Find and Network with Investors

by Alida Miranda-Wolff
July 7, 2015

There’s no question that finding the right investors and building relationships with them early on is one of the key components of successfully raising capital and building your business. But where do you even start? How can you pinpoint the right investors and convince them you’re worth spending time with if you can’t even find them? Take it step by step.

First, You Need to Do Your Research
You should research investors just like you do your customers. Consider these five questions:

· What do they care about? Specifically, do they have an investment thesis or a relevant geographic, social, or industry-related mission?

· What stage do they invest in? Do they look to be first money in, or is their game late-stage?

· What does their portfolio look like? Who have they invested in before? After how long and for how much?

· Who are the decision makers? Namely, who has the check-writing authority, or the final say when it comes to closing a round? Know their names and what they care about (i.e. personal investment thesis, impact goals, quick exits, etc.).

· Where do the decision makers like to spend their time? Are they regulars on the pitch circuit? Do they have special relationships with accelerators, incubators, co-working spaces, or other organizations that have social hours and events? Are they a sight for sore eyes at events, but an ever-present voice on social media? Do they spend a lot of one-on-one time with their portfolio company founders?

These questions clearly build off each other. The first three questions tell you if they’re worth pursuing for the goals you have in mind, and the last two how to target them.

 

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Then You Can Start Making Connections
Once you know the investors you want to meet, or at the very least, the type of investors you want to meet, you can actually go out and find them. Naturally, there are a number of ways to make these connections. However, leveraging relationships — either yours or the investors’ connections — will breed better results than cold emails or even networking at events. But remember, no matter the circumstances, asking for money upfront with little to no lead up is not going to serve you well.

You have three groups of people who can serve as connections to your target investors:

· Your Personal Connections: This category may include portfolio company CEO’s and your clients…or not. What matters is that someone in your network knows the investors you want to connect with and is willing to make an introduction.

· Portfolio Company CEO’s: Entrepreneurs are often more than willing to help each other out and meet with one another. Whether you target them through email, social media, or at events, you might get an opportunity for more than a connection. A company in a similar industry or at a similar stage may have advice, feedback on their own investors, and ideas for strategic partnerships. By building relationships with CEOs, you can also determine if their investors are even right for you, and if you are, leverage your relationship with them to get a warm introduction.

· Clients: If your company already has clients, especially corporate clients who are active in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, leveraging them to connect with investors is another way to get warm leads.

If you successfully get an introduction that turns into an investor meeting, it’s your responsibility to be extremely prepared and give your pitch very quickly and effectivelyThe people who made the introductions used their social capital to support you. In addition to making sure you don’t blow a chance at a funding opportunity, you also don’t want to burn any bridges.

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About Hyde Park Angels
Hyde Park Angels is the largest and most active angel group in the Midwest. With a membership of over 100 successful entrepreneurs, executives, and venture capitalists, the organization prides itself on providing critical strategic expertise to entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial community. By leveraging the members’ deep and broad knowledge of multiple industries and financial capital, Hyde Park Angels has driven multiple exits and invested millions of dollars in over 40 portfolio companies that have created over 850 jobs in the Midwest since 2006.

About the Authors
Alida Miranda-Wolff
Alida Miranda-Wolff is Associate Manager at Hyde Park Angels. Her role includes creating and executing marketing and communications strategies, planning and managing events, fostering and maintaining community and industry partnerships, and managing membership. Prior to joining Hyde Park Angels, Alida served as a manager, data analyst, and publication specialist at a multibillion dollar industrial supply corporation. She has led one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns in Chicago history and worked with half a dozen startups in various marketing, content creation, and project management roles. Alida believes in creating valuable, spreadable multimedia content, and has done so as a freelance writer for several print and online publications.

Amutha Muthumukar
Amutha is a marketing intern at Hyde Park Angels. Her role is to assess analytic tools and develop strategies to further HPA’s social media campaign. She also works to maintain community relationships and increase HPA’s community engagement. Previously, she has worked with startups on redesigning social marketing campaigns through data analysis.

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