Quickstart
The quickstart guide is designed to complete the set up process within 5-10 minutes of getting started.
(1) Add Network Data
As a starting point, users need to set up their data sources within the network section. Once data sources are added, for each investor, the platform is able to identify who you know that can introduce you.
Metal’s fundraising platform is equipped with comprehensive data on all venture deals from the past two decades. As a result, the platform is intelligent enough to determine which of your connections have raised venture capital from which investors, and/or which connections have invested in VC-backed startups.
There are four types of datas sources that you can add on Metal.
By connecting Gmail and LinkedIn data, users can feed their connections data into the platform. When users view a given investor on Metal, the platform shows a list of your connections that have previously done business with a given investor.
(2) Identify the “Most Likely” Investors
In the fundraising process, one major challenge is to identify the “most likely” investors for a given company. Metal’s high-resolution search capabilities allow founders to identify very specific types of investors. The visual below illustrates the challenge in identifying strong-fit investors:
With Metal’s Fundraising OS, founders can take a high-resolution approach toward identifying investors that are particularly well-suited to their Company’s stage, sector and round context. This helps improve conversion and response rates.
An investor that doesn’t typically lead rounds might take a call, but will likely not invest until there is a lead for the round. Similarly, an investment firm that has made less than 10% of their investments at the seed stage is not nearly as likely as other investors in making a seed-stage investment.
The subsequent section titled “High-Resolution Identification” provides a list of granular filters that founders can use to identify strong-fit investors.
(3) Organize and Manage the Pipeline
Metal has developed a fundraising operating system, with a CRM specifically designed for fundraising. With Metal’s CRM, founders can view advanced intelligence on each investor (right within the CRM):
Within the CRM, founders can see the % of investments that each investor has made within their specific stage, sector and geography. By clicking on the investor, founders can also view advanced intelligence on each investor’s investing trends. As new data on investors becomes available, their pipeline automatically gets updated.
Metal’s CRM is designed to help founders explore different ways to fundraise while running a high-velocity process with 50-100 investors. It is fairly common for users on Metal’s platform to run a pipeline process with 500-600 investors.
Through this process, users build relationships that can be particularly useful in subsequent rounds.