My first investor list for PizzaPortal took two weeks to build. I copied fund names from Crunchbase. I pasted them into a spreadsheet. I had 80 names. I sent cold emails to all of them. I got three replies. Two said not interested. One said take me off your list. Zero meetings. Half the funds did not invest at pre-seed. A third were in the wrong sector. I had not checked. I had just built a list. Since then I have raised over €150 million across five companies. The biggest improvement was not warmer intros or better pitch decks. It was building the list right. Define criteria first. Qualify before adding. Organize by priority. This guide is what I wish I had known. Seven sources. How to qualify. How many you need. Common mistakes to avoid. Everything below comes from doing it wrong and then doing it right.
Define Your Criteria First
Before you add a single fund, define what you need. Four filters matter: stage, sector, geography, check size. Get these right. Everything else follows.
Stage. Pre-seed, seed, Series A. Be specific. A fund that does seed and Series A may not do pre-seed. A fund that did pre-seed five years ago may be seed only now. Check their recent investments. Not their website. Their website says they invest at all stages. Their portfolio says what they actually do. Use the portfolio. If their last 10 deals were seed and Series A, they are not doing pre-seed. Add them only if your stage matches. Wrong stage means zero chance. Waste of time for both of you.
Sector. B2B SaaS, fintech, healthtech, climate, AI. Be specific. A generalist fund may invest in your sector. But a sector-focused fund will care more. They have thesis. They have portfolio. They have pattern recognition. If you are in fintech, a fintech fund is a better fit than a generalist. Add both. But prioritize sector fits. A fund that invested in 5 fintech companies in the last year is warmer than a fund that invested in 5 random companies. Sector fit matters. Check their portfolio. Add funds that invest in your space.
Geography. Europe, US, UK, Germany, France. Be specific. Some funds invest only in their region. Some invest globally but prefer local. If you are in Berlin, German funds and European funds are warmer than US funds. US funds can work. But the bar is higher. They need a reason to look at Europe. Add funds that invest in your geography. If you are raising in Europe, prioritize European funds. If you are raising in the US, prioritize US funds. Geography is not a hard filter. But it is a filter. Wrong geography means lower conversion. Add them. But tier them lower.
Check size. €100K to €500K. €500K to €2M. €2M to €5M. Be specific. If you are raising €500K, a fund that writes €5M checks is wrong. They will not do a €500K deal. If you are raising €2M, a fund that writes €200K checks is wrong. They cannot lead. Check size matters. It determines who can lead and who can follow. Add funds that write checks in your range. Wrong check size means wrong fit. One fund writing 10x your round is useless. One fund writing 1x your round is useful.
Write these down before you start. Pre-seed. B2B SaaS. Europe. €500K. That is criteria. Use it to filter every fund. If a fund fails one filter, think twice before adding. If a fund fails two filters, skip. Criteria first. List second. I used to skip this step. I would search Crunchbase and add funds as I found them. No criteria. No filter. I ended up with 80 names and half were wrong. The criteria step takes 15 minutes. It saves you weeks. Do not skip it. Write the four filters. Stick to them. Your list will be smaller. It will be better. Quality before quantity. Always.
7 Sources for Building Your List
Once you have criteria, you need names. Seven sources that work.
1. Matching tools. Some tools let you fill in your profile (stage, sector, geography, check size) and return a ranked list of investors. You get a list in minutes instead of weeks. You add them to your pipeline and start reaching out. Investor matching works when you want speed. You define criteria. You get a list. You qualify and add. The list is pre-filtered. You still need to verify. But the heavy lifting is done. Use this when you want to move fast. When you have clear criteria. When you do not have time to scroll Crunchbase for two weeks.
2. Crunchbase. Filter by stage, sector, geography. Search for funds. Look at recent investments. Export to a spreadsheet. Crunchbase has millions of records. The data is broad. Not always accurate. Funds change focus. Partners leave. Check size shifts. Verify before adding. Crunchbase gives you raw material. You do the qualifying. Use this when you want maximum coverage. When you are willing to search and filter. When you have time to verify each fund.
3. Portfolio pages. Go to a fund you know invests in your space. Look at their portfolio. Look at the other investors in those companies. Co-investors often have similar thesis. If Fund A and Fund B co-invested in Company X, and Company X is like you, add Fund B. Rinse and repeat. Portfolio pages are a goldmine. They show who actually invests. Not who says they invest. Use this when you have a few anchor funds. When you want to find similar funds. When you have time to click through. One tip: start with a company like yours. A competitor or adjacent player. Look at who invested in them. Those investors already understand your space. They have pattern recognition. They are warmer than random funds from a database. Portfolio pages beat database search for relevance. Use both. Portfolio for quality. Database for quantity.
4. Your network. Other founders. Lawyers. Accountants. Ask who they used for their raise. Get warm intros where you can. Add the funds to your list. Your network gives you a curated set. It does not give you volume. Combine with other sources. Use your network for the top tier. Use search for the rest. Warm intros convert better than cold. Start with your network. Fill the gap with search.
5. Accelerator lists. Y Combinator, Techstars, 500 Startups. They publish investor lists. Alumni often share who invested in their batch. These lists are pre-filtered for early stage. They are not perfect. But they are a starting point. Add funds from accelerator lists. Verify stage and sector. Use this when you are pre-seed or seed. When you want a list built by people who have raised. When you need ideas fast. One tip: check which funds invest in multiple accelerator companies. A fund that invested in 5 YC companies is active in that ecosystem. They understand the stage. They have pattern recognition. Add those funds. They are warmer than funds that invested in one company five years ago. Activity and repetition matter.
6. AngelList and OpenVC. AngelList has angel and micro-VC profiles. OpenVC has fund data. Both are searchable. Both have filters. AngelList is strong for angels and smaller funds. OpenVC is strong for fund-level data. Use both. Cross-reference with Crunchbase. Use this when you are raising from angels. When you want to find micro-VCs. When you need data beyond the big platforms.
7. Conference speakers. Look at who speaks at startup conferences. SaaStr. Slush. Web Summit. Those speakers are often investors. They are active. They are visible. Add them. Verify they invest at your stage. Conference speakers are not always the right fit. But they are a signal. Active investors show up. Use this when you need more names. When you have exhausted other sources. When you want to find active investors.
Qualifying Before Adding
Do not add a fund until you have verified fit. Three checks: recent investments, fund stage, portfolio overlap.
Recent investments. Look at their last 5 to 10 deals. Stage. Sector. Geography. Check size. If their last 10 deals were Series A and you are pre-seed, skip. If their last 10 deals were US and you are Europe, tier them lower. Recent investments tell you what they actually do. Not what their website says. Use the data. Not the marketing.
Fund stage. Is the fund raising? Is the fund deployed? A fund that is raising fund two may be slow. They may not have capacity. A fund that just closed may be active. Check if you can. If you know a fund is in fundraise mode, tier them lower or put them in a come-back-later list. Fund stage affects capacity. Capacity affects response.
Portfolio overlap. Do they have a competitor? Do they have a company in your space? Portfolio overlap can be good or bad. Good: they understand the space. Bad: they may have a conflict. If they have a direct competitor, skip. If they have an adjacent company, that can be good. They know the space. Use judgment. Portfolio overlap is a signal. Not a rule.
Qualify before adding. A list of 30 qualified funds beats a list of 80 unqualified funds. Quality before quantity. Always. I used to add funds without checking. I would see a fund in Crunchbase that said they invest in B2B. I would add them. I would not check their recent deals. Half the time they had shifted to a different stage or sector. I wasted time. I burned credibility. Now I check before adding. Recent investments. Fund stage. Portfolio overlap. It takes 2 minutes per fund. It saves hours of wrong outreach. Qualify. Then add. The list will be smaller. It will convert better. That is the goal.
How Many You Need
Numbers vary by stage. These are benchmarks from five raises. Adjust for your market.
Pre-seed. You want 30 to 50 investors on your list to contact. From those you hope for 5 to 10 first meetings. From those you hope for 1 to 3 investors in the round. The funnel is wide. Many will not reply. Many will pass after the first call. You need volume. Build a list of 40 to 60. Qualify it down to 30 to 50. Contact all of them. Track conversion. If conversion from contact to meeting is below 15 percent, your list may be wrong. Or your outreach may need work. Fix the list or the message.
Seed. You want 50 to 80 on your list. From those you hope for 15 to 20 first meetings. From those you hope for 5 to 15 investors in the round. Seed rounds often have more participants. Smaller checks. More names. Build a bigger list. Qualify it. Contact in waves. Tier 1 first. Then Tier 2. Then Tier 3 if you need more.
Series A. You want 30 to 50 on your list. From those you hope for 10 to 20 first meetings. From those you hope for 1 to 3 term sheets. Series A is fewer but larger checks. The list is smaller. The process is longer. Each investor gets more attention. Build a focused list. Quality matters more than quantity at Series A. One note: these numbers assume you have a qualified list. If your list is wrong (wrong stage, wrong sector, wrong geography), your conversion will be low no matter how many you contact. Fix the list first. Then focus on volume. A pipeline of 50 wrong investors is worse than a pipeline of 30 right ones. Quality before quantity. But once the list is right, you need enough volume to fill the funnel. Do not stop at 15. You will run dry. Build the list. Qualify it. Contact. Track. Optimize.
Organizing by Tier
Not all investors are equal. Tier them. Tier 1: must contact. Tier 2: should contact. Tier 3: nice to contact. Use tiers to prioritize. When you have limited time, contact Tier 1 first. When you need more volume, add Tier 2. When you are still short, add Tier 3.
Tier 1. Perfect fit. Stage, sector, geography, check size. Portfolio overlap. Maybe a warm intro. These are your top targets. Contact them first. Spend the most time on outreach. Personalize. Reference portfolio companies. Get the intro if you can. Tier 1 should be 10 to 20 funds. Maybe 30 if you are seed. Not more. If you have 50 Tier 1 funds, your criteria are too broad. Tighten them.
Tier 2. Good fit. Maybe one filter is off. Wrong geography but right stage and sector. Or right everything but no warm intro. These are solid targets. Contact them after Tier 1. Less personalization. Still qualify. Still verify. Tier 2 should be 20 to 30 funds. Maybe 40 if you are seed. Use them to fill the funnel when Tier 1 is exhausted.
Tier 3. Possible fit. Two filters off. Or unknown. Worth a try. Contact them last. When you need more volume. When Tier 1 and 2 are done. Tier 3 can be 20 to 40 funds. Use them as backup. Do not spend as much time on Tier 3. Batch the outreach. Generic is fine. You are casting a wider net.
The tier system keeps you focused. When you have 80 names and no structure, you spray. When you have tiers, you prioritize. Tier 1 first. Then 2. Then 3. The best funds get the best outreach. The rest get good enough. That is the right order. I used to contact funds in the order I found them. First come, first served. That was wrong. The best funds deserve the best outreach. Personalization. Warm intros. Portfolio references. The Tier 2 and 3 funds get good outreach. But not the same effort. Tier 1 gets the most time. Tier 2 gets less. Tier 3 gets batch outreach. The tier system forces you to rank. Ranking forces you to focus. Focus increases conversion. The best funds convert at higher rates when you treat them as best. Tier them. Prioritize. Execute in order.
Common Mistakes
Too broad. Adding every fund that shows up in a search. No stage filter. No sector filter. No geography filter. You end up with 200 names. Half are wrong fit. You waste time. You burn credibility. Fix: define criteria first. Filter aggressively. A list of 40 right funds beats a list of 200 wrong funds. Tight criteria. Small list. High conversion. I made this mistake for PizzaPortal. I added every fund that showed up when I searched B2B. I had 200 names. I contacted 80. I got 3 replies. Half the funds did not invest at pre-seed. A third were in the wrong geography. I had not filtered. I had just added. The list was useless. Define criteria first. Then add. Not the other way around.
Too narrow. Adding only funds you have a warm intro to. Or only funds in your city. You end up with 10 names. You contact them. You get 2 meetings. You need 10. You run dry. Fix: broaden the list. Add cold targets. Add Tier 2 and Tier 3. You need volume. Warm intros are best. But you need more than warm intros. Mix warm and cold. Tier 1 can be warm. Tier 2 and 3 can be cold. Build a list big enough to fill the funnel. I made this mistake for SunRoof. I had 15 warm intros. I contacted only those. I got 4 meetings. I needed 15. I ran dry. I had to scramble to build a cold list. Do not rely on warm intros alone. Build a list that includes cold targets. You will need them. Better to have them ready than to build under pressure.
Not updating. Building a list once and never touching it. Funds change focus. Partners leave. Check sizes shift. A fund that invested in pre-seed last year may be seed only now. Your list goes stale. You contact wrong funds. You get wrong responses. Fix: update the list before each round. Check recent investments. Remove funds that have shifted. Add funds that have entered your stage. A list is a living document. Treat it that way. I made this mistake for iTaxi. I used the same list from PizzaPortal. Two years had passed. Half the funds had changed. I contacted funds that no longer invested at our stage. I missed funds that had just started. The list was wrong. The outreach suffered. Now I update before every round. It takes a few hours. It saves days of wrong outreach. Update. Your conversion rate will thank you. Stale lists convert worse. Fresh lists convert better. The data is clear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I build the list myself or use a tool?
Both work. Building the list yourself gives you control. You search. You filter. You qualify. You learn the landscape. It takes one to two weeks. Using a matching tool gives you speed. You fill in criteria. You get a list in minutes. You still need to qualify. But the heavy lifting is done. If you have time and want to learn, build it yourself. If you want speed and have clear criteria, use a tool. Many founders do both. Tool for initial list. Manual for verification and tiering. The best list is the one you actually use. Pick the method that gets you there. One more point: do not let perfect be the enemy of good. A good list in 2 days beats a perfect list in 2 weeks. You can always add more funds. You can always remove wrong ones. Start. Qualify. Contact. Iterate. The list improves as you use it. Do not wait for perfect. Start with good enough. Then improve.
How do I find the right contact at a fund?
Check the fund website. Partners and associates are usually listed. Look for who leads deals at your stage and in your sector. Check their portfolio. If they invested in a company like yours, they are the right person. For larger funds, pick the partner whose portfolio most overlaps with your space. A fintech partner at a generalist fund is better than a healthtech partner if you are in fintech. Match your sector to their focus. LinkedIn and Crunchbase can help. The goal is a named contact. Not info@. Not a generic address. A person who makes decisions at your stage. One tip: check the fund's recent press or blog. Sometimes they name the partner who led a deal. That tells you who is active. Who is sourcing. Who you should reach. Use that. A partner who just led a deal in your space is warmer than a partner who has not. Activity matters.
What if a fund is in my sector but has a competitor?
Skip them. Portfolio conflict is real. A fund that invested in your direct competitor will not invest in you. They may take the meeting. They may give feedback. But they will not write a check. Do not waste time. Add them to a conflict list. Revisit if the competitor exits or the fund sells. Until then, skip. One exception: adjacent companies. If they have a company in a related space but not direct competition, they may invest. Use judgment. Direct competitor: skip. Adjacent: maybe. When in doubt, skip. Your time is limited.
Should I add angels and VCs to the same list?
Yes. But segment them. Angels have different check sizes. Different process. Different timing. You may have a list with 20 VCs and 15 angels. Track them separately or use a tag. Angels often move faster. VCs have more process. Your outreach may differ. Angels: shorter email. Smaller ask. VCs: more context. Bigger ask. Same list. Different segments. When you organize by tier, you can have Tier 1 VCs and Tier 1 angels. Tier 2 VCs and Tier 2 angels. The tier logic applies to both. The outreach tone may differ. The list structure can be the same.
How do I keep the list updated?
Before each round, review the list. Check recent investments for each fund. Remove funds that have shifted stage or sector. Add funds that have entered your space. Set a reminder for every 6 months. Funds change. Partners leave. Thesis evolves. A list from 12 months ago may be half wrong. Update it. It takes a few hours. It saves you from contacting wrong funds. It saves you from missing new funds. A fresh list converts better. Stale list converts worse. Update. Your future self will thank you. One more tip: use an investor database or CRM that tracks funds. When you add a fund, note the source and date. When you update, you know what to check. Structure helps. Chaos costs.
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