When starting out a raise process, founders need to first pool in their network, and identify who they know that is well connected within the venture industry. This is the most critical building block to creating a process to land introductions:
For guidelines on how to import and organise your network, refer to this section.
After importing and organising their network, users can follow the below step-by-step process to build access systematically:
1

Identify Intro Paths

Within investor profiles, users can navigate to the “Access” header tab, and use that to view intro pathways leading into the given investor. Intro pathways are based on Metal’s access to proprietary industry data on the historical business activity of your connections.Intro pathways are shown along with a strength indicator. Metal’s proprietary algorithm uses sophisticated logic to identify which intro pathways may have the highest relative strength, showing the most relevant paths at the top.
2

Identify "Accessible" Portfolio Founders

For most investors, portfolio founders serve as an important access point into the founder community. For most founders, it is fairly straightforward to connect with other founders that have raised from Target Investor X.Metal allows users to first identify which of the portfolio founders of Target Investor X have also raised from the user’s existing investors. Knowing this then allows users to get their existing investors to introduce them to their portfolio founders that have also raised from Target Investor X.
For guidelines on how to make high-quality intro requests, refer to this section.
3

Leverage Existing Investors

Existing investors are often the most common catalysts for your raise process. They already believe in the path ahead and are betting on your success. As you unlock access, there are two ways in which existing investors can be most useful:
  1. Introduce you to other portfolio founders, especially ones that have done well
  2. Introduce you to other investors that may be relevant for your next round
For both of the above, it is critical to make specific and well-researched asks from existing investors, minimising the effort they have to make to get you what you need.
For guidance on how to get the most value from existing investors, refer to this section.