We want to start with the person in the firm whom we believe is most likely to return our email.

Generally speaking, the more senior the person in a firm, the less likely we will be to get a response.

If we’re targeting a single Angel Investor than this doesn’t matter, but if we’re talking to an Incubator, Angel Group, Micro VC or Venture Capital firm, we’re likely going to have multiple potential contacts.

It’s OK to list a few different potential contacts within a firm, but we’ll want to start out with those most likely to respond – typically Associates, Analysts, Venture Partners and Principals. Anyone else will likely use those folks as a conduit for deal flow.