5harathFounding Growth Lead, Willow Voice

Tips for Founders Raising Pre-Seed - Zehra Naqvi, Undefeated Underdogs #shorts

26 Sept 2023 · 1 min

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0:58

Zehra Naqvi shares a four-step approach to pre-seed fundraising: research competitors' cap tables to find investors who back similar companies, build a list of 50 trusted VCs, share a spreadsheet asking them to map their connections, and prioritize the warm intros that come back. Warm referrals convert.

Chapters

What do you suggest for founders who are trying to get into pre-seed or seed round?
Getting as specific as possible with like the funds and the individuals you speak to are the best things you can do. Go and figure out every one of your competitors who is on their cap table, like whether it's just like looking at their portfolios, list all of those people out, and then just figure out if there's any other companies within the realm that they've invested in that are similar to yours. I think every founder should have an email list of like 50 investors or VCs that they really trust, that they know is not going to share their information. Send that Google spreadsheet to 50 VCs and investors and ask them to put down who they know in that list and then get warm introductions. I think it's super simple to do, but every time I've done a warm introduction for a founder, it almost always turns into a positive relationship, a positive connotation, whether it's a partnership or they actually invest. And so warm introductions are, in my opinion, key everything.