How to contact an Angel Investor/VC?
As investors, we are approached by many people asking for money. VCs usually receive thousands of pitch decks per year, angel investors at least a couple of hundreds. However, on average VCs and angels are investing in not more than five to ten startups each year.
When you approach an investor, try to make the best possible first impression. Here is some short advice:
- Bad idea: cold messaging investors without any personalization (“startup spam”)
- Better: cold messaging investors with a highly-personalized message (Hi Florian, I ‘ve read your latest blog post about .... and heard you speaking on the panel about ... this morning.)
- Good: get an intro to the investor from a shared contact (LinkedIn is your friend)
- Best: get an intro to the investor from a successful(!) founder of a startup from the investor’s portfolio (this usually leads to a 99% chance of having a meeting or phone call with the investor)
Best practice: Get a lead investor first, negotiate the terms with the lead investor (signed term sheet) and then look for other investors with the help of your lead investor!
Alternative: Bootstrap your company, build an amazing product, get paying customers and generate revenue. Wait till investors start cold emailing you and are begging to invest in your company!
Jun 20, 2018 by Florian Huber