How to use an investor list: A guide for startups

Lists of investors can be found in various places on the web. A good investor list can save you a ton of time and become an integral part of your fundraising process.
This is a guide on how to use an investor list effectively and efficiently. Follow these steps:

1. Start with a good list

Unfortunately, most investor lists circulating on the web are low quality. Others were originally well-researched and useful, but have been circulating for years, making them obsolete. A poorly researched investor list is useless since it will fail to fulfill its most basic promise - to save you time on your investor research. With a bad list, a good portion of the investors included in it are no longer relevant, the links are broken, etc. You end up spending a lot of time checking each item on an investor list yourself, Don't do that - you might as well look up investors on your own and create a tailored list for yourself. This can be done very effectively on LinkedIn and Sales Navigator, on platforms like Crunchbase, and even on the web. However, that too takes a lot of time. 

So the first step to using an investor list effectively is to get a good list: one that has been well researched, is clean from broken links and other bugs, and is up to date. Of course, our lists do meet these standards.

2. Research each VC fund, angel group, and family office you find on the list: 

Never blindly reach out to every investor on the list. Instead, read the descriptions, and check for a match with your domain, stage, and location. You might need to do some further research by visiting the investors' websites and LinkedIn pages, etc.

3. Go to each investor's company page on LinkedIn

Go to the investors' LinkedIn company pages (our lists include the LinkedIn URL). Then press on the “people” tab,  and identify the decision-makers. Reach out to them one at a time (see next).
Note that in a VC fund, the ones calling the shots are the general partners (GP). Analysts, associates, and venture partners can be helpful but only if you can get them to forward your pitch to the the general partners. 

4. Try to find a way to get introduced

Check if you have any mutual contacts who can introduce you to one of the GPs or decision-makers. If you don't have a way to get introduced to them, see if you can attend an event they participate in. 

 5. If you can't get an intro, connect directly on LinkedIn - but do it strategically

If you can't find a way to connect via an intro or in person: start by reaching out to one of the partners, on LinkedIn. Ideally, you should find someone who is your second-level contact on LinkedIn and an active LinkedIn user. If possible, engage lightly with their content and then reach out with a connection request on LinkedIn. Once they accept it, send them a message. 

If none of the GPs in a VC are your 2nd-level contacts on LinkedIn, find one with a Premium account badge on their profile, and send them an inmail inside LinkedIn. 

If you get no response after a day or two, reach out to the next decision maker or general partner in that VC.

Important: Do not send too many messages and connection requests too fast, since LinkedIn might restrict you. You probably shouldn’t exceed 10-15 connection requests and another 10-20 messages per business day. If you use LinkedIn daily, consider getting a Sales Navigator or a Premium LinkedIn account. 

6. If nothing else works - go generic:

If you aren't getting any response on LinkedIn, as a last resort, consider the generic way to reach out to these investors. Go to their website, find their contact form or email, and reach out (our lists include the contact email too).

Check out our curated, downloadable lists of active investors.