How Startups Find Seed Investors

You can’t get investment until you… get investment?

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Let’s talk about finding the first true-believer who will put money into your startup.

There’s a killer Catch-22 about raising money in that you can’t get that first investor until you land that first investor. Having gone through the fundraising process over and over again, I can assure you it’s absolutely as convoluted as it sounds.

Having been an angel investor myself at one point (but no longer), I can also confirm that investing in startups — whether it’s private, angel, or venture capital — is rooted in herd mentality. No one wants to be first, then everyone wants to be next.

This is because the path to providing outsized returns on a startup investment is a unique path for each startup. There is no guaranteed 12-step program for turning early startup capital into a unicorn valuation. Thus, there is no tried-and-true method for finding early investors and securing that early capital.

But there are quite a few guidelines you should absolutely be following to increase your chances.

First, Ignore the Inbound Noise and Scams

Recently, I wrote a post about all the BS artists who will come out of the woodwork under the guise…