board is often your fastest path into a VC's inbox. Step 3 — Write publicly about your space Share what you're learning as a founder. Post about your market, your observations, your failures. Investors follow people who think clearly in public. Content is a long-game warm intro. Step 4 — Build relationships before you need money The worst time to introduce yourself to an investor is when you're raising. The best time is six months before. Share an update. Ask a genuine question. Show up without an agenda first. Step 5 — Get into the right communities Founder communities, accelerator networks, and operator groups are where warm introductions actually happen. Find two or three that matter in your space and go deep, not wide. Step 6 — Earn the intro through a shared connection The most powerful intro comes from a founder the investor already backed. Help that founder with something real. Add value before you ask for anything. The intro will follow naturally. Step 7 — Follow up like a human, not a funnel One thoughtful message beats five generic ones. Reference something specific. Show that you paid attention. Investors remember the founders who treated them like people. Building a network takes time. But it compounds. The founders who start early always raise easier. Save this. You'll need it sooner than you think. ♻️ Share with a founder who's building from zero. 888vc

Most founders don't have a fundraising problem. They have an investor-relations problem. After reviewing 200+ pitches this year, I see the same four patterns killing deals before they start: 🚩 One email and done. You fire off a cold LinkedIn message, get silence, and assume "they're not interested." Reality check: I get 50+ messages a week. Sometimes your timing just sucks. Sometimes I'm traveling. Sometimes I'm deep in due diligence on another deal. If you give up that fast with investors, what does that say about how you'll sell to enterprise customers who take 6 months to decide? 🚩 Taking "no" as a verdict, not data. You'll likely get 99 no's for every yes. That's the math. The question is: Did you improve your story, numbers, and deck after each no? Or did you just feel insulted and move on? Every pass I give includes a reason. "Too early." "Market's too crowded." "Unit economics don't work yet." Those aren't insults. They're facts to examine. The founders who succeed treat every rejection like user feedback. They iterate. They come back stronger. The ones who fail treat rejection like judgment. 🚩 Disappearing after the pass. "I like you, but not yet" is not a brush-off. It's an opening. Last month, I reopened conversations with a founder I passed on twice. Why? Because she sent me quarterly updates for 18 months. Short emails. Three bullets. Key metrics. By the third update, her ARR had tripled. Her churn dropped 40%. Her story got sharper. Most founders vanish after hearing "no." They treat investors like failed ATMs instead of future allies. The smart ones stay visible. Send progress updates. Ask specific questions. Build trust before they need the check. 🚩 Trying to raise without a network. You ignore pitch events, warm intros, and LinkedIn until you "need money." Then you panic and spray cold emails everywhere. Your real goal: Build enough relationships that most intros are warm, not cold. The last five checks I wrote came from warm intros in my network.   Relationships compound. Start building them before you need them. Early-stage investing is relationships, trust, and gut-feel layered on top of the numbers. Your deck might be perfect. Your metrics might be solid. But if you can't manage basic investor relations, you're telling me something about how you'll handle everything else. Customer relationships. Team dynamics. Board management. It's all the same skill: staying engaged when things don't go your way. The founders who win understand this: Fundraising isn't a transaction. It's a relationship game played over years, not weeks. The best time to build investor relationships? When you don't need the money. The second best time? Right now. Which of these four habits do you need to fix first? Come for the posts, stay for the comments.

The best pitch in the world won't raise money if you don't have the right relationships. I used to believe that if you nailed your slides and rehearsed your story, the money would come. After raising $11 million for my companies and working with thousands of founders and investors, I know that's backwards. Here's what actually matters, and what we teach founders at Scroobious: 1️⃣ Lead with your origin story. Investors fund people, not pitches. Start with your lived experience and why this problem matters to *you*. That's what builds trust. 2️⃣ Make your pitch discoverable. A deck in someone's inbox gets skimmed (at best). A short, clear video of you sharing your story gets remembered. Show up in the right places - on platforms where investors are already looking for founders like you. 3️⃣ Invite low-stakes interaction. Instead of "pitch and pray," we help founders create guided moments where investors can respond, react, and engage without the pressure of a yes or no. 4️⃣ Focus on relationships, not just rounds. The goal isn't the check. It's the network that helps you build, grow, and keep raising over time. Fundraising isn't about performing. It's about being discoverable, relatable, and consistent. For "The Rest of Us" - the founders and investors who've been overlooked by traditional networks - these relationships are everything. They're how we unlock opportunity, shift capital flow, and reshape who gets to build and back the future. What's one way you've built real relationships around your work? Let's all learn from each other. 👇

According to Vinod Khosla, 90% of venture capital investors add no significant value to startups. In my experience, this is accurate. But those few investors - 1 out of every 7 - could play a huge role in the success of your venture. Investors add value when they provide strategic guidance, access to networks, and support during difficult, uncertain, or low periods in a startup's journey. With a key introduction or conversation, a value-added investor can turbo-charge your start-up. Here’s how to identify and cultivate your relationships with value-add investors: 1. Communicate early and often - Investors want to help but they are busy and need to choose where they spend time wisely. It starts with how well the founders communicate with investors. Frequent communication creates trust and transparency between founder and investors. In the first year, send out an investor update every single month. And don’t just share what’s going well… be honest about the risks and challenges you face. Transparency builds trust. 2. Actually ask for help - I know this isn’t revolutionary, but many founders don’t do it. Be specific in what you need and how investors can help. Ask for introductions to talent or early customers. Ask for specific advice on a certain part of the business, looking for investors with operating experience in that area. In each investor update, curate a short list of Asks for investors. For example, “We are hiring a GTM lead, a full-stack engineer, and a designer. If you know anyone in your network, we would love an intro.” 3. Acknowledge the investors who help - Founders aren’t required to follow advice from investors, but they should at least listen to the advice and consider it. Then, if you follow through on the advice, update the investor on the results. You can also use your monthly update to acknowledge investors who pitched in. For example, “Shout out to Allison who introduced us to Jerry, our new engineer.” This might encourage other investors to pitch in more. 4. Treat investor relationships as long-term partnerships - Do your best to take care of your early investors as you raise more money down the line. Dilution is inevitable, but there are ways to manage your cap table where your earliest backers don’t get screwed. Remember also that most investors will be interested in writing second checks if things are going well as it is smart to double down on your winners. Maintain good relations over time to keep this possibility alive. 5. The investors who add value will change over time - Early on, you may rely heavily on an angel investor for support and advice. But as you raise capital and scale you will naturally seek advice from your larger investors. This means the job of cultivating investor relationships is never done. You are constantly refining and curating that 15% of value-add investors. Founders- how do you find value-added investors?

Funding is the last thing a founder needs. There’s a myth I hear repeatedly while mentoring early-stage founders - “If I could just raise funds, everything would fall into place.” But every business failure I have witnessed, including my own early ones, didn’t occur due to lack of money. The set-backs were due to lack of the right people, advice, support and networks. When I started my first venture two decades ago, I believed money would solve everything. I was wrong. Within months, I realized we didn’t need capital alone, we needed clarity, customers and collaborators. We needed someone who had walked the road before us. We needed guidance, not investment. That experience changed the way I see entrepreneurship. Today, when I sit across a founder who says they need capital, I ask them - “If I gave you funding today, do you have the people to help you use it well?” Because funding without the right network is like fuel without an engine. Some of the fastest-growing founders I know started without investors. They leveraged community, mentors, collaboration, referrals and relationships. They didn’t chase capital. Capital came to them. Before asking for funding, ask yourself: ● Who believes in what I’m building? ● Who can open doors I can’t open alone? ● Who can I learn from, without ego? ● Who are my first 10 champions? In the real world, investors don’t invest in ideas alone, they invest in networks. Raise relationships before you raise rounds. The compounding effect will surprise you. Tag someone who has been your friend and your mentor all along. #FoundersJourney #StartupWisdom #EntrepreneurMindset #BuildYourNetwork #RelationshipsOverCapital

❓How I Raised $2.7M in seed funding as a First-Time, Non-Ivy League, Non-Tech, Female, Immigrant Founder! It took me 219 investor calls to get 29 YES’s! There are no shortcuts but here are 10 tips: 💎 Show Up When you have no connections in the VC space, you gotta build your brand from scratch. Generic mass emails won’t cut it! Build in public! I joined virtual pitch competitions, Twitter Spaces, and documented my founder journey on social media. Pick a platform (LinkedIn is now more active for investors unless you’re in web3) and share your story with authenticity. 🐐 “Ask for money, get advice. Ask for advice, get money twice.” ~ Pitbull Building relationships starts before you’re fundraising and continues after you close. Seek advice, do your research, and ask meaningful questions. 🤛🏽 Give First Even as a founder, you can add value to investors. Share helpful intros, summarize their blogs as a Twitter thread, or promote their work to other founders. Build goodwill—it matters. 🚫 No = Not Now You’ll hear a TON of Nos but a handful of them are actually Not Now’s. After every rejection: 1. Ask why, and look for patterns in VC responses; feedback is a gift! 2. Get permission to add them to your investor updates ✅ Send Investor Updates Start sending updates before you have investors. Investors don’t just back ideas; they back momentum. Show your traction and progress, CONSISTENTLY (attaching a link to our 2024 investor update in the comments) 🚝 Accelerators/Incubators I applied to every program that came with funding. Our first $25K came from OCEAN Programs, which helped us build our MVP in 6 weeks. This momentum led to more funding. (Pro tip: watch out for scammy programs!) 💡 VCs Don’t Owe You Money Remember, you’re competing for a spot in their portfolio. Venture capitalists see startups as an asset class, and parking their money in your company for 5-7 years comes with real opportunity costs. It’s your job to de-risk the investment and clearly demonstrate the potential multiplier effect and returns. Show them why your startup is the best bet for their capital. 🤩 Leverage Optionality Complement your fundraising efforts with tools like ECF or grants! It’s a great way to raise funds, build community, and showcase traction. 💥 Fundraising is a Founder’s Job Storytelling needs the founder’s passion. You can’t outsource that fire in the belly, it’s on you to build belief. 🎯 Fundraising is Not the Goal—Revenue Is Exhilarating as it maybe, raising VC capital isn’t the finish line; it’s fuel for the journey. The ultimate goal is to build a sustainable, revenue-generating business. Happy Fundraising! P.S: this is not a fundraising announcement; we closed our seed round in 2023 & are now on a path to profitability followed by a Series A later this year!

As an investor and founder who has been on both sides of the table, I've witnessed countless first-time entrepreneurs stumble during investor meetings. Here's my straightforward guide to nailing your first investor meeting: 1. Do your homework on investors. Research their portfolio, investment thesis, and recent deals. Value your time and avoid pitching to investors who never invest in your sector or stage. 2. Perfect your elevator pitch. You need a clear, compelling 30-second explanation of what your company does. If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. 3. Know your numbers thoroughly. Revenue projections, burn rate, market size, and key metrics should be at your fingertips. Nothing undermines credibility faster than fumbling with basic figures. 4. Focus on the problem first. Start with the pain point you're addressing, not your solution. Investors need to understand why this matters before they care about how you solve it. 5. Bring evidence, not promises. Present traction, early customers, patents, or prototype results. Concrete proof points are more significant than future projections. 6. Listen more than you talk. Pay attention to investors' questions and concerns. Their feedback often reveals what is most important to them. 7. Be honest about risks. Address potential challenges upfront. Trying to conceal weaknesses makes you appear naive or dishonest. Show how you plan to mitigate risks. 8. Keep your deck concise. Limit it to 10-15 slides maximum. Focus on what matters: problem, solution, business model, team, and financials. 9. Have a clear ask. Know exactly how much you're raising, what it's for, and your planned milestones. Be prepared to discuss valuation and terms. 10. Build a personal connection. Good investors invest in people, not just ideas. Show your passion, demonstrate your team's expertise, and be authentic in your interactions. What's the most valuable lesson you've learned from your own fundraising journey? #startups #venturecapital #fundraising #entrepreneurship #investors #pitch