Having raised several rounds before, I knew I had to trust the process. My plan was to target around 200 investors. Typically, one-third wouldn’t respond, one-third would pass without taking a call, and one-third would agree to a first meeting. From about 70 first calls, half would show some interest, and 10-15 would lean in with real excitement.

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Fundraise as a Process

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I used to work in the insurance industry, where process is everything. As an engineer by training, I’ve always been drawn to reverse engineering outcomes, and fundraising is no different. I start by asking: what needs to be true to land 2-3 strong term sheets? In my experience, that means having 10-15 genuinely excited investors, which requires around 70 first calls. To get those calls, I need to target about 200 qualified investors, knowing that roughly one-third won’t respond, one-third will pass without taking a meeting, and one-third will agree to a first call. Of those, most will say no, and that’s fine. The No’s are part of the path.

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In the context of fundraising, I view every “No” as a stepping stone toward landing that term sheet. Most raise processes follow this pattern.

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In my process, the first and most critical step is building a broad but targeted top of funnel. For each investor, I look for key signals: do they have a track record of leading rounds? Have they invested in our space before? Have they been active in recent quarters? Do they have any competitive conflicts? Are they stage-appropriate?

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The second step is driving strong conversion, which comes down to two things: (a) clear communication and warm introductions from mutual contacts, and (b) compelling materials, with a heavy emphasis on the deck and data room. The best decks don’t just tell your story, they teach something new and make your strategy feel both unique and inevitable.

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Selling an Apartment

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For first-time founders, I often suggest thinking about fundraising the same way you’d approach selling an apartment. To get the best price, and to actually close the deal, you wouldn’t limit yourself to just 3-5 potential buyers. You’d try to get in front of as many qualified people as possible. And just as importantly, you’d focus on the right buyers, ones whose preferences align with what you’re selling. If you own a downtown apartment, your best bet is someone who values location. Someone hunting for a large backyard probably isn’t your buyer.

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The more people you engage, and the more targeted and precise your outreach, the higher your chances of closing the deal. Nail the process, and that’s how you get the best price.

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Disclosure: David raised the round in under two months. Shortly after closing the term sheet, he made an unsolicited angel investment in Metal, simply because he was genuinely excited about the product. Metal remains the only product he’s ever used as a customer before investing in as an angel.

As a first-time founder, I knew two things – I had to learn about fundraising and had to find a way to get to know people who in turn knew the people that invested in startups. I started my fundraise by figuring out the former part first.

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Learning the Pre-Seed Dynamic

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I started my approach by first digging into Metal’s product documentation and content sections. I first learned the perspective that the pre-seed landscape is unique (given the limited number of investors specialising at this stage). I learned about investor expectations at pre-seed and how to zoom in on the “most likely” investors.

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On pitching investors and developing the right collateral, I was lucky and fortunate to have access to terrific mentors within the Telora ecosystem. In that context, I found myself in a unique position whereby I had the guidance and recommendations of mentors that were invested in my success financially and that had traveled the same path before.

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Building the Right Pipeline

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With access to Metal, I found it particularly straightforward to build out my pipeline. I relied on data to first identify institutional investors that specialised in pre-seed and that were particularly active. Specifically, I used %_Investments_at_Pre-seed for the former, and 12mo_Deal_Count for the latter.

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After identifying investors, I spent some time qualifying them through a three-step process. I first evaluated their investments that were most similar to my Company to assess if it was a good fit. This allowed me to eliminate a lot of investors that were focused on deep tech or other niche sectors.

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Subsequently, I looked at the geographical breakdown of investors to eliminate ones that weren’t focused on North America. And finally, I looked for investors that had done a lot of work in the “B2B Software” sector.

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Through this process, I identified Afore VC that had done a lot of work in the B2B Software space, that was focused on North America, and that was super active in leading pre-seed rounds. I wouldn’t have identified Afore if it weren’t for Metal.

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Building Access to the Right Investors

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Before starting the raise, I knew I had to connect with people that knew the people that invested in startups. Using the relationship intelligence and intro pathways within Metal, I identified VC-backed founders that I knew that had raised pre-seed rounds.

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The Gmail and LinkedIn integrations within Metal were a true game-changer. Through these integrations, I found another Telora company that knew Haven, a startup whose founders were connected with many VCs, including a principal from Afore VC.

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In total, I had less than 30 conversations (of which only about 10-15 were calls with investors). By following a super focused approach, I was able to close our pre-seed round within the first four weeks of getting started.

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In hindsight, I believe our process and overall raise effort would have been particularly directionless if we weren’t using the right software to identify, qualify and access investors.

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Zephyr Technologies is a sports analytics startup that assists sports teams with using statistical insights to drive strategy. With software processes that can find any clip from the game and that can replay specific videos, Zephyr enhances coaching decisions and team performance.

For most sectors, there is a small set of investors that specialises within that space. Such investors are easy to identify by virtue of their historical investing pattern, which shows a large percentage of total investments in a given sector. In the below post, we distinguish between sector familiarity and specialisation (while also explaining how B2B Software is a unique mega sector).

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Familiarity vs. Specialisation

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Investors that are familiar with a given sector are ones that have made several investments in that space. As an example, investors that have made a minimum of "3" investments in Fintech are familiar with that sector. Such investors can be easily identified using the "Minimum # of Investments in Selected Sectors" filter.

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Investors that specialise within a given sector are ones that are concentrating their overall investments portfolio within that space. As an example, investors that have made 10%+ of their total portfolio investments in Fintech are specialising in that space. Such investors can be easily identified using the "Minimum % of Investments in Selected Sectors" filter.

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Our product documentation brings further clarity on how to identify and when to pursue investors that specialise in a given sector (versus ones that are familiar with it).

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Historically, founders have relied on word of mouth to identify sector specialists. As the venture landscape matures, founders are increasingly relying on empirical data to determine sector specialists. This is best achieved via two distinct methodologies.

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Pursuing Sector Specialists

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In our conversations with thousands of founders that are actively raising, we observe a pattern whereby founders report high-fidelity and high-context conversations with investors that specialise within their sector. This trend seems to be most prominent with founders that are building in niche sectors (I.e. robotics, productivity software, etc.). Below, we have shared examples of sector specialists that have deep expertise within their spaces:
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• Goodwater Capital: With more than 30% investments in Consumer, Goodwater is best known for deep expertise and specialisation within Consumer.
• QED: With over 40%+ investments in Fintech, QED brings deep expertise within Fintech (enabling them to lead 50%+ of all Series A rounds in which they invest).

In most scenarios, founders find it particularly useful to engage with sector specialists that really understand the space and can engage from a position of deep industry knowledge. In some cases, however, it may become critical to pursue sector specialists:

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Recommended Treatment for B2B Software

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Historical data on venture activity shows that about ~70% of all rounds over the past decade came from companies building in the B2B Software segment. In the realm of B2B SaaS, companies should be able to target a broad variety of investment firms (as most investors are open to investing in B2B SaaS).

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Within B2B SaaS, however, there may be specific sub-sectors that require or benefit from sector specialisation. Examples may include enterprise software or productivity software whereby there may be important attributes that are unique to that sub-sector. Therefore, B2B SaaS founders might be best off considering investors that specialise within a given sub-sector.