In this blog post, we are going to talk about how can you find seed investors…

First things first, when you build your product and prepare your pitch deck… Finally calculated how much money your startup needs… Now it is time to look for an investor…

With angels, you should mostly go local in your own country… Preferably in your city… Even just look for the angels’ portfolios and choose the angels who have invested in the same market as yours previously…

If you cant succeed then you can start to enlarge your perimeter…

And look for the angles worldwide… It is very useful when you are approaching foreign angels to check their portfolios… Because some investors like to invest globally… You should target those investors first…

Bear in mind, that the investor ecosystem is small… And most of them are contacted with each other…

This is not a disadvantage most of the time… If one angel doesn’t want to invest in your company maybe he/she can introduce you to another angel… Feel free to ask them if you get a no as an answer…

Strategies to Get in Contact with Investors

Now I will share the 5 strategies to get in contact with angel investors…

There are quite a few online platforms to serve investment needs… Not all of them are perfect but you can always try those platforms to reach out to investors… And I will share the best ones you can try…

AngelList.co is the first one… It is the veteran of investment platforms… The Angel.co list both startups and angels… It looks like finding talents for your startup is much easier on this platform but still, there are lots of angels there, you can get in contact with…

The second one is www.angelinvestmentnetwork.us This is a network of 180.000 different angels listed… You should even be able to find some investors locally… A huge database…

Gust is another platform worth mentioning… They have a globally decent database… Also, you can reach accelerators and incubators through this platform…

Lastly, CrunchBase and Linkedin… CrunchBase is a website where you can find the startups’ information in there… Just check the similar startups and have a look at their investors… Then you can go to Linkedin and try to reach out to those investors… Ideally through your common connections…

Other than those platforms, there are other ways to reach the angels… And Angels Groups are one of them…

Every big city has those groups of angels… They like working together as I said before… They are generally easy to find on the internet… You can just google “city name” plus “angel network” together…

If you can’t find them you can always ask the first angel you meet… Probably he/she is also a member of an angel group…

Another way to find investors is through events and meetups…

This is all about going to the events and meeting with as many as people who could be potential investors… Or you can attend those events to tell about your startup and try to get the attention of the investors…

Using Linkedin as a lone source to find angel investors is very effective also…

as I previously mentioned… It is always better to be introduced to a common friend before you get in touch with them… So after finding an angel, it is best to look for a common friend… This way you can increase the chance of contacting the person you want to…

I know some people who removed their Angel Investors title because they get thousands of messages every day…

Lastly, tell everyone about your startup… You would never know who knows who… Even people you pretty sure that they are not investing, maybe they know someone who invests…

What you should do after getting in touch with an investor?

Ok, if you manage to contact an investor then what you should do?

The first contact will be usually written… Be short and direct… Don’t forget investors get tonnes of messages about startups…

Try to make your first message interesting.

One other thing, do not attach files in your mail… It can be stuck in the spam folder… the best way is to upload your documents to the cloud and share the link in your message…

Do not mass email the investors… They will understand that! Be unique and address the person to who you are sending the email…

Now let’s give an example of how an excellent message can look…

Choosing a subject line…

Do you remember from our previous lectures, what investors are interested in the most when they are investing?

Try to catch their attention with the most interesting info about your startup…

For example…

“Info about YourStartupName, Saas startup which has 1500 subs in 3 months… Looking for seed investment to grow 10X in the next 6 months”

“YourStartupName, just hit 500k ARR in 6 months, looking for investment…”

Why this is a good subject line? Because you have already shown tractions about your company… And stated you look for an investment to grow your business…

Be creative with your subject line… Focus on your startup achievements so far…

If you can’t come up with a good traction-focused subject line maybe you can write about the problem and solution you come up with… Like this…

“Info about YourStartupName, On-demand service for its users to find a cheaper, faster local short term accommodation, looking for a seed investment”

These are the two ways to get the attention of an investor through the subject line of your message…

So, now let’s focus on the body section of your message…

As we said, keep it as short as possible… Do your research about the investor… Start telling them what you do… And emphasize why they should care… Don’t forget this message is all about them, not you… Put yourself into the investors’ shoes… And finally, try to set up a conversation… A call to action…

Just like this…

Hi (TheirName)

I am (YourName) and I am an entrepreneur for XX years…

My startup (StartupName) solves (TheProblem) problem in a (TheSolution) way… We have earned (Traction) in X time… also we have managed (Traction)…

I noticed that you are investing in (Markets) from your portfolio…

This is our company’s pitch deck (Link)…

If you are suitable, I would like to introduce you to our company in 10 minutes, over a video call…

Best
(yourName)

Lastly, what every you claim in your message be ready to back those up… Always do your homework… Always be ready to pitch your idea to someone…

Feel free to contact me if you have startup investment-related questions.