Seed Money · 2026-07-23 · 16 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
37 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Building an angel investor list strategically before committing to active fundraising saves months of wasted effort and increases the quality of investor conversations. The host addresses the most common mistake founders make: treating investor outreach as a numbers game by targeting everyone with "angel investor" in their LinkedIn profile, only to discover many lack the check-writing capacity or industry alignment to be useful. Instead, founders should spend summer defining investor fit (stage, industry, round size, strategic value), researching investors based on evidence of prior investments (not just titles), and creating a prioritized outreach strategy that acknowledges relationship-building takes months, not days. Key frameworks include understanding that true active angels write $20,000-$50,000+ checks multiple times yearly, mapping warm introduction paths to investors rather than cold outreach, and distinguishing between ideal-fit targets, learning opportunities, and list removals. The host emphasizes that summer is the optimal time to complete this groundwork while investor response times are slower, enabling stronger positioning for fall conversations.
Define investor fit by first clarifying your stage, industry, problem statement, raise size, and the strategic value you need beyond capital (mentorship, board experience, networks). Then research investors and only add those where you have evidence they care about your space - not just that they have 'angel investor' in their title.
True active angel investors typically write checks of $20,000-$50,000 or more, multiple times per year. Many people calling themselves angels on LinkedIn write $1,000-$5,000 checks infrequently, so verify investment history and check size before spending time pitching them.
If building relationships with strangers beyond friends and family, expect 6+ months or longer per investor relationship. The host's first lead investor took six different introductions to reach, and relationship-building typically requires sustained effort, not just one email.
Use summer to research, organize, and identify investors, and to map warm introduction paths to them. Wait until fall to begin intensive outreach when you're ready with your full package, but the prep work in summer makes fall conversations far more efficient.
Segment your list into categories: ideal-fit targets (deserving most energy), investors you need to learn more about, feedback sources who may not invest, and removals. Focus your time on the 5-10 ideal fits rather than treating all investors equally.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode contains several actionable frameworks (defining investor fit, evidence-based identification, prioritization, warm path mapping) that are genuinely useful for early-stage founders, but relies heavily on repetition of core themes rather than novel insights. The advice is sound but largely conventional wisdom about investor targeting - repackaged competently but not densely packed with non-obvious ideas.
An angel investor only becomes a lead to go on your sheet or your tracker to research when there's a reason to believe that they may care about what you're building.
You really do need to prioritize. So some investors are going to be a strong fit. Some you need to learn more about. Some may be helpful to just get feedback from, but maybe they're not the right fit.
The core framework (qualify investors, prioritize, map warm intros) is standard investor targeting playbook material taught widely in startup circles. The distinction about 'angel investor' label inflation and the personal anecdote about 18 months to raise $500K add minor color, but the overall thesis lacks contrarian insight or fresh perspective.
The worst time to decide which angel investors you are going to talk to is the same week that you decide to begin fundraising.
Anybody who can invest a thousand bucks is like putting angel investor on their LinkedIn profile... I think you really shouldn't call yourself a true angel investor unless you are writing multiple checks a year for honestly, more than 20,000, 50,000.
This is a solo episode with no guest. Speaker A appears to be the podcast host offering advice, not an operator or practitioner brought on to share direct experience. No relevant guest to evaluate.
If you weren't born with a wealthy network of friends and family around you, one of the most intimidating parts of raising money can be figuring out who to get in front of...
The episode provides minimal concrete examples or data. The speaker references personal experience (18 months to raise $500K, lead investor through six introductions) but avoids naming companies, metrics, or case studies. Most advice remains at the principle level without detailed illustrations of how the framework plays out in real scenarios.
I took me 18 months to raise 500,000 as a pre revenue company, I made so many mistakes.
My lead investor in the very beginning was through, like, six different introductions, which is crazy.
This is a monologue with no guest interaction, so there are no follow-ups, pushback, or dialogue to evaluate. The host does engage with the listener rhetorically ("I get it. That's the intimidating part") and poses questions to the audience, but there is no actual conversation or debate. The structure is linear advice-delivery without intellectual sparring.
So that sounds great, but how do you find them? Right, I get it. That's the intimidating part.
I would challenge you to go back. If you are mid fundraising, how many names on your current list are there because they're an actual fit?
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Finding investors can feel like the most intimidating part of raising your first round, especially if you were not born into a wealthy, well-connected network. But the answer is not to pitch everyone with "angel investor" in their LinkedIn bio or assume anyone with money could write you a check. That spray-and-pray approach wastes valuable time, leads to more rejection, and leaves many founders exhausted before they reach the investors who might actually be a fit. In this episode, I break down how to build a focused angel investor strategy so you can stop chasing random leads and start developing relationships with people who have a real reason to care about what you are building. Summer is the perfect time to do this work. Investor responses may be slower, but that gives you an opportunity to research, prepare, and create warm paths to the right people before fundraising activity picks up again in the fall. Have questions specific to your situation? Join Jayla's FREE monthly Seed Money Office Hours call to ask your real funding questions and get more clarity on funding strategy, investor materials, pitching, finding investors, and how to close.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Speaker A: If you weren't born with a wealthy network of friends and family around you, one of the most intimidating parts of raising money can be figuring out who to get in front of and how to get access to the right people who can fund your company. It can be extremely intimidating. It's not only just like a mental hurdle because you put these people up on a pedestal, but it's also physically, you have to take certain actions to get in front of the right people. It's totally doable, but you just have to make sure you're doing the right things. So what we're going to talk about today is what you can be doing this summer. This is an extension of the last two episodes where we are talking about how to maximize the summer months when it's going to be harder to get in front of investors and hear back from investors and follow up with investors, what you can do during this time so that you can be in a stronger position come full time. So we're going to talk today about a, uh, clear definition of investor. Fit it. Researching a list of qualified angel investors for your company, your stage, your business, and a prioritized outreach strategy because it takes a lot of time and effort so you want to make sure you're being efficient and mapping out a possible list of paths to get you there to get you in front of the right people. Let's get into it Quick interruption. If you're sitting there questioning how to move forward in getting your company funded, that question can feel so overwhelming. You can listen to all the podcasts, read all the books and still wonder what the heck actually makes sense for your company and your life. That's why I'm now offering seed money. Office hours. This is a place where you can get out of your head, where we can talk through and strategize your specific situation. So whether you're pre launch, bootstrapping, exploring angel funding or mid raise, but not getting where you want to go fast enough, you do not have to figure out your next step alone. Go to seed moneypodcast.com or click the link below. Look forward to seeing you in there. Now let's get back to the episode. As you can imagine, the worst time to decide which angel investors you are going to talk to is the same week that you decide to begin fundraising. Here's the thing. Once you, once you feel the pressure to raise money, all of a sudden everybody and their brother and sister starts looking like a lead. A potential investor that you can talk to, your neighbor down the street who drives a nice car you know, anybody, you're just like, that person can write me a check, that person can write me a check. But that is so not true. And you're going to spin your wheels. You're going to waste so much time. And I talk about this because I did this, you guys. It took me 18 months to raise 500,000 as a pre revenue company, I made so many mistakes. My goal is to help you get there faster. But you do have to do certain things to get yourself ready and to strengthen your position and where you're coming from and where you're at. And one of those things is just making sure you are talking to the right investors. So that sounds great, but how do you find them? Right, I get it. That's the intimidating part. Um, and this is also probably the number one question I get people, people emailing me or, you know, DMing me on LinkedIn is, do you know any investors that I can talk to? Are you interested? How can I find more investors? So this is probably the number one question I'm asking, which is ironic because, you know, everyone thinks like, if I just get in front of more investors, I'm automatically fundable, versus the real question should be that. But also, what do I need to do? What gaps do you see in my business? My deck, my plan. Plan that are going to prevent that perfect investor from saying yes. So let's assume you're getting in front of the right people. The second question is identifying the gaps that you need to fill in order to get that person to say yes. But let's assume you've done that work. You listen to last week's episode, you've got traction, you've got your deck together as much as you can. It's never perfect, and that's okay. But you've at least done the initial leg work and now you're ready. You, you've practiced, you've gotten in front of like advisors, whoever, and gotten feedback. And now you're really, this fall, you are ready to start having real conversations. You want to make sure you're talking to the right people. So that's why the summer prep really matters. It's, you know, it's a great space to become intentional before you start actually fundraising. Um, and then you'll be able to accelerate things in the fall when you do. So you don't want to enter your first investor conversations to still trying to answer basic questions like, what kind of angel investor is the right fit for me? Which investors are genuinely interested in this space? Who deserves priority? You know, of My time on my list and probably most importantly who can introduce me. So you, you might need to be doing some pre networking this summer just to be able to get some introductions to, to these key people. So phase one is figuring out who are some really key investors that you can actually approach, who are the right fit for you, where you're at, your space, all that good stuff and then what's the path to get you there. And it might take some legwork to get there. Right. So if you're not answering those questions, the default is just going to be spray and pray. I hate to say it, that's where you're going to end up and you're going to waste so much time and honestly it's super annoying to be on the other end of it. And it's really hard to take people seriously at this point who are pitching and haven't done any research. It drives me nuts. I know it drives a lot of people nuts and uh, you're just going to get fatigued also. It's going to be really tough. It's already a tough process. Okay, so the first decision, define investor fit for you and for your company. Not every angel investor who invests in stock startups is right for every pre seed, you know, or seed company. Definitely not. Every person who's accumulated some wealth is a good fit for investing in a very early stage startup. So you are looking for people with either an appetite for some risk they want to give back, they want to support, they have extra money that they would just like to put into something else and give it a shot. It's not everybody. Okay, so there are angel investors all around. Don't there may be people who are potential investors who've never invested in a startup before, but they are really, really, really into your space and they might understand, you know, business startup world. So there's all kinds of scenarios. But you definitely need to understand that not everybody who's labeled angel investor is going to be a fit for you and not everybody who has quite a quote unquote money is an angel investor. I think those are two really important distinctions to understand. So a strong angel investor target list is going to begin with you being really clear about what stage you're at, your industry, your problem, the type and size of your raise, the investors likely round in the role. Are you looking for someone who's been a board member before on startups or are you just looking for a silent follow on investor? Do you have a lead investor? If you, if you're looking for a lead Investor, you might want to find somebody who's dabbled in startups before. And then also so, so, so important, what strategic value can they bring beyond capital? Really important to outline that. So you want to be able to like dig into those questions and answer them. The second thing here, you want to identify investors based on evidence, based on, not on recognition. Now what that means is that you aren't just looking for big names with the description angel investor on LinkedIn. The thing that drives me nuts, you guys, is that like anybody who can invest a thousand bucks is like putting angel investor on their LinkedIn profile. M. Not anybody. I shouldn't say that, but I don't know, it's, it's annoying. I think you really shouldn't call yourself a true angel investor unless you are writing multiple checks a year for honestly, more than 20,000, 50,000. That's a real angel. A, uh, true, true angel investor who is actively investing in startups is, you know, more around, around that stage. So you just want to be careful that you don't go down a rabbit hole spending a bunch of time pitching somebody and trying to convince them. And if their check size, you know, if they haven't really invested in a bunch of startups or you know, if they're investing like a few thousand dollars, $5,000 here and there. I guess it depends on what you need. But again, you just want to make sure you understand what's the evidence behind them being a potential angel investor versus maybe what the highlight reel is showing. Important to make that distinction. So here's a simple way to look at it. An angel investor only becomes a lead to go on your sheet or your tracker to research when there's a reason to believe that they may care about what you're building. So just because their name has angel investor next to it doesn't mean they go on your list. So you need to find evidence that they would care about what you're building. And once you find that, then you can add them to your lead list. But don't do it otherwise. Just don't start adding a bunch of angel investors randomly to your list and think that's progress. That's not going to work. So I would challenge you to go back. If you are mid fundraising, how many names on your current list are there because they're an actual fit? Or how many are there because you just happen to find them? And how many are there because you did the background research and you know they really are aligned with what you're doing. So even after you identify investors who might be aligned. Another challenge remains that, like, you can't make them all equally important. There's only so much time in the day. Yes, fundraising takes a lot of time, but you're also running a company, so how do you prioritize who deserves your energy? And one of the biggest mistakes is treating everybody the same. So you don't want to do that. You really do need to prioritize. So some investors are going to be a strong fit. Some you need to learn more about. Some may be helpful to just get feedback from, but maybe they're not the right fit. Some. Some should come off your list altogether. So you need to then go through your list and prioritize. Who are you going to give the most energy to? So maybe there's, you know, five people that are like an ideal fit. What are you going to do? What energy are you going to put into making sure you approach those investors the right way? Because the reality is you guys are developing relationships. Nobody is just writing a check after the first meeting. These are relationships that you need to start building. You might identify someone that summer that you think would be interested in what you're building, and you may reach out to them end of the summer, when you feel like you've, you know, got at least a decent package to have an initial conversation with them, and then it might take six months to talk to them. That's the reality. So I know a lot of people are saying they're closing funding in three months, six months. But if you are at the early stage and rage raising angel money, if you've already got friends and family money and you're excited, expanding beyond that, friends and family can be a lot quicker because, again, they know you, trust you, love you, all that good stuff. But if you're getting strangers to invest in your company, it can take months. You got to build these relationships, and somebody might be a pass right now, but you might want to build that relationship for down the road. So these are going to take time and energy. It's not just an email. And done. I think that's. That's a really important frame to set when looking at your investor list is I am developing relationships with these people. I'm not just sending an email to these people. I think that's really important to look at it through that lens. Okay, so the last thing you want to do is know where the warm paths may exist. This is key. When I was first doing this, my lead investor in the very beginning was through, like, six different introductions, which is crazy. So it can it can, you know, there's like a path to get to these people, just spamming them on LinkedIn. Um, I wouldn't recommend it. I honestly wouldn't. If you are going to approach them on LinkedIn, there's still a path to get there. So what is the path that is going to get you to these investors? Right, you need to map that out ahead of time because you can't just have people on your list and expect like, one DM and one email is going to do it. You may get lucky, but again, you don't want to count on luck. Buck. When you're fundraising, you want to make sure you're going to get the funding that you need. So you want to do everything possible that you can to set yourself up to be able to do that. So what is the path to get you to those people, um, who you think would be really interested in what you're building and if approached the right way and you have your ducks in a row and you're ready, you could have some really good conversations. You can get really great feedback. If they don't invest, you are going to get extremely valuable feedback and you might just get your lead investor or your follow on investors. So really important to look at all these things. You want to make sure you are identifying people that are a, uh, good fit. You want to be looking for evidence that they are a good fit. You want to prioritize your list and then you want to map out a path to get to each of those people. So I hope that's helpful. I hope that breaks down a little bit more. You know how to go about finding new investors this summer. If you have more questions on, you know, how to do each of those specific things. I've got office hours opening up here or open, depending on when this airs. And, um, you can come and bring your pitch, bring your list if you'd like, or just talk if you're stuck, if you can't find anybody, if you're just like, I don't even know where to start, whatever it is, hop on the office hours call. I would love to help you out and, um, talk through it together. Because everybody's situation is different. I understand a lot of this is general advice, but everyone has their own unique situation. Not all of it might, you know, is applicable to you. And that's why I started the office hours, so that we can dig into your specific situation and you can also hear from other people and the challenges and successes that they're seeing. So that's it for today. I hope to see you in office hours soon. Thanks for listening to Seed Money, and especially thank you for sharing the show with other people. Every time time you share the show, you're helping someone turn their idea into reality. If you've enjoyed listening, the best thank you is to rate and review the show on your favorite podcast app. It not only helps give me feedback for what kind of information you need, but it helps the show reach more people just like you so they can start their business, raise capital and get the funding they need. And stay tuned for the next episode of Seed Money. Don't.
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