With funding exercise reaching a three-year low in Q2 of 2023, it’s clear that we’re deep within the midst of a funding winter.
Nevertheless, founders with their Sequence A on the horizon are going through particularly powerful odds. Seed startups within the U.S. had been least affected by the funding downturn as buyers opted for smaller offers in opposition to extra pricey late-stage rounds. Whereas this was excellent news within the short-term for brand new startups, there at the moment are extra seed-stage firms than ever within the pipeline and the common funding time between seed and Sequence A has stretched to 25 months.
Having a stellar pitch deck will encourage buyers to wager in your thought, however how will you persuade anybody with out first securing a gathering?
In 2023, founders might want to actively court docket the eye of buyers to get their foot within the door. LinkedIn gives a particularly useful useful resource right here. With greater than 950 million skilled members worldwide, the platform presents an unlimited database that can be utilized to analysis potential buyers, construct new connections and nurture these relationships with a methodical course of that can straight set the stage lengthy earlier than it’s time to boost your Sequence A.
Right here we’ll break down a strategic four-step method that can assist to spice up your attain and visibility with investor networks on LinkedIn.
Develop your community of buyers
Whereas it’s doubtless you have already got a number of buyers in your community, the primary stage of the method will deal with growing this pool considerably. A research exploring the success of job hunters on LinkedIn discovered that networking with weak ties (a bigger set of individuals you understand much less nicely) resulted in additional jobs than robust ties. For founders making ready to fundraise, the identical science holds.
Not each request will end in a brand new connection, however with persistence and consistency, your pool of buyers will start to develop.
As with all lead technology course of, the flexibility to trace progress and measure outcomes goes to be central to this technique. This implies the primary order of enterprise is to compile a complete database of potential buyers.
Take your time with analysis right here. With LinkedIn, you will have entry to an immense listing, subsequently uncovering a variety of buyers who’re related to your startup gained’t be achieved on the primary couple of search returns. Beginning with the obvious key phrases corresponding to “investor” + “business” is a logical start line however you’ll wish to get artistic together with your search queries past this. For instance, many buyers look to help founders from a selected background or fund startups that align with a sure impression trigger, however discovering these sorts of synergies would require you to solid your web wider through the use of the superior search operate.