After creating a new account, users can initiate a trial in-app. By default, the trial period is for one day, but can be extended to five days by completing the steps laid out in the onboarding widget (easily accessible via the bottom-left of the platform). After the set period, the trial automatically converts into a paid subscription for the selected plan. The below visual lays out a step-by-step approach to getting started on Metal:
1

Initiate Trial (1-5 Days)

As a starting point, users need to initiate a trial to experience the full feature set. By default, trials are for one day (with the ability for users to extend for five days by completing onboarding steps).
2

Add Data Sources

After initiating the trial, users need to integrate their connections data by integrating LinkedIn and Gmail as data sources. This can be completed by going into the settings modal accessible via the left of the platform (Settings > Data Sources).Adding data sources enables Metal to identify who within the user’s network is best positioned to make introductions with each investor.
For guidelines on how to organise your network, refer to this section.
3

Organise the Network

Metal provides advanced capabilities for users to organise their network. Specifically, via the “Network” section from the left-hand sidebar, the platform enables users to:
  • Search for and identify specific types of contacts within their network
  • Research a given contact to fully understand who they can introduce with
  • PIN close contacts and ARCHIVE noisy connections
For guidelines on how to organise your network, refer to this section.
4

Identify the "Most Likely" Investors

There are 10,000+ active venture investors across the globe. A small fraction of these investors are actually a strong-fit for any given semantic space or specific round. Metal’s high-resolution search capabilities help founders determine which investors to pursue.
For guidelines on how to identify the “most likely” investors, refer to this section.
5

Set Up an Empirically Guided Pipeline

In setting up their investor pipeline, founders can add advanced data columns to view key trends for qualified investors. Through data columns, founders can seamlessly determine which investors to prioritise at various points within the raise process.As an example, the percentage investments made in your stage is a critical data point for all investors, revealing their sweet spot. Investors that have historically made a large percentage of their total investments in a specific stage are typically specialising in that stage.
For guidelines on pipeline setup, refer to this section.
6

Build Access via Relationship Intelligence

For investors short-listed into the pipeline, users can view intro pathways and use these to identify individuals within their network that can make introductions. The venture industry runs on warm introductions.
For guidelines on making high-quality intro requests, refer to this section.
7

Ask Richard for Key Guidelines

In any raise process, curiosity is often your greatest asset — how can I improve my pitch deck? How should I determine how much to raise? How do I rank on the “investment readiness” scale for my next raise? Should I be raising Seed, or should I shoot for a Series A? Which investors are the “most likely” partners for my next round?Richard AI, the in-app agent, is equipped with context on your Company and with industry data on hundreds and thousands of VC rounds that happen every year. As a result, Richard AI can generally provide responses that are actionable, specific and extremely useful.
The above steps provide a detailed overview on how to use the platform to run an effective raise process. At each step, Metal provides the intelligence and precision that founders need to optimise the raise process.