# AI Search
Source: https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying Investors/ai-search
Use historical data and investing patterns to surface the "most likely" investors for your specific Company.
Metal's investor search capabilities combine high-precision filters with AI-powered natural language search, creating two complementary ways to build a targeted list from 30,000+ active investors.
By observing large data sets across thousands of raises, we have learned that taking the time to empirically determine the "most likely" investors is the highest leverage activity in a raise process. \
\
Focusing on the strongest-fit investors improves intro request to opt in rates and 1st to call call conversion.
***
## Two Ways to Search
Build a custom search query using precision filters across stage, sector, geography, check size and more.
Use natural language to describe your ideal investor profile and let Metal's AI put in the right filters.
For most users, starting with natural language search is the right choice. For power users looking for customisation, setting the search criteria themselves can be a useful starting point.
***
## Precision Filters
### Investor Type
Filter by investor category: Accelerators, Angels, Corporate VCs, Family Offices, Private Equity, Venture Capital Firms, or Other. Use this to exclude investor types that structurally don't fit your raise — angels don't lead large rounds, and corporate VCs typically don't invest in early-stage companies raising pre-seed rounds.
### Investor HQs
Filter by the country or city where an investor is headquartered. Distinct from geography filters (which track where investors *deploy* capital) — HQs tells you where the firm is located.
### Stage Specialists
Filters investors based on the minimum percentage of total investments in a specific stage. If users set this high, then they will see firms that specialise within that particular stage.
Stage is the single most important filter. An investor who leads Series B rounds is not a relevant target for a pre-seed raise regardless of sector fit. Apply this filter first, before any others.
### Continent Focus
Filter investors based on the minimum number or percentage of their total investments in a specific continent. Use this to find investors with genuine geographic conviction — not just one opportunistic deal in a region.
### Country Focus
Filter investors based on the minimum number or percentage of their total investments in a specific country. More precise than continent-level filtering — useful when you need investors who actively operate in a specific market (e.g., Germany, UK, Brazil) rather than just occasionally backing companies there.
Use Continent Focus to build a broad geographic shortlist, then layer Country Focus to identify investors with a genuine presence in your specific market.
### Check Size
Filter investors based on the typical check size size (min–max). This can be a particularly useful fit signal (distinct from fund size).
### Fund Size
Filter investors by the size of their funds — a proxy for capacity and check size range. For most investors, the check size is about 1-2% of their fund size. Fund size can be used to identify specific types of investors. As an example, a \$50M fund is unlikely to write a \$5M cheque; a \$500M fund rarely leads a \$250K pre-seed.
Founders that are looking for follow-on investors into an existing round find the Fund Size filter to be particularly useful. It allows them to identify investors that have a small fund size and are therefore writing small follow-on checks (\$50-250K).
### Investment Activity
Filter investors based on 3mo, 6mo, 9mo or 12mo minimum deal count. High recent activity signals active deployment. Low recent activity may indicate a fund winding down, between vehicles, or highly selective. Founders typically prioritise high-activity investors when running a time-sensitive raise.
### Inclination to Lead
Filter investors based on the percentage of their total investments that they lead. When looking for a lead investor for the round, founders typically filter for investors with a meaningful historical lead rate of 20% or higher. A low lead rate doesn't disqualify an investor, but indicate that they're better positioned for a follow-on check.
### Inclination to Follow On
Filter investors based on how frequently they participate in follow-on rounds for companies that they previously backed. High follow-on rates signal commitment to portfolio companies — this is particularly relevant if you want investors who tend to support subsequent rounds, and not just write the first cheque.
### Sector Concentration
Filter investors based on the minimum *percentage* of total investments in a given parent or sub-sector. This is most useful in identifying investors that are concentrating investments in a specific sector.
| Threshold | What it surfaces |
| :------------------ | :----------------------------------------------- |
| 1–5% concentration | Generalists with passing sector familiarity |
| 5–10% concentration | Sector-aware investors with a developing thesis |
| 10%+ concentration | Sector specialists with deep category conviction |
### Sector Familiarity
Filter investors based on the minimum *count* of investments in a given sector. This is different from Sector Concentration: an investor with 2% concentration but 40 sector deals has more raw experience than one with 20% concentration and 3 deals. Most founders prefer to use the Sector Familiarity filter.
### Select Thesis
Multi-select filter from Metal's predefined thesis taxonomy. Covers thesis areas like Future of Work, Climate Tech, Developer Tools, FinTech Infrastructure, and others. Use this to find investors who have explicitly adopted a thesis aligned with your category — particularly useful in emerging verticals where sector tags alone may not capture the sub-market.
### Include Investors (by Tag)
Surfaces investors who have backed specific companies. The primary workflow is tag-based: build a tag list of comparable companies in Company Search, then apply that tag here to filter for investors who backed any company in your set. This is the highest-conviction signal in the filter set — covered in detail in [Similar Companies](/identifying-investors/similar-companies).
Avoid using category-defining companies (Stripe, Airbnb, Figma) as your comparable set. Their early investors operated at later stages and rarely match early-stage raises. Use companies that raised at a similar stage and round size to yours.
### Exclude Investors
Removes investors who backed companies you specify — most commonly your direct competitors. Investors with portfolio conflicts are unlikely to invest in you, and approaching them wastes time and can create awkward dynamics. Use this filter to clean your list before outreach.
### Co-Investors
Surfaces investors who have co-invested alongside a specific investor you select. Useful for mapping the syndicate ecosystem around a lead investor you're targeting — if you know Investor A is likely in your round, Co-Investors shows who regularly backs alongside them.
### Frequent Followers
Highlights investors who frequently participate in rounds where a specific lead investor has set terms. Useful for filling out a round once a lead is anchored — Frequent Followers tend to move fast when a trusted lead is already in.
***
## AI-Powered Natural Language Search
Type a description of your target investor into the global search bar — Metal's AI interprets the query and surfaces matching results by automatically applying the appropriate filters.
Example queries that work well:
> *"Seed investors backing B2B SaaS companies in Europe with a focus on vertical software"*
> *"VCs who have led rounds in AI infrastructure tools for enterprise"*
> *"Investors in climate tech who write checks between* $500K and $*2M"*
> *"Pre-seed funds that back technical founders building in developer tooling"*
The AI search draws on the same structured investor data as the filter search, but interprets intent from natural language rather than requiring you to pre-select filter values.
***
## Reading Results
Each investor card in search results shows the core signals you need to qualify quickly:
* **Name and Fund** — partner name and the fund they represent
* **Stage and Typical Cheque** — their standard investment parameters
* **Recent Activity** — deals closed in the last 12–24 months
* **Sector Tags** — their stated and revealed investment focus
* **Relevance Score** — Metal's ranking of how closely they match your company profile
* **Network Proximity** — how reachable they are through your existing connections
Click any investor card to open their full **Investor Profile** — portfolio history, thesis detail, valuation ranges, lead/follow behaviour, and intro pathways.
***
## Adding to Pipeline
From any search result, click **Add to Pipeline** to move an investor into your fundraising pipeline. You can set their initial stage — Identified, Researching, Outreach Pending — at the point of saving.
Don't filter too aggressively upfront. The goal of the discovery phase is to build a broad qualified list of 50–150 investors that you then qualify further through profile review and network mapping. Removing investors too early based on a single filter criterion means missing strong candidates.
***
Use AI Search alongside [Market Signals](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/market-signals), [New Funds](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/new-funds), and [Similar Companies](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/similar-companies) to build a multi-signal investor list that zooms in on the "most likely" investors.
***
# Market Signals
Source: https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying Investors/market-signals
Surface investors who are publicly expressing conviction in and around your space.
Every day, investors are "talking" about what types of founders or business models they want to fund. This is spread out across millions of data points in the form of podcasts, blog posts, social media posts, and more. With Market Signals, the platform algorithmically scans 1m+ data points of content across the web, and surfaces investors that are particularly inclined toward the founder's business model.
***
## Setting Up the Signal Feed
Before Market Signals can surface high-quality matches, spend five minutes on calibration. This is the most important setup step — a generic signal feed produces noise; a calibrated one produces leads.
Go to **Settings → Company Profile** and complete your company description, sector tags, and stage. Market Signals uses this as the baseline to score investor content relevance against your specific positioning.
Navigate to **Settings → Market Signals → Calibration**. Set the specific thesis keywords that define your company's investment story — not just your sector category, but your specific positioning within it. *Example: "vertical SaaS for independent freight brokers" rather than just "logistics software."*
In **Parameters**, control which content types Metal surfaces — web data, podcast mentions, published articles, or social posts — and how they're weighted. Start with all four enabled; refine based on which produce the most actionable signals for your specific investor targets.
In **Sources**, specify which content domains Metal includes. Enable specific RSS feeds or content categories based on where your target investors actually publish. If your investors cluster around a few key publications, adding those sources directly improves signal quality.
A well-calibrated signal feed — with specific thesis keywords and positioning language — produces meaningfully higher signal quality than running on defaults. Invest in this setup before you start working the feed.
***
## How It Works
Metal continuously monitors public content from thousands of investors — podcasts, Substack posts, LinkedIn articles, conference talks, and interviews. Each piece of content is analysed for investment thesis signals, which are then scored against your company profile for relevance.
The result is a personalised signal feed: investors who are currently thinking and writing about spaces directly relevant to your raise, ranked by how closely their expressed conviction aligns with what you're building.
***
## The Signal Feed
Navigate to **Discovery → Market Intelligence** to access your signal feed. Each signal card shows:
| **Signal field** | **What it shows** |
| :--------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Signal Commentary** | How clearly the investor expressed conviction |
| **Overlapping Themes** | What themes overlap with your business model and company thesis |
| **Partners** | Partners who have spoken or written about investment focus areas |
| **Source** | The original content item — podcast, blog post, article, or interview. Click **View Source** to read or listen before acting |
| **A Summary** | Click **Summarise** for a one-paragraph digest of what the investor said, why it's relevant to your company, and what it suggests about their current conviction level |
***
## Filtering the Signal Feed
You can filter the feed to focus on the signals most relevant to your current targeting:
| Filter | What it does |
| :----------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Investor type** | Limit to VCs, angels, corporates, or accelerators |
| **Investor Focus** | Filter investors by their investment activity, geo, stage or sector focus |
| **Stage** | Surface only signals from investors who express conviction at your round stage |
| **Recency** | Signals from the last 30, 60, or 90 days |
***
## Why Market Signals Matter
Investors who are publicly articulating thesis in your space are actively forming conviction, easier to reference in outreach, and more likely to respond than investors targeted purely on historical portfolio data.
> *"I came across your recent piece on \[publication] about \[thesis area] — it maps closely to what we're building at \[company]. I'd love 20 minutes."*
A one-line reference to a specific thing they've said publicly is one of the most effective cold outreach openers available. Market Signals gives you the raw material for that.
Don't treat every signal as an outreach trigger. A passing mention of your sector in a 45-minute podcast is a weak signal. An investor who publishes a 2,000-word thesis piece on your exact sub-sector is a strong one. Prioritise signals that show depth, precision, and recent interest — not just surface-level relevance.
***
## Acting on Signals
For each signal, you have two actions:
* **Add to Pipeline** — Sdds the investor to your pipeline with the signal logged as the sourcing reason. The content source is saved alongside the investor record for reference when drafting outreach.
* **Pass** — Dismisses the signal without adding to your pipeline. Metal learns from passes and refines the relevance of future signals shown to you.
Save the source URL when you add an investor from a signal. Reference it specifically in your intro request — naming the article or podcast episode shows you actually engaged with what they said.
***
## Market Signals vs. AI Search
Market Signals and AI Search are complementary, not competitive.
AI Search finds investors based on **historical investing patterns**. Market Signals finds investors based on **current expressed conviction,** specifically surfacing investors that are thinking and writing about your space right now.
The strongest targets are investors who appear in both: historical portfolio fit *and* recent public thesis expression. Those investors have pre-formed views on your category, are actively thinking about it, and have a track record of backing it with capital.
Use Market Signals alongside [AI Search](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/ai-search), [New Funds](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/new-funds), and [Similar Companies](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/similar-companies) to build a multi-signal investor list that zooms in on the "most likely" investors.
***
# New Funds
Source: https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying Investors/new-funds
Hundreds of new VCs emerge onto the market each year, eager to make new investments.
New Funds surfaces existing investors that have recently raised a new fund, or new investors that have recently started a new firm. These investors have fresh capital to deploy and are often entering the market with a fresh perspective. Statistically, these investors move faster, and are more open to taking risks.
***
## Understanding New Funds
Fund lifecycles create deployment dynamics that shape how GPs engage. Most VC funds have a 4-5 year investment period defined in their LP Agreements, during which new initial investments are made. Pressure to deploy is structural in nature — driven by fee step-downs after the investment period ends and the need to show progression before raising the next fund.
The following unique characteristics make New Funds a particularly useful focus area for founders building out their target lists:
New funds are typically eager to deploy capital and are particularly open-minded on new theses.
In the early years of a new fund, investors are forming new theses (versus following established patterns).
New firms emerging onto the market have limited deal flow, making them responsive to new opportunities.
Smaller teams at new funds mean founders pitch decision-making GPs directly, skipping the associate layer.
***
## Navigating to New Funds
Navigate to **Discovery → Market Intelligence → New Funds** to surface investors that just raised a new fund. The view is filtered by your company profile by default. You can refine further using:
* **Sector / Sub-sector** — Surface new entrants specifically in your vertical
* **Fund Stage** — Filter by stage of the funding cycle the fund is in (1st year, 2nd year, etc.)
* **Geography** — Focus on new funds in a specific geography
* **Round Stage** — Limit results to investors focusing on a given stage
***
## Qualifying New Funds
Unlike established firms, new investors cannot be qualified based on the relevance of their historical investment patterns. Instead, compatibility in terms of stage, check size and sector need to be evaluated via alternative means.
New funds often write smaller cheques than established funds of the same AUM, as they are reserving capital for follow-on. Confirm the cheque size and stage are applicable to your round dynamics. In most cases, Metal's platform will list out this information based on our extensive research on such funds.
Most new funds announce their specific focus as part of the fund announcement. Metal's platform will list out this information based on our extensive research on such funds.
New funds where the GP previously worked at a top-tier firm — and is now striking out independently — are often the most valuable combination: LP-mandated deployment urgency *plus* an established network from their prior seat.
Look for this pattern when reviewing new-fund profiles.
New funds are not a lower bar — they're a different type of target. A first-time fund manager with no track record and an unclear thesis is a risky co-investor regardless of their urgency to deploy.
Prioritise new-fund GPs who have prior pedigree, a coherent sector thesis, and credible LP backing.
Use New Funds alongside [AI Search](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/ai-search), [**Market Signals**](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/market-signals) and [Similar Companies](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/similar-companies) to build a multi-signal investor list that zooms in on the "most likely" investors.
***
# Similar Companies
Source: https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying Investors/similar-companies
Find investors who have already backed companies similar to yours.
A vast majority of venture investments are based on a pattern matching thesis. When evaluating companies, investors often start with an important question: *has this category produced great returns before?* This is also partly why truly innovative companies without prior comparables often struggle to raise capital in the early years.
## Use Cases of Similar Companies
Investors that have already backed a company in a given operating space are typically likely to see the market opportunity favourably.
Conversely, for some crowded markets with high failure rates, investors that have made a prior investment may be more reluctant to consider an investment in the same space.
Finally, in some competitive spaces, if a similar company is a direct competitor, then most investors will not consider backing a company that competes with an existing portfolio company.
For all of the above scenarios, Metal provides founders the ability to identify investors that have backed particular types of companies. This capability is multifunctional and can be super useful for all of the above scenarios
***
## Finding Similar Companies
Within the Metal platform, founders can seamlessly identify investors that have invested in similar companies:
Go to **Settings → Company Profile** and complete your company description in full. Metal uses this to algorithmically identify VC-backed companies with structurally similar business models, market positions, and founding contexts. A detailed, specific description produces the best comparable matches.
Navigate to **Discovery → Search → Company Search**. Metal surfaces companies similar to yours based on your profile. Review the list and tag companies that are genuinely similar.
Navigate to Investor Search and apply your tag as a filter. This can be done via the "Tags > Investors in Tagged Companies" filter. Metal returns every investor that has backed any company in your tagged list — sorted by activity and overall fit.
Refine the results by applying additional filters (stage, check size, geography, deal velocity, etc.).
In most searches, founders sometimes struggle with establishing a clear distinction between companies that are similar versus ones that are direct competitors. In most cases, a direct competitor is a company that solves the same problem for the same customers as your company.
***
## Interpreting the Results
When you run a Similar Companies search, prioritise investors based on three signals:
An investor who backed a comparable company three years ago may have thesis drift or be focused on existing portfolio. An investor who backed one in the last 18 months is actively deploying in the space.
Investors who appear across two or more of your comparable companies have a repeated, reinforced thesis in your category. One deal could be opportunistic. Three deals is a conviction.
Investors who led rounds in comparable companies have the highest conviction and the most direct comparable underwriting experience. Co-investors are relevant but require less conviction to participate.
Add a column in your pipeline for "Comparable Company" and note which of your similar companies each investor has backed.
When you write your outreach, reference their specific portfolio company — it shows you've done the research and personalises the pitch without requiring a warm intro.
Referencing a specific portfolio company in your outreach is significantly more effective than generic sector references. It signals research, creates an immediate conversational hook, and gives the investor a familiar frame for your pitch.
Don't list every comparable company you found in your outreach. Pick the single most relevant portfolio company the investor has backed and reference that one. Listing five comparables looks like a mail-merge template; referencing one signals genuine diligence.
***
Use Similar Companies alongside [AI Search](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/ai-search), [**Market Signals**](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/market-signals) and [New Funds](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/new-funds) to build a multi-signal investor list that zooms in on the "most likely" investors.
Once you've built your targeted investor list, move to [Pipeline Management](/pipeline/pipeline-view) to track your outreach, meetings, and next steps across your active targets.
***
# Richard AI
Source: https://docs.metal.so/RichardAI
Your AI fundraising partner – built to execute, analyse and advise.
Richard is your AI fundraising partner inside Metal. It combines the context of your company and raise with Metal’s proprietary investor intelligence to help you execute your fundraising process
Use **Agent Mode** when you want Richard to carry out work. Switch to **Ask Mode** when you need quick research, analysis or strategic guidance.
***
## Choose how Richard works
Give Richard an outcome and let it complete the necessary steps using Metal’s tools.
**Best for:** Executing and progressing work.
Get quick answers, research and analysis grounded in your company, round and fundraising activity.
**Best for:** Understanding and deciding.
| | Agent Mode | Ask Mode |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| **Use it when** | You want something done | You want to know something |
| **Behaviour** | Plans, acts and completes | Researches and responds |
| **Typical scope** | Multiple connected steps | One focused question |
| **Output** | Completed work and results | Answer or recommendation |
| **Examples** | Build a pipeline or prepare follow-ups | Compare investors or analyse a meeting |
***
## Explore the two modes
### Give Richard an outcome
Agent Mode is designed for work that requires multiple steps or actions across Metal.
Richard understands the intended outcome, determines which capabilities are needed, completes the work and brings the result together for you.
Find investors using your stage, sector, geography, check size and round preferences.
Evaluate investor fit, activity, thesis, similar investments and ability to lead or follow.
Create pipelines, add investors, save research, add notes and organise next steps.
Review investor conversations and prepare contextual replies and follow-ups.
Create investor briefs using your company, pipeline and previous conversation context.
Review meeting transcripts and extract feedback, risks, commitments and next steps.
***
#### Try delegating
Find 20 seed investors that fit our round, prioritise those where we have strong introduction paths, and add the best 10 to a new pipeline.
Find active Series A investors in the US and Europe that invest in B2B AI companies. Qualify them based on fit, recent activity, similar investments and ability to lead.
Review my upcoming investor meetings, prepare a brief for each one, and tell me what I should accomplish in every conversation.
Find investor conversations where I have not received a reply in the last seven days and draft a contextual follow-up for each one.
Agent Mode works best when you describe the desired outcome and include important constraints such as stage, geography, check size, investor type or pipeline.
### Research, analyse and strategise
Ask Mode is the original Richard AI experience. It is designed for quick research, analysis and fundraising guidance.
Richard can answer questions using your company and raise context alongside Metal’s proprietary intelligence on investors and the venture industry.
Identify investors that are likely to invest in your company and round.
Research thesis, activity, check sizes, valuation ranges, partners and previous investments.
Understand how portfolio founders, existing investors and other connections can help you reach target investors.
Review your pipeline, prioritise investors and understand what requires attention.
Review investor conversations, recurring objections and next steps.
Get guidance on your narrative, pitch deck, round size, valuation and fundraising process.
***
#### Try asking
Compare Sequoia and Accel based on their fit for our round, recent activity, similar investments and ability to lead.
Which investors in my pipeline should I prioritise this week, and why?
Who in my network can make the strongest introductions to the investors in my Seed Pipeline?
What concerns have come up repeatedly in my last five investor meetings, and how should I respond to them?
Review our round narrative, target raise and valuation expectations. What should we reconsider before approaching investors?
***
## How Agent Mode works
Tell Richard what you want to accomplish in natural language. You do not need to identify the individual Metal features required.
Richard breaks the request into steps and selects the appropriate investor, company, pipeline, email or meeting capabilities.
See how Richard approaches the task as it researches, analyses and completes each step.
Richard asks for confirmation before completing consequential actions where your review is required.
Review the final output and continue the conversation if you want Richard to refine or extend the work.
***
## Intelligence behind Richard
Richard combines your Metal workspace context with proprietary intelligence on the venture industry.
Access to data on more than one million venture rounds through integrations with industry-leading data sources.
Metal’s proprietary analysis of investor inclinations, investment activity and investing patterns.
More than 1.2 million data points from investor podcasts, blog posts, social media, interviews and other public content.
Fundraising knowledge based on real-world scenarios that helps Richard identify patterns and provide strategic guidance.
***
## What Richard knows about your raise
Your company profile, product, market, fundraising configuration, pitch deck and target round.
Your investor pipelines, stages, notes, tags, activity and next steps.
Connected investor conversations and relevant fundraising communication.
Upcoming meetings, previous conversations and imported transcripts.
Investor profiles, partners, investment history, thesis, content and activity.
Connections and introduction pathways between you, your network and target investors.
***
## Get more personalised results
Richard becomes more effective as it learns about your company and fundraising process.
Add your stage, sector, geography, target raise, check size and investor preferences.
Give Richard context on your company, product, market, traction and round narrative.
Enable Richard to work with relevant investor communication and meeting context.
Create or import your pipeline so Richard can understand the current state of your raise.
Give Richard access to investor feedback, objections, commitments and next steps.
***
## Frequently asked questions
Agent Mode uses Metal’s capabilities to carry out work and complete multi-step fundraising tasks. Ask Mode researches, analyses and answers questions.
Richard shows its progress and asks for confirmation before completing consequential actions where your review is required.
Richard can work with the company, pipeline, email, meeting, collateral and relationship context available in your Metal workspace, alongside Metal’s proprietary investor intelligence.
Keep your company and fundraising configuration updated, connect the relevant integrations, and clearly describe your intended outcome and constraints.
***
# Recommended Process
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/accessing-investors/recommended-process
On the path to closing the round, founders need to develop a process that brings consistency, predictability and efficiency to landing investor calls. With the right process, landing investor calls becomes an administrative motion that requires minimal effort.
***
## Network Ingestion and Setup
As a first step, founders need to ingest their network into Metal via standard integrations for Gmail, Outlook, LinkedIn and file uploads. This process typically takes a few clicks and immediately maps your entire network against your investor pipeline.
Most founders start by ingesting their LinkedIn data by navigating to Settings > Network > LinkedIn. Metal allows three-click integrations as well as manual file uploads, enabling users to ingest their LinkedIn connections into Metal.
An important subsequent step is to ingest your email data by navigating to Settings > Network > Email. By integrating your email, you are granting access to Metal to pull your email contacts. This does not allow Metal to access your email content (I.e. body of emails sent or received).
For most founders, existing investors play an important role in unlocking access to new investors. Founders can add their existing investors by navigating to Settings > Network > Existing Investors.
For guidance on how to get the most value from existing investors, refer to [this section.](https://docs.metal.so/content/accessing-investors/via-existing-investors)
As part of the round process, most founders work with cofounders and/or other key partners, such as early supportive angel investors or board members. Founders can add close connects to the Metal organisation and then import the network data of each contact, thereby multiplying the power of their network.
As a final step in setting up the network, founders can "shortlist" close connections. This is particularly helpful in equipping the platform with insight into which connections can you lean on the most.
Most founders are able to complete the above steps in \<15 minutes as part of our onboarding process. From thereon, the platform is fully equipped with insight into your network, and is able to guide you toward the right connections that can introduce you to specific investors.
***
## Process to Land Introductions
Metal provides a set of rich insights around relationship intelligence that you can use to develop a custom process that works best for you. For most founders, the right solution is to develop a process that brings consistency, predictability and efficiency to the process of landing introductions.
The following steps are most commonly used by founders to identify who within their network can introduce them to specific investors.
In most cases, portfolio founders serve as the primary channel through which investors get introduced to new founders.
On investor profiles, in the Access > Portfolio Founders tab, Metal identifies which of your connections have raised from that specific investors.
Existing investors are typically a common source of introductions for your raise process. In particular, existing investors have made a large number of investments into other companies, and those companies have raised from a large number of investors.
On investor profiles, in the Access > Portfolio Founders tab, Metal identifies which of your existing investors have invested in founders that raised from the investor in question. As an example, if one of your existing investors backed John Smith, and if John raised from Investor X, then you will be able to see that in the Access > Portfolio Founders tab for Investor X.
For efficiency, via the Paths section, Metal allows founders to view their Top Connectors that can introduce them with multiple investors on a given pipeline. The Paths section also allows founders founders to drill down into specific types of connections that can make introductions with specific investors within a given pipeline.
The above process is a starting point for most founders as they begin to use Metal as their operating system for the raise.
For guidelines on how to make compelling intro requests, see [this section here](https://docs.metal.so/content/network/intro-requests).
***
# Via Existing Investors
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/accessing-investors/via-existing-investors
Existing investors are the second most common channel through which founders land introductions with new investors.
***
### Direct Connections of Existing Investors
Most investors have a large and well-connected network of VCs that are a part of their active referral network. On a given investor profile, founders can navigate to Intelligence > Investments > Co-Investors. This table shows the most common co-investors for a given investor and can be used to infer which investors they can introduce you with:
***
### Portfolio Founders of Existing Investors
Most venture investors have invested in a large portfolio of companies. These companies have raised capital from a broad array of investors. On the Metal platform, the following is one of the most common workflows used by founders to land introductions with new investors:
For a given target investor, identify which of their portfolio founders have previously raised from one of your existing investors. On investor profiles, this is clearly shown on the Access > Portfolio Founders tab:
You can request introductions to those portfolio founders of your existing investors that have previously raised from your target investors. This becomes a "highly probable" path given that your existing investors have a working relationship with the above portfolio founders.
For guidelines on how to make compelling intro requests, see [this section here](https://docs.metal.so/content/network/intro-requests).
# Paths
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/accessing-investors/via-paths-or-other-connections
Map your network against target investors to see which connections can make introductions to specific firms.
With Paths, founders can identify specific connections within their network that can make introductions to specific investors. With advanced filters, users can setup create various granular views, eliminating the need for months of research to understand the most valuable relationship chains.
Paths and relationship intelligence within the platform is based on industry transactions data, making these less speculative and more reliable.
***
## Paths Feed
The Paths feed is the core user interface to view various types of relationship paths. The paths interface consists of cards that show three levels of detail:
The first part of each card shows how the user is connected to the connector.
The second part of each card shows how the connector knows the investor.
The feed supports **Compact** and **Detailed** views. Compact shows each pathway as a condensed row — investor name, connector, and top-level strength signal at a glance. You can toggle to the Detailed view when actively evaluating pathways: Each card expands to show full evidence types, strength signals on both links, and the Draft Intro action.
Each link in the pathway chain has an evidence type that showcases your link to the connector, or the connector's link to the investor. Some common evidence types are shown below:
| Evidence Type | What it means |
| :------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------- |
| Raised from | Connector has previously raised capital from the investor. |
| Co-investments | Connector has previously co-invested with the investor. |
***
## Filter by Types of Links
Founders can filter the Paths feed based on three broad criteria:
Founders can filter the Paths feed for specific investor groups. By going into Filters > Investors, you can limit the Paths feed to show introduction pathways for investors in a given pipeline, or for investors that carry a given tag, or for select investment firms.
Founders can filter the Paths feed for specific types of connectors:
* **Specific Connectors --** Allows you to filter for a given individual within your network. This shows how a given individual can introduce you to investors within your network.
* **Relationship Owner --** Allows you to filter for only those connectors that have been imported from a specific user's profile within your org (I.e. only the CEO's network).
* **Connectors by Role --** Allows filtering for all connectors that are "Founders", or are "Investors".
Founders can filter the Paths feed to include only those relationship chains that stem from specific connections that they have shortlisted within Metal as "Close Connections". This allows users to eliminate noise within their Paths feed.
The above filters provide deep insight into how specific individuals within your network can introduce you to relevant investors.
By observing thousands of raises, our observation has been that founders typically don't lack the network to build access to investors. Instead, they lack insight into which of their connections are best positioned to make introductions with which investors.
***
## Top Connectors
At the top of the Paths feed, the **Top Connectors** section highlights connections within your network that can introduce you to many relevant investors within a given pipeline. This helps users immediately and seamlessly identify who within their network is best positioned to make multiple introductions.
Each card for Top Connectors shows:
* **Relationship Tag** — How well you know the Top Connector based on your identification,
* **Investors Reachable** — Which specific investors they can introduce you with.
Click **View Pathways** on any connector card to filter the Paths feed to relationship chains stemming from that connection.
Within Filters, users can alter the "qualifying criteria" for Top Connectors. As an example, users can define "Top Connectors" as anyone that can make introductions with "5 or more" investors in a selected pipeline.
***
# Via Portfolio Founders
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/accessing-investors/via-portfolio-founders
The below documentation provides visibility into how founders can use the network of portfolio founders of target investors to land introductions.
### In-Network Portfolio Founders
For a given investor, on the investor profile, founders can navigate to Access > Portfolio Founders to view who they know that has previously raised capital from the investor in question. The below visual illustrates what this view looks like:
The logical starting point is to tap into founders that you already know that have previously raised from a given investor. In addition to landing the introduction, such founders can also advise on the investing behaviours and the post close reputation of the investor in question.
***
### Meeting New Portfolio Founders
In the event that you don't know any portfolio founders for a given investor, a common strategy is to reach out to some of the early-stage portfolio founders for the investor that you share common ground with, and to use that new relationship to land an introduction.
The below visual shows how Metal enables founders to use the Access > Portfolio Founders tab to identify specific types of portfolio founders for outreach:
To maximize response rates on cold outreach, we have seen the following best practices implemented successfully via the Metal platform –
* **Research Portfolio Founders w/ Common Ground –** Instead of reaching out to portfolio founders indiscriminately, identify ones that you have common ground with (I.e. building in the same sub-sector, similar past experiences, etc.)
* **Write Compelling and Personable Notes –** Cold emails work best when they are compelling and personalized. You can refer to this [section here](https://docs.metal.so/content/network/intro-requests) for guidelines on writing compelling introduction requests.
In the event that outreach notes are particularly compelling, the above has proven to be an effective channel to build access.
For guidelines on how to make compelling intro requests, see [this section here](https://docs.metal.so/content/network/intro-requests).
***
# Recommended Process
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/high-resolution-identification/recommended-process
In a given raise process, the highest leverage activity is to focus on the "*most likely*" investors. With 10,000+ VCs actively writing checks, founders need a data-driven approach to discover investors that are actually likely to lead or join the round. Metal provides founders four primary mechanisms to discover the most likely investors for their Company.
Use AI or develop a custom search query using precision filters across stage, sector, geography and more.
Surface new investors that have recently started a new firm, or that have raised a new fund.
Algorithmically scan 1m+ data points to surface investors that publish content aligned with your business model.
Seamlessly identify investors that have previously backed companies similar to yours.
***
### Training the Rankings Engine
A recommended starting point is to use Metal's built-in engine that ranks investors based on our internal fit assessment. The rankings engine draws on the information users provide about their Company and on the proprietary intelligence that Metal holds on venture investors.
Our fit scores are determined through an orchestration layer that takes into account your Company's business model, stage, sector, geography and round dynamics. For instance, if you are looking for a lead investor at the Pre-seed stage, and if a given investor doesn't lead at Pre-seed, then the system will assign a low fit score to such an investor.
Founder can "train" the rankings engine by providing Metal with greater context on your Company's business model and overall strategy. Our fit scores become more accurate as Metal better understands your Company. You can equip the platform with rich context by uploading pitch decks, by engaging in conversations with Richard AI, and by integrating your data sources.
***
### [AI Search](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/ai-search)
In order to identify investors that are a strong-fit for a given raise, users first need to develop an **elimination criteria** -- a set of requirements that qualifies a given investor as a likely target. To develop an elimination criteria, founders need to make the following key decisions.
When round size is significant (\$1-2m+), users need a lead investor to bring the round together. The lead investor plays a critical role by: **(a)** Setting the valuation cap for the round, and **(b)** Coalescing other investors to participate. Typically, the lead investor is the first to invest, and does so without waiting for other investors.
When round size is small (\<\$1m), founders can often structure a "party round" whereby a large number of investors with small check sizes make up the round (without requiring a lead investor). Similarly, companies that are backed by well-known incubators (such as YCombinator or Techstars) are often able to structure large party rounds without necessarily requiring a lead investor.
For guidelines on how party rounds work, refer to [this section.](https://docs.metal.so/content/resources/party-rounds)
For users looking to structure party rounds, the focus should be on identifying follow-on investors that write small checks in existing rounds.
The lead decision drives the user's decision for the following filters: [Inclination to Lead](https://docs.metal.so/content/high-resolution-identification/general-filters#inclination-to-lead)
For venture-backed companies, each round stage carries a very specific set of expectations (in terms of both round valuation and business progress).
As an example, pre-seed investors routinely invest in companies that are doing zero (or minimal) revenue, and are pre-product. For pre-seed investors, investing at the idea stage is the norm, and their risk/reward model is built around writing checks at that stage. Seed stage investors, however, rarely invest in companies that do not have significant operating data and revenue growth. Pre-seed and seed investors are, therefore, playing very different games (with most investors specialising in a specific stage).
For guidance on investor expectations at each stage, refer to [this section here.](https://docs.metal.so/content/resources/round-stages)
For each round stage, it is important to understand the stage definition and the underlying investor expectations. A common misstep in the fundraising process is when users target and/or engage investors that do not specialise in their stage. This misstep is often coupled together with an ambiguous understanding of the Company's stage.
The stage decision drives the parameters for the following filter: [Minimum % Investments in Selected Stages](https://docs.metal.so/content/high-resolution-identification/stage-and-sector-filters#understanding-stage-dynamics)
The targeted size of the round significantly impacts the types of investors that users must pursue when finding startup investors
For small rounds (\$0-1m), there are numerous options – users can put together party rounds consisting of angels and small check VCs. For larger rounds, it may be important to have a lead investor, and that may require a different search criteria.
For guidance on how to determine round size, refer to [this section here](https://docs.metal.so/content/resources/check-size).
Specifically, founders raising a round of 2m or higher can target lead investors that have a fund size between 100m to 300m. Users looking to raise a 5-10m round may need to target investors with large fund sizes (higher than 250m).
The round size decision drives the parameters for the following filter: [Fund Size](https://docs.metal.so/content/high-resolution-identification/general-filters#fund-size-and-lifecycle)
Some users may take a broad approach and focus on investors that have previously made investments in their parent sector. Examples would include users looking for investors that are familiar with B2B Software, Healthcare or Consumer.
Other users may prefer to take a more targeted approach and focus on investors that specialize in a given sub-sector. Examples would include users looking for investors that specialize in biotech or life sciences.
Prior to identifying investors, it is important to make an intentional decision on whether to go broad at the parent sector level (I.e. investors that are familiar with Fintech or B2B Software), or to go deep on a specific sub-sector (I.e. investors that specialise in robotics or in biotech).
The sector decision drives the parameters for the following filter: [Sector Familiarity and Sector Concentration](https://docs.metal.so/content/high-resolution-identification/stage-and-sector-filters#understanding-sector-dynamics)
Some users may want to identify investors that are familiar with a given continent (I.e. North America, or Europe). Others may want to identify those that have previously invested in certain types of geographies (I.e. Egypt, Bangladesh, Indonesia or Pakistan). It is generally important to determine a specific geo criteria (driven by a clear thesis or rationale).
As an example, a founder building in Indonesia may look for investors that: **(a)** Have made at least "1" investment in Indonesia, and **(b)** Have made at least 5%+ investments in the broader Asia continent.
The geo focus decision drives the parameters for the following filter: [Investors by Continent and Investors by Country](https://docs.metal.so/content/high-resolution-identification/geography-filters)
***
### [Market Signals](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/market-signals)
Every day, investors are "talking" about what types of founders or business models they want to fund. This is spread out across millions of data points in the form of podcasts, blog posts, social media posts, and more.
With Market Signals, Metal provides founders a way to "listen" to what investors are saying across the entire web. The platform automatically flags investors that are posting content that shows a strong thesis or belief in the user's product and/or business direction.
Metal's proprietary intelligence on [Market Signals](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/market-signals) is purpose-built for the above use case.
***
### [New Funds](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/new-funds)
Using the new fund insights section within Metal (Insights > New Funds), users can identify investors that have made their first investment in a given sector or sub-sector. Investors that make their first investment in a given space are often interested in identifying more companies that are building in the same space.
New investors that just raised their first fund often have the highest appetite to deploy and the least amount of deal flow, making them excellent prospects as financing partners.
Metal's proprietary intelligence on [New Funds](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/new-funds) is particularly useful for founders looking to discover strong-fit. new funds.
***
### [Investors in Similar Companies](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/similar-companies)
Investors that have invested in similar companies are often the "*most likely*" partners (based on empirical evidence for their interest in similar companies). Such investors can be easily identified by using Metal's "Company Search" module that allows users to:
In the "Company Search" tab, users can now view all companies that: **(a)** Have raised VC financing and **(b)** Are somewhat similar to the user's product description. Users can also apply other filters to further refine the list of companies.
Users can tag companies that are actually similar (via the "Actions" elliptical menu on the top-right of the Company Search table). Ideally, these should be companies that are similar, but are not direct competitors.
Generally, a direct competitor is a Company that is going after the exact same customer and for the exact same use case as the user's Company.
Via the "Tags" filter on Investor Search, users can view all investors that have invested in companies tagged as similar. Users can then layer additional filters to further refine the list.
Investors that have invested in similar companies can be an excellent starting point. As an example, a Company building a foundation model may want to identify investors that have invested in foundation models before, and that believe in the broader opportunity space.
Metal allows founders to seamlessly identify investors that have previously backed [Similar Companies](https://docs.metal.so/Product-Docs-v2/Identifying%20Investors/similar-companies).
***
### Most Active Investors at a Sector Level
Using the sector insights section within Metal (Insights > Sectors), users can identify investors that have been the most active in a given sector. This is achieved by first selecting a set of parent and/or sub-sectors and then applying other filters:
* **Investor Type:** Use this filter to limit table results to only "Accelerators", or "Family Offices" or "Venture Capital Firms"
* **Time Period:** Allows users to limit table results to a specific time period (I.e. users can see which investors have been most active in selected sectors within a given time period)
* **Continents:** Filter can be used to limit table results to a given continent (I.e. users can see which investors have been most active in selected sectors within a given continent)
* **Round Stage:** Allows users to limit table results to specific stage(s) (I.e. users can see which investors have been most active in selected sectors within a defined set of stages)
The above effort is most useful to identify investors that have been most active or bullish on a given sector (or sub-sector). This is particularly useful for niche sectors, such as biotech and/or robotics.
***
# Emerging Co-Investor Network
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/investor-relations/emerging-co-investor-network
Metal tracks investors that recently co-invested with your existing investors and surfaces ones that fit your upcoming rounds.
Your cap table investors are continuously deploying capital into new companies — and each of those companies raises from a set of co-investors. Over time, this quietly builds a network of investors reachable through your existing relationships, without you doing anything to earn it. The Emerging Co-Investor Network surfaces that network and turns it into warm introductions.
***
## The Co-Investor Feed
The feed lists investors newly reachable through recent investments made by your existing cap table investors, ranked by relevance. Each row shows:
The newly accessible co-investor, and how strong a fit they are for your company using the same Relevance score available in Investor Search.
The company (or companies) where this investor and one or more of your existing investors have co-invested.
When the prospective investor made their most recent qualifying investment across the shared companies shown.
The investor(s) in your cap table who co-invested with this prospective investor.
Each co-investor appears once in the feed, even if they've co-invested with multiple existing investors or across multiple shared companies — those relationships are consolidated into a single row.
***
## Filters & Sorting
Narrow the feed by prospective investor, your existing investor, a custom recency window, or how similar the shared portfolio company is to your own — with options for High, Medium, or Low similarity. By default, results are sorted by **Relevance**, and you can switch to **Latest Investment Date** instead.
***
## Co-Investor Detail View
Click any row to open the full picture:
An AI-generated summary connecting this investor's relevance, recent activity, and the shared deal into a plain-language case for why the connection is worth pursuing now.
A card for each shared deal, showing both investors' round and investment date in that company.
From any shared deal card, click **Draft Intro Request** to generate a personalized email to your existing investor, asking them to connect you with the shared portfolio company's founder or directly with the co-investor. The draft is pre-populated with the relevant context — no blank-page cold outreach required.
***
## Frequently asked questions
The connection between you and a new investor, made possible because one of your existing cap table investors co-invested alongside them in another company. That shared deal is the pathway — and the basis for a credible, warm introduction.
Relevance uses the same scoring Metal applies in Investor Search, reflecting how strong a fit the prospective investor is for your company.
Recency of the shared investment and how similar the shared portfolio company is to yours. By default, Metal looks at co-investments from the last 12 months in highly similar companies, and widens that window automatically if it doesn't surface enough connections.
Yes. Open any co-investor's detail view and click Draft Intro Request on the relevant shared deal card to generate a pre-populated email to your existing investor.
***
# Follow-on Intelligence
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/investor-relations/follow-on-intelligence
Use data to identify existing investors most likely to Follow On
Existing investors can be a key source of capital in your next round — whether they invest ahead of a new lead to signal confidence, or lead the round themselves. Follow-On Intelligence turns your cap table's historical behavior into a concrete view of where to focus relationship-building before you're back out fundraising.
***
## Your Readiness Dashboard
Follow-On Intelligence draws on everything Metal knows about your company to score how ready you are to raise your next round, benchmarked against companies at a similar stage, sector, and geography.
How ready your company is to raise its next round, based on your traction vs. typical benchmarks for your stage, sector, and geography.
An AI-generated summary of your follow-on outlook — strengths, risks, which investors to prioritize, and what to focus on before fundraising begins.
Update your round details at any time to recalculate the score and recommendations, or click **Discuss with Richard** to dig into your follow-on strategy with the relevant data already loaded into the conversation.
***
## Your Investor Table
Below the dashboard, every cap table investor is ranked by **Follow-On Score** — our engine's estimate of how likely each investor is to follow on, based on their historical follow-on patterns at your stage, sector, and geography.
Hover any score for a quick AI-generated explanation of what's driving it, including the investor's historical follow-on rate at your specific stage, sector, and geography.
***
## Investor Detail View
Click any investor to open a structured breakdown:
Historical follow-on rate, median time to follow on, rate of leading follow-on rounds, and how often they invest more than once after their first check.
A personalized recommendation connecting this investor's historical patterns with your specific stage, timeline, and relationship history — not a generic summary of the numbers.
An interactive chart showing how this investor's follow-on rate varies by stage, sector, and geography, with your own profile highlighted against their broader portfolio.
Ask Richard how likely this specific investor is to participate in your next round, and what strategy would maximize your chances.
Follow-On Intelligence currently estimates likelihood using historical investment data. Precise timing detail — such as exactly how far ahead of a lead an investor typically commits — will get sharper as Metal's Cap Table product captures more granular timing data over time.
***
## Frequently asked questions
It's based on your company's traction relative to typical benchmarks for your stage, sector, and geography — not on your existing investors' behavior. It recalculates whenever your round details or company context change.
Each investor in your cap table gets a Follow-On Score based on their historical follow-on patterns at your specific stage, sector, and geography — a separate score from your company's overall Fundability Score.
From Settings → Upcoming Round Details — round stage, size, and timeline. Updating them there recalculates your Readiness Score and recommendations automatically.
Yes. Follow-On Intelligence analyzes your existing cap table investors, so it's built for companies that have already closed at least one round and are looking ahead to the next.
Yes. Both the main dashboard and each investor's detail view have a Discuss with Richard action that opens a conversation pre-loaded with the relevant data.
***
# Investor Updates
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/investor-relations/investor-updates
Feed our agent your context and engage in discourse to guide it toward top-decile investor updates.
Investor Updates is where you create, send, and manage updates to your investors, keeping every draft and sent update organized in one place. Feed the agent your context — decks, memos, prior updates, and more — then guide it in conversation as it drafts, so what comes out is thoughtful, polished, and investor-ready, not a generic status report.
***
## Capabilities
Start from a template, then let AI ask clarifying questions based on your uploaded decks, memos, and other collateral to fill in the gaps — or skip AI entirely and write manually on a blank canvas.
A block-based editor with rich formatting, embedded media, and native charts, so your update looks like a real document, not a plain-text email.
Analyze and score your updates and get sharp recommendations across Language, Context, and Metrics, with specific suggested edits you can accept, dismiss, or rephrase.
Track opens, delivery, and — once an investor views an update inside Metal — deeper engagement signals like reading time and section-level attention.
***
## How It Works
From the Investor Updates dashboard, choose **Manual Update** for a blank canvas, or **AI Generated Update** to have Metal draft a starting version from your fundraising context and collateral.
If you chose the AI flow, Metal asks a short set of clarifying questions to fill in gaps your uploaded documents don't already answer, then generates a first draft grounded in that context.
Edit freely in the rich editor — add sections, embed charts and media, and format the update the way you want investors to read it.
Click **Analyze Investor Update** to open a Quality Score (0–100) across three dimensions:
* **Language** — grammar, tone, and clarity
* **Context** — flags thin or missing narrative explanations
* **Metrics** — flags missing key data points and benchmarks your numbers against comparable companies
Accept, dismiss, or rephrase any suggestion inline — and watch the score update in real time as you go, so you always know where your update stands.
Send to your recipient list. From there, track delivery and open rates in the Recipients tab. If a recipient views the update inside Metal (via the **View in Metal** link in the email), you'll also see deeper engagement analytics — average reading time, completion rate, and which sections got the most attention.
Recipients don't need a full Metal account to view updates in their inbox — they get a lightweight **Inbox Account** tied to their email, giving them a persistent, richer view of every update they've received from you.
***
## FAQs
Yes. The AI Generated Update flow uses your uploaded collateral — decks, memos, prior updates — as context, and asks clarifying questions to fill in anything it can't find.
Yes. Choose **Manual Update** from the dashboard to start from a blank canvas in the rich editor.
It's a 0–100 score combining three dimensions: Language (clarity and tone), Context (narrative completeness), and Metrics (data completeness and benchmarking).
No. Updates are delivered by email and fully readable there. Recipients can optionally click **View in Metal** for a richer experience, which creates a lightweight Inbox Account tied to their email — no org access or fundraising tools included.
Email opens are tracked through standard delivery/open tracking. Metal views happen when a recipient opens the update inside Metal via Inbox, which unlocks deeper engagement analytics — reading time, completion rate, and section-level attention — that email alone can't capture.
Yes. Use the three-dot menu on any update in the dashboard to duplicate it — this creates a new draft copy you can edit and send separately.
***
# Desktop App
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/meeting-intelligence/desktop-app
Capture any investor conversation directly from your computer — without a bot joining the call.
The Metal Desktop App is a lightweight recorder that captures meeting audio and video locally on your machine and feeds it straight into Meeting Intelligence. That makes taking calls easier and more reliable — and it runs the same post-call analysis experience you already get on the Metal platform.
***
Go to **Settings → Meeting Intelligence → Notetaker Integrations** and download the Metal Notetaker App. Install it and sign in with your Metal account so recordings link back to your workspace.
The Desktop App currently runs on Apple Silicon Macs only:
* **macOS with an Apple Silicon chip** (M1, M2, M3, or newer)
* **macOS 13 (Ventura) or later**
Windows and Intel-based Macs are not supported at this time. If you're on an unsupported device, use the native bot Notetaker or upload a transcript manually — both produce the same Meeting Intelligence analysis.
On first launch, the app asks for a few macOS permissions so it can detect, record, and transcribe your meetings:
* **Microphone** — captures your voice and audio during the meeting.
* **Screen Recording** — lets the app detect and record your meetings.
* **Accessibility** — lets the app detect meeting windows and control system audio.
* **Full Disk Access (optional)** — improves meeting detection for Microsoft Teams. Without it, some Teams meetings may be missed.
Once set up, recording is mostly automatic. Calendar events Metal recognizes as investor-related are flagged and appear in the Desktop App. When the meeting starts, you'll get a notification and recording begins by default. You can turn it off from the notification if you don't want the call captured.
If a meeting isn't detected automatically, you can add it manually:
* **Add Upcoming Meeting** — for an upcoming call the app didn't detect as investor-related.
* **Record a Live Meeting** — for an ongoing call the app didn't detect as investor-related.
While recording, the app shows a recording indicator. You can stop at any time, or it stops automatically when the call ends. The recording then uploads to Metal, where it's transcribed and analyzed automatically.
Post-meeting analysis is generated and viewed on the Metal platform, not in the Desktop App. Once a call is completed, open **Meeting Intelligence → Completed** to see the transcript and analysis.
***
## Why Use the Desktop App
A bot notetaker has to be let into the meeting and managed as a participant — a waiting-room step or an admit prompt at the start of every call. The Desktop App just records from your machine, so there's one less thing to handle when a call kicks off.
Bots can be held in a waiting room, blocked by host settings, or dropped mid-call — and when that happens, you lose the recording. Because the Desktop App captures the audio on your device, the call is recorded regardless of how the host's meeting is configured.
Both methods feed the same analysis and cover the same conferencing platforms — Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. The Desktop App simply removes the moving parts of getting a bot into the call.
Recording requirements vary by jurisdiction, and some conversations may require participant consent. For more information, see Metal's [Privacy Policy](https://www.metal.so/legal/privacy-policy) and [Terms of Service](https://www.metal.so/legal/terms-of-service).
***
## FAQs
No. Closing the app window doesn't quit it — it keeps running in the background so it can detect and record meetings. However, if you quit it fully from either the Dock or the menu bar, it can't detect or record meetings.
We'd recommend against it. Running another meeting recorder at the same time as Metal can prevent Metal from recording, so we recommend keeping Metal as the only Desktop Recording App for calls you want captured.
This may be either because the meeting wasn't detected as investor-related on our platform, the app was quit, or some other issue or conflict. If you're unable to identify the cause, reach out to us via **Help → Chat with Us** on our platform.
On the Metal platform, not in the Desktop App. Once a call is completed, open **Meeting Intelligence → Completed** to see the transcript and analysis.
***
# Post-Meeting Analysis
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/meeting-intelligence/post-meeting-analysis
A structured analysis of every investor call — what worked, what didn't, and what to do differently next time.
Most founders come out of investor calls with a rough sense of how it went — good energy, tough questions, and some early interest. That assessment is almost always directionally right, but tactically unhelpful.
Meeting Intelligence replaces that gut read with a structured analysis. After every investor call, the platform produces a breakdown of what happened across three dimensions — with specific evidence from the transcript: what key areas came up, how the messaging landed, and what to change.
Navigate to **Process → Meeting Intelligence → Completed** to access the view.
***
## The Three Dimensions
The post-meeting analysis assigns a specific score across three broad dimensions:
How clear was the overall communication and the Company's vision and progress?
How well structured was the call, the strategy or key points in the narrative?
How did the investor rank in terms of conviction (against large data sets)?
***
## Reading the Analysis
The scores are entry points. The real coaching lies inside the call cards. The analysis is structured into clearly labeled sections with a dynamic table of contents. Clicking any section title scrolls directly to it. Sections typically include:
1. **Investor Fit and Concerns** — How well did this investor map to our round, and what surfaced as friction or hesitation
2. **Founder Performance** — Where the narrative broke down or could be improved
3. **Story and Narrative** — How the pitch landed, where it was precise, and where it was too vague
4. **Product and Market** — How the investor engaged with your category and traction claims
5. **Next Steps** — Concrete follow-up actions and adjustments to make before subsequent calls
Each of the above sections contains highlights of what worked, risks or objections raised, and specific actionable suggestions — such as bringing data earlier, sharpening a particular answer, or restructuring the opening.
For most founders, including ones that have raised large rounds before, the analysis typically reveals insights or observations from the call that they wouldn't have learned themselves.
***
## Discuss with Richard
Each call analysis includes a **Discuss with Richard** option in the Analysis tab. Clicking on this initiates a conversation with AI Richard, equipped with the full transcript and analysis, making it a working session rather than a report to read and set aside.
Founders commonly work with Richard AI to:
1. **Draft a follow-up** — not a generic check-in, but a message informed by what the investor specifically flagged during the call
2. **Role play a talking point** **that scored low** — ask Richard to push back the way the investor did so you can sharpen the answer before the next call
3. **Interpret conviction signals** — if the investor asked sharp diligence questions, Richard can help you read whether that signals serious interest or routine screening
4. **Define next steps** — get structured recommendations on what to do and how to adjust your approach for the next conversation with this investor
Ask specific questions. *"Should I follow up?"* is less useful than *"Draft a follow-up email that addresses their concern about go-to-market timing."* Richard has full context on the call, the investor's profile, and where the relationship sits in your pipeline.
***
# Pre-Meeting Briefs
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/meeting-intelligence/pre-meeting-brief
Use proprietary intelligence to prepare for investor meetings with structured context, key insights, and tailored preparation guidelines.
Before every investor call, Meeting Intelligence surfaces a structured brief on the investor — built from Metal's proprietary intelligence on their thesis, portfolio activity, stage focus, prior investment behaviours and founder engagements. By design, pre-meeting briefs equip founders to walk into investor conversations informed and in control of the agenda.
Navigate to **Process → Meeting Intelligence → Upcoming** to access the view.
***
## What the Brief Covers
Pre-Meeting Briefs are based on our proprietary intelligence on the investor's prior investments, portfolio activity, concentrated returns, published content and industry tribal knowledge. Each pre-meeting brief is organized across four areas:
What this investor is looking for right now — their stage and sector focus, thesis alignment, check size behaviour, and how your round maps to their current investment activity. This is the lens through which the investor evaluates your Company and round.
How to frame your pitch for this specific investor — which parts of your story are most likely to resonate given their portfolio, and what to emphasize. This insight is driven by our proprietary intelligence for the specific investor in question.
The questions this investor is likely to ask based on their thesis, portfolio, and investment patterns — and where friction or hesitation is most likely to surface. Knowing these in advance means you're preparing answers, not improvising them.
Any prior meeting history with this investor — previous call analysis, notes, and where the relationship sits in your pipeline. If you've engaged with the investor before, this section surfaces what was discussed, what signals came through, and what has changed since.
***
## Discuss with Richard
Upcoming meetings include a **Discuss with Richard** option directly from the meeting view. Richard AI is loaded with the investor's full profile and your company context, making it a live preparatory session rather than a static document to read.
With Richard AI, users can:
1. **Get a tailored brief on demand** — ask *"What do I need to know about \[investor] before this meeting?"* and Richard synthesizes the investor's thesis, recent portfolio activity, and round fit into a focused summary,
2. **Pressure-test your narrative** — ask Richard how your pitch is likely to land given this investor's portfolio, and where to tighten the framing before the call,
3. **Prepare for specific questions** — ask *"What objections should I prepare for given their portfolio?"* or *"What are they likely to push back on?"*
4. **Dig into prior context** — if you've met this investor before, ask Richard to surface what came out of the last call and what to address or build on this time
Ask specific questions. *"How should I prepare?"* is less useful than *"This investor just led a Series A in a competitor — how should I address that on the call?"* Richard has full context on the investor's profile, your company, and the history of the specific relationship in your pipeline.
***
# Notetaker Setup
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/meeting-intelligence/recommended-process
The setup process for the notetaker to activate Meeting Intelligence across all investor conversations.
Meeting Intelligence helps founders prepare for and learn from every investor meeting via pre-meeting briefs and post-meeting feedback. To get consistent value from both, complete the below setup before your first call.
Go to **Settings → Meeting Intelligence → Configure Calendar** and connect your calendar. This syncs upcoming investor meetings into Meeting Intelligence, automatically turning on pre-meeting briefs and post-call feedback.
Once connected, upcoming investor meetings will appear in the **Meeting Intelligence →** **Upcoming** view. On this view, you can also review pre-meeting briefs.
Under **Settings → Meeting Intelligence → Notetaker Integrations**, enable the Metal Notetaker and set it as your default. As part of this, you can also configure auto-recording for all investor-related meetings. You can manually adjust which meetings the notetaker joins at any time using the toggles in the **Meeting Intelligence →** **Upcoming** tab.
From this same flow, you can also authorize Zoom by connecting it via OAuth.
Starting March 2, 2026, Zoom requires all meeting bots to be authorized via Zoom OAuth. This ensures meetings are accessed only with your explicit permission.
If your calendar is connected and the Metal Notetaker is enabled, the notetaker will join when a meeting occurs (subject to host permissions), record the call, and generate a transcript. The meeting then appears in Meeting Intelligence as a completed call, and post-call analysis runs automatically.
If the notetaker isn't configured, you can manually upload a transcript against any call to initiate the analysis — the output is identical either way. Accepted formats include **PDF, TXT and DOCX**.
If a meeting isn't appearing from your calendar, you can add it manually: go to **Meeting Intelligence**, select **Add a Meeting**, and follow the three-step flow — select or create the meeting, link an investor, and attach the notetaker or upload a transcript.
Once set up is completed, Meeting Intelligence is automatically triggered across two ongoing workflows for every investor conversation:
A pre-call brief on upcoming investor meetings, laying out the most important points that may likely emerge in the upcoming meeting.\\
A post-call analysis featuring the most important signals from the discussion and a list of things that can be improved for subsequent calls.
The value of Meeting Intelligence compounds over time. Each brief makes the next call sharper and helps the platform improve the overall understanding of your Company and your round. Each analysis surfaces a specific improvement to carry forward.
Founders who review both consistently — before and after every meeting — develop a clearer picture of what's working in their pitch, which investors are genuinely engaged, and where the raise process needs to evolve.
***
# Leading KPIs
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/pipeline-development/key-metrics
With a set of leading KPIs, founders can build foresight into the likely outcome of an ongoing fundraise.
As with any sales process, leading KPIs can help build foresight into the likely outcome of the current stage of the pipeline. For venture rounds, the following two leading KPIs can help founders build an accurate assessment of the likelihood of close:
| **Key Metric** | **What It Measures** |
| :-------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Intro Opt In Rate** | Of all those who receive intro requests, the percentage that opts into taking calls |
| **1st to 2nd Meeting Conversion** | Of all first calls, the percentage that convert into 2nd meetings |
### Intro Opt In Rate
For early stage rounds (Pre-seed or Series A), an opt-in rate of 20%+ is considered healthy. Specifically, if 10 strong-fit investors receive an intro requests, at least 2 or more should opt into taking a call with the Company.
Opt in rate is a health check on the Company and on the round. If/when the opt in rate falls well below 20%, founders need to diagnose what is holding them back:
| **Domain** | **Description** |
| ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Investor Targeting** | Are we targeting investors that are the most relevant? |
| **Company Blurb** | Is our company blurb and overall information compelling enough? |
| **Round Context** | Are we meeting the general thresholds that investors expect for our round? |
### 1st to 2nd Meeting Conversion
In a raise process, the percentage of 1st meetings that convert into a second discussion is a useful metric to gauge the response from capital markets. The right benchmarks vary considerably by sector, by stage and by geography, ranging from 25 to 50 percent.
For Series A in the US, for most sectors, about 40% of all first meetings with investors should convert into second calls. For Pre-seed and Seed in the US, for most sectors, about 35% of all first meetings tend to convert into second calls. In some sectors, such as Industrials, the percentage settles at around 30%, especially at Seed and Series A.
At Seed and Series A, the largest variations tend to be based on revenue and traction. For companies with breakout traction, benchmarks can rank as high as 75-85% of all first calls converting into second meetings. At Preseed, the largest variations are often based on the founder’s background.
For founders raising in unique environments, such as a Demo Day for a given accelerator, the benchmarks are completely different.\\
> *With leading KPIs, founders can build an accurate assessment of how the raise is coming along, and what specific parts may need to change.*
***
# Pipeline Capabilities
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/pipeline-development/pipeline-capabilities
The full set of tools available to manage, organize, and act on your pipeline.
The Metal pipeline is a fully customizable fundraising CRM — built to track every investor interaction from first contact to close. Beyond basic stage management, it comes with a set of capabilities that give founders granular control over how they view, organize, and act on their pipeline data.
***
## Getting Investors In
To auto-populate your prior investor relationships into Metal, users have to options:
Metal scans email history to import prior investors relationships. \
\
Found under **Actions → Import Data**.
Import a CRV via Airtable, Notion or other CRMs.\
\
Found under **Actions → Import Data**.
With each option, Metal allows users to select which specific investors to import. The collaborative process allows users to automatically import an initial list and then to select which investors to add to a given pipeline.
***
## Views
Consistent with industry norms for CRMs, the investor pipeline supports two views, switchable from the **View Settings** control in the pipeline toolbar:
All investors in a single scrollable list, grouped by stage. Best for managing data, adding notes, sorting and filtering, and doing bulk updates. This is the default working view for most founders.
Investors as cards in columns by stage. Best for seeing the shape of the pipeline at a glance — how many investors are at each stage, where things are clustered, and where the process has stalled.
***
## Attributes
Attributes are the data columns that appear across investor entries in the pipeline. They can be added, removed, and reordered from the **Add/Edit Columns** button.
Pre-populated from Metal's investor intelligence. They include investor type, deal counts over the last 3 and 12 months, % of investments by stage, sector and geography, and percentage of rounds led.
Can be created for any data not covered by built-in attributes. Supported types include text, number, checkbox, date, and dropdown — useful for tracking things specific to your raise such as intro source, deck sent date, or partner name.
***
## Stages
Stages define the structure of the pipeline and map directly to Kanban columns in Board View and the Stage field on each investor entry. They can be renamed, reordered, added, or removed via the **Edit Stages** option on the stage name dropdown.
Name stages after the action required, not just the status — for example, "Seeking Intros" or "Move to Due Diligence" rather than "Intro" or "Diligence". This makes it immediately clear what needs to happen for each investor in the stage.
***
## Search, Filter & Group
Locate investors by name instantly, without scrolling through the full list.
Narrow the pipeline view by any combination of built-in or custom attributes.
Organizes investors by stage to see which investors are at each point in the process.
***
## Notes
Each investor entry in the pipeline has a **Notes** field for capturing context that isn't reflected in stages or attributes — what was discussed on the last call, what the investor asked for, where the relationship stands, or what needs to happen next.
Notes serve as institutional memory across the raise. As conversations with an investor evolve over weeks or months, the notes field keeps the full history in one place — so nothing gets lost between calls and follow-ups are grounded in what was actually said.
***
## Relevance Ranks
Metal assigns a **Relevance Rank** to each investor in the pipeline based on how well their profile maps to your fundraising configuration — stage, sector, geography, check size, and thesis alignment. This rank is visible directly in the pipeline and updates as your configuration or the investor's activity changes.
Use relevance ranks to prioritize outreach within a stage — focusing time on the investors most structurally aligned with your round, rather than working through the list arbitrarily.
***
## Quick Access to Investor Profiles
Clicking on any investor name in the pipeline opens their full **Investor Profile** — the complete intelligence view for that investor without leaving the pipeline context. Profiles are structured across three tabs:
Understand how this investor actually behaves based on historical activity — e.g. stage, sector, and geography breakdowns.
See how to get access of this investor — intro pathways through your network, portfolio founders who can make a warm introduction.
All engagement history in one place — notes, synced emails, meetings, contacts, and reminders tied to this investor.
This makes it possible to review everything known about an investor — and take action — directly from the pipeline row, without navigating away.
***
## Pipeline Sharing
Pipelines can be shared with co-founders, advisors, or team members via a secure, customizable link. To share, go to **Actions → Share Pipeline** and configure the following:
1. **Permissions** — View Only, Add/Edit Attributes, or Add Deals/Investors
2. **Access control** — restrict access to specific email addresses; recipients must sign in with the same email to view the pipeline
3. **Password protection** — add an optional password for an extra layer of security
4. **Expiry date** — set a date after which the link stops working
Recipients are taken directly to the shared pipeline on sign-in and can act within whatever permissions have been granted.
***
## Export
Pipeline data can be exported at any time via **Actions → Export Data**. The export generates a spreadsheet (.xlsx) containing all investors, stage data, and any custom attributes added.
Note that enriched profile data from Metal's database — such as third-party deal intelligence — is not included in the export, only user-generated data.
***
# Process Velocity
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/pipeline-development/process-and-velocity
Across large data sets, the velocity at which founders move holds the highest predictive power on the probability of a successful raise.
A high-velocity pipeline is one in which new investors move through the different stages at a rapid pace. By bringing process excellence to identifying and accessing investors, founders can develop a high-velocity rhythm to maximize the odds of success
Process velocity refers to the pace at which investors move through a given pipeline. The biggest velocity killer is indecision — spending too much time on investors who have gone quiet, or aren't responsive, or simply aren't a fit. To avoid indecision, founders should have a clear framework for how to tackle investors in common situations.
An example framework is shown below
![Image]()
***
# Pipeline Setup
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/pipeline-development/recommended-process
A recommended process to set up your investor pipeline the right way.
When setting up your investor pipeline, founders typically start off by completing the below steps:
Most founders have prior investor touch points scattered across email or spreadsheets via past introductions, cold outreach, or follow-ups that went quiet. Metal has the ability to import your prior history within a few clicks.
After creating a pipeline, go to **Actions → Import Data** and choose your import method:
* **Gmail / Outlook** — Metal scans your email and calendar metadata to surface investors you've engaged with before. Metal only accesses metadata and not your email content.
* **CSV** **/ Excel** — Upload a spreadsheet of your existing investor list (.csv, .xls, or .xlsx, max 10 MB). A 5-step flow walks you through uploading, mapping columns, reviewing matches, and confirming. Download a template to ensure correct formatting.
Founders can download their pipelines from Hubspot, Attio, Airtable, Google Shees or Notion, and then import via CSV.
Metal allows users to add data columns within their pipeline. The below list of data columns are recommended to support the downstream process of qualifying investors:
* % Investments in Selected Stage(s)
* % Investments in Selected Continent(s)
* 12mo Deal Count
The above data columns can be added using the Add/Edit Columns button to the right-side of the pipeline. Additionally, via the Add/Edit Columns widget, users can also add "custom" columns with ability to write anything.
Most founders prefer to customise the names of stages within the pipeline. This is easily achievable via the "Edit Stages" button on the stage name dropdown.
A standard best practice is to name each stage behind specific actions, such as "Seeking Intros" or "Move to Due Diligence". This helps users associate investors in each stage with the action that is required.
With the above setup process, founders can get the pipeline up and running within minutes. By clicking on a given investor name, users can see rich insights and/or intelligence on each investor.
# Investing Velocity
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/qualifying-investors/activity-levels
Qualify investors that are actively deploying capital.
When qualifying investors, the investing velocity is an important indicator of risk appetite. An angel investor that makes one investment a year has a very different posture versus one that makes 5+ investments each year. The same concept also applies to institutional investors.
***
### Super Active Investors
Investors that are in a super active phase are excellent targets -- these firms are well capitalised, are actively deploying capital, and have the right risk appetite for early-stage venture investments. The below are two important characteristics for super active investors:
Super active investors tend to have crystal clarity on their process to get to a decision.
With these firms, the investment decision happens in weeks and through a well-defined process.
Super active investors have a clearly defined criteria against which they make each investment decision.
With these firms, the decision criteria tends to be predictable and non-random in nature.
Institutional investors making 10+ investments per year and angels with 5+ investments per year are considered super active.
***
### Minimal Activity Levels
For investors that have a minimal activity level (I.e. less than "3" investments in a given year), there may not be a common thread as to the underlying reason. Some firms have a unique investment model whereby they invest in an extremely selective manner. Others have run out of capital and are simply unable to finance a large number of investments.
Generally speaking, if an investor has had minimal activity in the prior year, it is worth paying close attention to their strategy. There is a high likelihood that they are looking for very specific types of investment opportunities that may not align with the user's Company.
***
# Precision Targeting
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/qualifying-investors/precision-targeting
Identify investors that invest in rounds identical to yours.
When qualifying a given investment firm, the most important consideration is often any prior investments they have made in your specific operating space. On Metal, on any given investor profile, users can navigate to **Intelligence > Investments > Similar Investments** to view the most similar prior investments that the investor had made.
The below visual shows the range of possibilities:
Has the investor made at least some investments in our parent sector? Investors that have never invested in your parent sector may still consider an investment in your space, but they are probably not the default go-to investors for your Company.
**Recommended Criteria --** At least "1" investment in the user's parent sector in the past five years.
Does the investor specialise at our stage? This is often the most critical elimination criteria. Most investors have a clear and specific focus in terms of the stage at which they like to invest. You can learn more about [round stages here](https://docs.metal.so/content/resources/round-stages).
**Recommended Criteria --** At least 10%+ of the investor's total investments in the user's stage.
Does the investor lead rounds at your specific stage? Via the investor profile, users can identify the percentage of a given investor's investments that they have led at a given stage. If/when looking for a lead investor, founders should know that investors that have historically led \<10% of their investments are not likely to lead rounds.
**Recommended Criteria --** At least 10%+ of prior investments led in the user's stage.
Has the investor previously invested in your continent? Most investors tend to be less adventurous with investing in continents that they historically haven't invested in before.
**Recommended Criteria --** At least "1" investment in the user's continent in the last 5 years.
The above are typically used as dis-qualifiers in the set of investors that founders decide to pursue. While the above list is not designed to be exhaustive, it provides a strong starting point to drill into the *"most likely"* investing partners.
***
# Recommended Process
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/qualifying-investors/recomme
A rigorous qualification process saves tremendous time and effort in the overall raise process. In particular, a rigorous qualification criteria helps avoid countless instances whereby founders pursue a given investor and land introductions only to discover after multiple calls that the investor doesn't focus on their specific stage or sector.
Review prior investments by the firm that are most similar to your Company to surface prior work in your space.
Review the investor's focus in terms of stage, sector, geography and inclination to lead to assess fit.
Review the investing velocity of the firm to assess their overall risk appetite and capital availability.
Review the valuation ranges and check size for a given investor to ensure their ability to participate in your round.
***
# Similar Investments & Thesis
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/qualifying-investors/similar-inv
Research a given investor's prior work in your operating space.
When qualifying a given investment firm, the most important consideration is often any prior investments they have made in your specific operating space.
***
## Similar Investments
On any given investor profile, users can navigate to **Intelligence > Investments > Similar Investments** to view the most similar prior investments that the investor had made.
The below visual shows the range of possibilities:
Investor has invested in direct competitors, which are defined as companies solving the same problem for the same customers as your Company.
**Actionable Insight:** Avoid these investors unless the firm in question is an accelerator. Many accelerators, including YCombinator, invest in direct competitors. This is, however, the exception and not the norm. In most cases, VC firms won't consider investments in companies that compete directly with an existing portfolio company.
Investor has invested in one or similar companies that are adjacent or similar to your solution. The solution may not be identical to that of your Company, but it is directionally similar.
**Actionable Insight:** Prioritise these investors, as they already believe in the broader direction in which you are building.
Investor has invested in adjacent spaces, but has not yet invested in your specific category. As an example, if you are building a product focused on AI for Customer Success, perhaps the investor has invested in AI for Sales Outbound.
**Actionable Insight:** Prioritise these investors, as they already believe in the broader direction in which you are building.
In this scenario, which is fairly rare, it is still important to be aware of the lack of prior work by the investor within your specific operating space.
Understanding a given investor's prior work in your specific semantic space can be immensely beneficial prior to investor calls.
***
## Investing Thesis
On any given investor profile, users can navigate to **Intelligence > Patterns > Thesis** to view the specific investing theses for the investor that are most relevant or applicable to your Company.
For a given thesis that is relevant to your Company, you can click on the "View Details" button to view all the specific companies that the investor has backed within that thesis. Hovering on a given company shows a brief description of what the company does.
Venture investors often tend to invest in patterns -- if they believe in a specific market opportunity (I.e. P2P payments), they often fund multiple companies within that thesis. Let's look at a specific investing thesis:
**Thesis Description:** AI-powered generative models (text, image, video) are revolutionising creative industries, enabling mass personalisation and automating labor-intensive content tasks. Investors believe these platforms can disrupt entertainment, marketing, and media production.
Techstars, one of the leading accelerators in the US, has invested in a broad range of companies within this thesis:
![]()
The above screenshot shows investments made by Techstars within the AI-Driven Content Creation thesis.
***
# Valuation Ranges
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/qualifying-investors/valuation-ranges
Based on the fund strategy, investors have different views on the valuations at which they invest.
Most investors have a well-defined range at which they invest at a given stage. As an example, a majority of investors that are focused on Pre-seed do not invest at valuations greater than \$12-15m.
During qualification, founders need to evaluate their valuation expectations against the 50th and 75th percentile of valuation ranges for a given investor to ensure a strong-fit.
***
### Understanding Valuation Preferences
Venture investors tend to have unique views on valuation ranges that they view as acceptable at a given stage. Generally speaking, most investors fall somewhere on the spectrum between two extremes:
* **Optimising for Moonshots:** For many VCs, the strategy is to invest in Companies that have a real shot at becoming multi-billion dollar companies, and finding a way to get 10%+ ownership at the entry point. Such funds tend to be less price sensitive and are often driven primarily by whether or not they believe the Company can return the fund.
* **Optimising for Entry Prices:** For many VCs, the strategy is to invest in Companies that they believe are likely to deliver 10x+ returns based on a low entry price. Such funds tend to be extremely sensitive to the entry price and are easily discouraged by high valuation expectations.
Most VCs tend to fall somewhere on the spectrum between the above two extremes.
***
### Analysing Valuation Ranges
For founders that are raising at below the 50th percentile for their specific stage, investors that have the lowest median valuations might be the best targets.
For founders raising close to or above the 75th percentile for their specific stage, investors that have the highest median or 75th percentile valuations might be great prospective partners. These investors have historically not been super price sensitive and might show the most openness to investing at high valuations.
Ultimately, assessing valuation ranges should be viewed as a qualifier or a dis-qualifier, and should not be the basis for targeting a given investor.
Valuation ranges need to be evaluated at a specific stage. Investors tend to have very different median or 75th percentile valuation ranges for each stage.
***
# Connecting Zoom to Metal Notetaker
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/resources/connecting-zoom
To allow Metal Notetaker to join your Zoom meetings, you must authenticate your Zoom account using secure OAuth authorization.
Starting March 2, 2026, Zoom requires all meeting bots to be authorized via Zoom OAuth. This ensures meetings are accessed only with your explicit permission.
***
## Adding & Connecting Zoom
Zoom is connected directly inside Metal.
To connect Zoom:
1. Go to **Settings → Metal Notetaker**
2. Click **Connect**
3. Click **Authenticate with Zoom**
4. Approve the requested permissions in Zoom
5. You will be redirected back to Metal once connected
If Notetaker is already set up:
1. Go to **Settings → Metal Notetaker**
2. Open **Settings → Zoom**
3. Click **Authenticate with Zoom**
4. Approve permissions
Once authenticated, Zoom is successfully connected.
Without authentication:
* The Notetaker cannot join meetings
* Zoom transcripts and summaries will not be generated
***
## How It Works
* After authorization, Zoom OAuth tokens are securely stored.
* Metal does not store your Zoom password.
* Once authorized, the Notetaker bot can join investor calls on your behalf.
* The bot joins designated investor calls only.
* During the meeting, the bot records and transcribes the session.
* After the meeting ends, transcripts are processed by Metal.
* Metal generates:
* Structured notes
* Intelligent summaries
* Insights on what went well
* Feedback on what could have gone better
* Suggestions for improvement for future investor calls
No additional prerequisites are required beyond Zoom authentication.
***
## Removing Zoom Access
You can disconnect Zoom at any time inside Metal.
To disconnect:
1. Go to **Settings → Metal Notetaker**
2. Open **Settings**
3. Navigate to the **Zoom** section
4. Click **Disconnect**
After disconnection:
* All Zoom OAuth tokens are removed.
* The Notetaker will no longer join future meetings.
* Previously generated notes and transcripts remain in your Metal workspace.
Data retention:
* Meeting data is retained while the user account remains active.
* In accordance with GDPR, all user data is **permanently deleted** when the user deletes their Metal account.
***
## Support
For assistance, contact:
[support@metal.so](mailto:support@metal.so)
# Metal MCP
Source: https://docs.metal.so/content/resources/metal-mcp
Run your raise from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or any AI assistant connected directly to your Metal workspace.
Metal MCP connects AI assistants directly to your Metal workspace. Ask Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, or Cursor to find investors, map warm intros, update your pipeline, or prepare you for a call, and it happens in Metal without you opening the app.
It is built on MCP (Model Context Protocol), the open standard for connecting AI models to software. Any MCP-compatible client works, and teams building custom agents or internal tooling can build on the same connection.
MCP is an access layer, not a separate product. Everything it does runs on the same proprietary data, relevance scoring, and network intelligence that powers the Metal app, so results stay consistent wherever you work.
***
## Common Use Cases
Search the market by stage, sector, geography, thesis, or recent activity. Pull full investor profiles, check sizes, portfolio patterns, and co-investor relationships. Your assistant can research companies, their funding history, and founders, or find the investors behind any founder and the deals a specific partner has personally led.
> "Find seed-stage fintech investors in Europe who have led a round in the last 12 months, and show me their typical check size."
Map ranked intro paths from your network to any target investor, surface your strongest connectors, and see what your network actually covers across Gmail, LinkedIn, and manually added contacts.
> "Who in my network can introduce me to Accel? Rank the paths by strength."
Create pipelines and stages, add or remove deals in bulk, move investors between stages, update amounts and next steps, and manage custom columns. Your assistant can also tag investors, companies, and people across your workspace, and add or retrieve notes and contact persons on any deal. Pipeline hygiene becomes a sentence, not an afternoon.
> "Move every investor I met this week to Due Diligence and add a next step from my meeting notes."
List your upcoming and past investor calls, pull the pre-meeting prep brief, and review post-meeting analysis. Read the email threads behind any investor relationship from your connected inbox.
> "What should I know before my 2pm with Index? Summarize our past conversations and their recent deals."
See which investors are publicly signaling conviction in your space, dig into why a specific firm matches, and track newly announced funds relevant to your raise.
> "Show me investors signaling interest in vertical SaaS this month, and any new funds that match my stage and geography."
***
## Getting Connected
Pick the app you use. Every setup ends the same way: you sign in to Metal in your browser, choose your organization, and approve access.
Before you start, sign in to Metal at app.metal.so in your browser. Any setup that asks for a server URL uses `https://api.metal.so/mcp`. It starts with **api**, not app, so copy it rather than typing it.
Metal is listed in Claude's connector directory, so there is nothing to configure.
In Claude, open **Settings → Connectors**, search for **Metal Fundraising**, and click **Connect**.
Sign in with your Metal account and select the organization you want to connect. Access is limited to that organization.
Read and write access are granted separately. Start read-only if you prefer, and turn on write access when you want your assistant to update your pipeline, tags, and notes.
ChatGPT adds Metal as a custom app, which needs Developer mode. It works on ChatGPT web with a Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, or Edu plan. On Business and Enterprise, your workspace admin may need to turn Developer mode on for you first.
Go to **Settings → Apps → Advanced settings** and switch on **Developer mode**.
In **Settings → Apps**, click **Create**. Name it Metal, paste the server URL, choose **OAuth** for authentication, and click **Create**.
Sign in to Metal, select your organization, and approve the permissions you want.
Start a new chat, click **+**, and turn on Metal.
You can connect from the terminal or from the Codex app. Both save to the same settings, so you only need one.
**From the terminal**
```bash theme={null}
codex mcp add metal --url https://api.metal.so/mcp
```
```bash theme={null}
codex mcp login metal
```
A browser window opens. Sign in to Metal, select your organization, and approve the permissions.
```bash theme={null}
codex mcp list
```
You should see metal in the list. Start a new Codex session so it picks Metal up.
**From the Codex app or IDE extension**
Open the gear menu, select **MCP servers**, then **Add server**. Name it metal, choose **Streamable HTTP**, paste the server URL, and save.
Click **Authenticate** next to metal and finish signing in to Metal in your browser. Then start a new session.
```bash theme={null}
claude mcp add --transport http metal https://api.metal.so/mcp
```
Inside Claude Code, run `/mcp`, select metal, and choose **Authenticate**. Finish signing in to Metal in your browser.
Open **Cursor Settings → MCP** and add a new server, or paste this into `~/.cursor/mcp.json`:
```json theme={null}
{
"mcpServers": {
"metal": {
"url": "https://api.metal.so/mcp"
}
}
}
```
Click the sign-in prompt next to metal and finish signing in to Metal in your browser.
Any app that supports MCP works. In its connector settings, add a custom connector named Metal, paste the server URL, and sign in when prompted.
To check it works, start a new chat and try: *"Use Metal to find seed-stage fintech investors in the UK."*
Setup takes about two minutes. You can remove access at any time from your app's connector settings.
***
## Access and Security
Your assistant sees only what your Metal account can see, within the organization you selected at connection time.
Read and write access are separate scopes, so you control exactly what your assistant is allowed to change.
Your fundraising configuration (stage, sector, geography, existing investors) is managed in the Metal app and is not editable through MCP. This keeps the setup that drives your recommendations deliberate and in one place.
***
## Troubleshooting
**"Authorization with Metal failed."** This is usually a stale or half-finished earlier connection attempt. Remove the Metal connector from your client entirely, then reconnect from scratch following the steps above.
**The connector won't authenticate.** Double-check the server URL is `https://api.metal.so/mcp`. Entering app.metal.so instead of api.metal.so is the most common cause of failed connections.
**Codex: Metal is listed but can't do anything.** Run `codex mcp login metal` again, then start a new session. Codex only loads Metal when a session starts.
**ChatGPT: there's no Create button.** Developer mode is off. Turn it on in Settings → Apps → Advanced settings, or ask your workspace admin to enable it.
**Still stuck?** Email [support@metal.so](mailto:support@metal.so) and include the reference code from the error message (it starts with "ofid\_"). It lets us find your connection attempt immediately.
***
For questions, or if there is an ambitious workflow you want to build on Metal MCP, reach out to us ([support@metal.so](mailto:support@metal.so)).
# Introduction
Source: https://docs.metal.so/introduction
An overview of the platform's core capabilities.
### How Metal Works:
Metal is an AI-driven operating system for founders raising venture rounds. Equipped with industry data, the platform captures context on the user's Company and uses that to surface the right intelligence.
Metal was built by founders that raised \$120m for their first startup across seven venture rounds. Through that experience, our founders learned the intricacies of fundraising, and saw an opportunity to build the platform that they wish had existed.
As of May 2026, Metal is used by thousands of founders across 40+ countries.
The platform cuts across six broad sub-products to bring efficiency and precision to the raise process. Each sub-product benefits from the platform's proprietary intelligence on venture investors.
AI Search to identify the "most likely" investors for a specific Company and round.
Relationship graphs to surface existing connections that can introduce you to specific investors.
An embedded CRM purpose-built for founders raising venture rounds with data and insight.
Pre-call preparatory insight and post-call feedback (based on Metal's proprietary intelligence).
In-app coach equipped with proprietary intelligence to guide on all aspects of the raise.
An in-app communications centre that allows founders to build automated sequences with advanced tracking.
For data-driven founders, Metal provides proprietary intelligence that serves as a force multiplier in the raise process.
Alongside product documentation, users should also refer to [product pages](https://www.metal.so) and [customer stories](https://www.metal.so/resources/use-cases) to learn more about the platform's capabilities. For feedback, pls reach out to us ([support@metal.so](mailto:support@metal.so)).
***
/
# Getting Started
Source: https://docs.metal.so/quickstart
A step-by-step process to set up Metal after account creation.
To gain access to the platform, users need to connect with our sales team and run through our onboarding process. Metal offers a 7-day trial for all users. The below visual lays out a step-by-step approach to getting started on Metal.
***
## New User Onboarding
Metal's onboarding runs across three structured calls, each building on the last. Users have the ability to skip calls and to jump ahead if preferred.
The first demo call serves as a qualifying and introductory call to assess if Metal is the right fit for your needs.
Prior to the activation call, our team sets up your account and walks you through platform capabilities to discover, qualify and organize your target investor list. Together, we set up your company profile, conduct investor discovery workflows, and build your target list using Metal's proprietary intelligence.
To kick off onboarding, users are required to pay \$1 for a 7-day trial that converts into a paid subscription after the trial period.
In the onboarding call, our team introduces you to advanced workflows to view relationship intelligence and to setup your investor CRM. Typically, the second onboarding call is scheduled 5–7 days after activation.
Founders who get the most value out of the onboarding process typically come to the second call after having set up their raise process on Metal.
***
## Setting Up the Platform
After getting access, our team walks you through the following specific steps to ensure that your account is set up the right way:
Via the **Settings → Company Profile** section, founders can provide key details on what they are building. This allows our system to fully understand your specific operating space and improve the platform's performance.
Via the Settings → Network > Email section, founders can enable the platform to read their email contact book to power relationship intelligence.
Via the **Settings → Network > LinkedIn** section, founders can enable the platform to read your connections graph, and use that to power relationship intelligence.
Via the **Settings → Network → Existing Investors** section, founders can identify their existing investors, equipping the platform to identify investors that your existing investors can connect you with.
Skipping the email and LinkedIn integrations significantly limits Metal's ability to surface high-quality relationship intelligence and intro pathways.
***
## Key Workflows to Get Started
As part of the trial period, most founders get started with four basic workflows to get their raise setup the right way.
Using Content Signals, New Funds and AI Search, founders start by discovering and qualifying investors.
Our in-app agent is particularly useful for feedback and insights on pitch decks, round strategy or valuations.
Network provides a view into who within your network can introduce you to your shortlisted investors.
By bringing everything together into one place, founders can automate communications and track meetings.
Your account manager is available throughout the trial period. At all times, you can reach our team at [**support@metal.so**](mailto:support@metal.so) (or ask our in-app agent directly).
***