102. Founder Intros

VC Minute
A venture fund's most trusted source for referrals is its portfolio. Stand out from the crowd by getting an introduction through a fellow founder.

VC Minute – quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better.

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This is Rich Maloy with SpringTime Ventures, bringing you the VC Minute, quick advice to help startup founders fundraise better.

I’m back on the mic this week to share some new insights and double down on some others.

Let’s talk about getting warm introductions.

We get intros from other funds. We get interest from service providers. We get intros from managing directors at accelerators. We track many accelerator programs. We subscribe to deal flow lists. We get out in the community and meet folks. We get cold inbound, lots of cold inbound.

Do you know where we very rarely get intros from, but when we do, we almost certainly take the call? Our portfolio.

It is so rare that I can think of a very few examples of a founder sending us another startup. I don’t understand why this doesn’t happen more.

Do you want to stand out in a sea of emails? Have a portfolio company introduce you.

Do the work and figure out which funds would be a fit for you. Something you should have already done anyway. Who are the founders of those companies?

Or work at the other way. Look up the title co-founder or founder in your network. See who’s invested in them.

Don’t know any founders? Well, that’s a bigger issue and one you should address right away by getting out into your community and more. But that’s a topic for another time.

I know the cold emails seem like an easy way to reach 10,000 investors. But everyone is doing it and most funds hate them.

Get founder intros.

And I apologize in advance to the SpringTime portfolio. But in truth, we would love to get founder referrals from you.


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