There are 3 basic ways to connect with investors.
Top Events. Like anything, the top events work. The rest, not so much. The #1 event for seed VCs is YC Demo Day. But all good demo days bring out some top-tier investors.
PR. Yes, PR works with VCs. Get top startup websites and magazines to write about You. Have top influences write about your app. This won’t get everyone’s attention. But it often gets some.
Warm Intros. These work in any types of sales, and they work in selling stock especially well. VCs are looking for signals. There are just so, so many early-stage start-ups, so you are looking for signals it maybe, just maybe, can be a unicorn. A top signal is when someone a VC truly respects says “this startup is amazing.” That works. It gets a meeting, like 50%+ of the time. But — many of us don’t have the right connections to get top warm intros. So …
Cold Emails. Yes, these do work. But the email has to be great. Here’s the thing. Yes, most VCs would like to fund a company with the most signals, the top warm intro, the best acceleration, the best everything. But — almost every VC reads any amazing email they get. This is the same in most categories of sales. VCs are in email all day long. If you send a mediocre email, or just ask for coffee … you’ll get no response. But if it’s the best, targeted, carefully crafted, incredibly compelling email — it will at least get read. And it may even get a meeting. Try to get contact details from platforms like Linkedin.
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