Investor Targeting

Investor targeting is the process of identifying which venture firms and partners are the right fit for a round, done before any outreach happens. The work weighs the firm's stage focus, sector thesis, typical check size, recent portfolio investments, available capacity, and the individual partner's specific track record and known interests, tracked in a spreadsheet or CRM that runs the entire fundraise. It is the work that separates founders who pitch the right investors and close rounds from founders who pitch any willing investor and burn months getting filtered.

The firm-level criteria that matter: stage (seed funds invest at seed; growth funds don't invest at seed; targeting wrong-stage funds wastes everyone's time), sector and thesis (sector specialists are easier-to-convince but smaller funds; generalists are harder-to-convince but larger funds; thesis fit signals whether the firm has internal believers), check size and round leadership (some funds lead rounds, others only follow; targeting a follower as a lead wastes weeks), portfolio fit and conflicts (firms that already invested in a direct competitor will pass; firms with portfolio companies that could be customers or partners may be especially interested), and available capacity (funds at the end of their deployment cycle are pulling back; funds with fresh capital are more aggressive). The partner-level criteria: the specific partner's prior investments (look at their personal portfolio, not just the firm's), their public writing and thesis areas (Twitter, podcasts, blog posts reveal what they're thinking about), whether they've previously invested in your space or adjacent spaces, and mutual connections who can warm intro. The tools used: Crunchbase, PitchBook, Specter, Affinity, Signal, Visible.vc for data; founder-network referrals and warm intros for actually getting in the door. A typical Series A fundraise might target 30 to 50 specific partners at 20 to 40 firms, with detailed tracking of each one's status (not yet contacted, intro requested, first meeting, second meeting, partner meeting, declined, term sheet). The output of this list is what drives the Roadshow sequencing.

Ryan's Take

Investor targeting is the difference between running a real fundraise and spraying decks at random. The founders who close clean rounds typically targeted 30 to 50 specific partners; the founders who struggle pitched 200 firms and got filtered by 195 of them. The targeting work feels tedious because it isn't pitching, but it's the highest-ROI hour of any fundraise. Spend a week researching the right 40 partners before sending a single deck. The conversion rate on targeted outreach is dramatically higher than on spray-and-pray, and the time saved by not pitching the wrong investors more than makes up for the week spent researching.

What founders get wrong: Targeting at the firm level only, not the partner level. Different partners at the same firm have radically different interests, available time, and decision authority. "I'm pitching Sequoia" tells you nothing; "I'm pitching Sonya Huang at Sequoia who recently invested in [adjacent company] and writes about [your space]" tells you everything. Target individuals, not brands.

FAQ

What is investor targeting?
The systematic process of identifying which specific venture firms and individual partners are the right fit for a given fundraising round, based on stage, sector, check size, portfolio fit, partner thesis, and available capacity. Done before any outreach happens.

What criteria matter when targeting investors?
Firm level: stage focus, sector thesis, check size, round-leadership pattern, portfolio fit and conflicts, available capacity. Partner level: prior personal portfolio, public writing and thesis areas, prior investments in your space, mutual connections who can warm intro.

How many investors should I target for a typical Series A?
30 to 50 specific partners at 20 to 40 firms is the standard range. Tracked in a CRM or spreadsheet with status per partner: not yet contacted, intro requested, first meeting, second meeting, partner meeting, declined, term sheet. Targeted outreach has dramatically higher conversion than spray-and-pray.

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