The venture industry runs on warm introductions. For founders looking to expand their network, the set of recommended best practices depend are highly contextual based on the specific stage. One common underlying theme, however, is to access investors via their portfolio founders.Metal Network

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Expanding the Network at Pre-Seed

In early-stage Pre-seed rounds, having an existing network can be particularly helpful but is often not required. At Pre-seed, about 45% of all venture investments are led by accelerators that have an open application process. Additionally, a lot of Pre-seed funds tend to welcome warm emails, or have open application processes whereby anyone can submit a pitch via their website.
While warm introductions are not necessarily a pre-requisite, they do help significantly at Pre-seed, especially for founders looking to raise from a very targeted set of investors.
For founders looking to build a network that can yield introductions to the right set of investors, the following recommended process can be particularly helpful:
1

Finalise Target Investors

Start with identifying the set of investors that you would like introductions with. Ideally, these should be a small set of well-researched investors that are super relevant to the Company in question.
For guidelines on how to identify the “most likely” investors, see this section here.
2

Identify Portfolio Founders

Most investors specialising at Pre-seed tend to invest in large numbers of companies. Using Metal, users can quickly identify portfolio founders of each target investor that meet two criteria: (1) Recently raised from the target investor (within the past 2-3 years), and (2) Are building products that you see yourself using.
3

Build Value-Based Relationships

Start by using the products for these companies and providing useful feedback. In the process of doing so, users can build a genuine relationship with the founder, and then overtime use that to get an introduction with the investor.

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Expanding the Network at Seed

At the seed-stage, founders typically find the art and science of creating access a lot easier. The below process identifies the path of least resistance to grow your network at this stage:
1

Finalise Target Investors

Start with identifying the set of investors that you would like introductions with. Ideally, these should be a small set of well-researched investors that are super relevant to your specific round.
For guidelines on how to identify the “most likely” investors, see this section here.
2

Identify Portfolio Founders Common Across Target & Existing Investors

Using Metal, users can identify portfolio founders of your target investors that have also raised from your existing investors. Within Metal, users can navigate to their target investor’s profile, go to Access > Portfolio Founders, and then apply a filter for existing investors (selecting ones that the user has raised from).
3

Get Introductions via Existing Investors

Finally, users can tap into their network of existing investors to land introductions with the founders that they have backed that have also raised from the user’s target investors. These portfolio founders are not only easily accessible, but can also provide useful insight into the investing behaviours of your target investors.