How to Reach Out to VCs (and Actually Get a Reply)
In Part 1, we covered how to build a targeted VC list: the right firms, the right partner at each one, and the people who can introduce you. Now comes the part many founders dread: actually reaching out.
The good news is that getting a reply is more skill than luck. A well-placed warm intro, a sharp cold email, or even a short LinkedIn message can open the door, as long as it gives the investor a clear reason to engage.
In this piece, we'll cover how to get warm intros, how to write a cold email that gets a response, and how to reach investors on LinkedIn.
You’ve got your list, and now you can start working through it. Budget your calendar honestly. Carta estimates that the time from the first investor meeting to money in the bank typically takes three to six months. Start long before you need the money.
Practice first, then work your list in waves
You do not want your first real pitch to be with the VC you most want on your cap table. Before you start reaching out to investors, it is worth getting a few practice reps in. If you know a founder or investor who has been through the process, ask if they will sit through the pitch and give you candid feedback.
A few practice meetings can help you:
Refine your pitch. See where the story drags, what resonates, and which objections come up early.
Spot weak points. You may discover missing data, unclear market sizing, or slides that create more questions than they answer.
Sharpen your metrics. Investor questions often reveal which numbers need more context or which proof points deserve more emphasis.
Get comfortable. Especially if you get performance anxiety, running through the pitch a few times will help you get more comfortable.
Once you are ready to start the actual process, do not email all 100 investors on your list the same day. Your pitch will keep getting better as you have more conversations. You will learn which parts of the story resonate, which questions keep coming up, and where investors get confused. Working through your list in waves gives you time to incorporate feedback without dragging out the process.
We suggest dividing your list into a few groups and mixing priority levels within each one. You will sometimes hear advice to “practice on your B-list” and save your favorite investors for last. We would not take that too literally. Fundraising works best when conversations happen within a relatively tight window, and you do not want your top choices entering the process weeks after everyone else.
Include a few high-priority investors in every wave, keep the process moving, and use what you learn from each conversation to improve the next one.
Get warm intros when possible
Once you have identified your first wave of investors, look for the warmest path into each one.
The highest-yield introduction comes from someone the investor knows and respects: a founder they have backed, a co-investor they trust, an angel they work with regularly, or a healthcare operator or executive whose judgment carries weight.
The person you’re asking to make the introduction is spending not only their time but also their credibility on your behalf. Treat the request accordingly and make it as easy as possible for them to help you.
Don’t assume your connection will introduce you on the spot; people will usually check with the investor first (a “double opt-in”) rather than introducing you cold to both sides. This slows things down, but it’s proper etiquette. It also gives the investor an easy way to decline, which is a courtesy you want extended to you when you are the one being asked.
Once your connection agrees to make the introduction, send a fresh, forwardable email with a few sentences the connector can pass along without editing:
What you do
The most impressive thing about your business, whether that’s the team, traction, or something else
Why this particular investor could be a fit
What you are raising
A link to the deck, or better yet, attach a PDF of the deck
Here’s an example:
Finally, always close the loop. Thank the connector and update them on what happened. Most founders skip this, but it’s one of the simplest ways to make someone want to help you again!
How to nail the cold email
If you don't have a mutual connection, it's perfectly fine to reach out to a VC directly. While warm introductions can help establish credibility, cold outreach is far from futile. In a large field experiment, researchers sent more than 80,000 emails pitching fictitious startups to approximately 28,000 venture capitalists and angel investors. They found that more than 4% of individual pitches generated interested responses, with the strongest pitches performing substantially better, not surprisingly.
A targeted message that gives someone a compelling reason to engage can open the door. The goal isn't to tell your entire company's story or convince someone to write a check on the spot. It's to make the investor understand what you're building, why it might fit their interests, and why it's worth replying.
Here are seven ways to do that:
1. Make the subject line do some work.
Skip generic phrases like “Investment opportunity” or “Exciting startup.” Use the limited space to communicate your sector, stage, and strongest proof point. OpenVC recommends keeping subject lines under 60 characters, so an investor can read the whole thing on their phone.
For example, “AI prior auth | 14 health system pilots | Stanford alum” tells the recipient substantially more than “Revolutionizing healthcare.” The goal is to give someone with an overflowing inbox a reason to open your email.
2. Lead the email with what you do and why someone should care.
Your first sentence should explain the company in plain English. Your next should deliver the most compelling evidence that you're onto something. That might be revenue growth, customers, clinical validation, a distinctive founding team, or an insight you've earned by working in the industry.
Be specific. “We've signed six paying health systems” is stronger than “We're seeing incredible traction.” And don't bury the important information beneath a long account of how you came up with the idea.
Y Combinator's Michael Seibel recommends making the email readable in 60 seconds or less. If an investor needs to open your deck just to figure out what your company does, the email isn't doing its job.
3. Show that you did your homework.
Thoughtful outreach is more likely to get a thoughtful reply. You've already done the work of building a targeted investor list, so use it. In your email, reference a relevant investment or a specific area the investor has expressed interest in. Then connect that directly to your company.
The distinction is between a generic “I admire your impressive portfolio” and “You've invested in companies helping health systems automate administrative work, which is exactly the workflow we're addressing.”
This doesn’t need to be a paragraph of flattery. One well-researched sentence is enough. And if you can't explain why the investor is a fit, revisit the target list before sending.
4. Send it yourself.
Especially in the early stages, the email should come from the founder, ideally from a company email address rather than your Gmail.
Someone can help you research investors, organize the list, or proofread a draft. But don't hand the outreach process to an agency or have someone impersonate you. The investor is evaluating the person behind the company as much as the pitch. Show that you can articulate your own business and explain why you chose them.
5. Use AI to sharpen your thinking, not replace it.
AI can be useful for checking clarity, tightening a draft, and researching a fund. But don't let it write your pitch deck or outreach email.
Leslie Feinzaig of Graham & Walker has written about the sameness she sees in AI-generated pitches. Her point is that a compelling pitch needs to answer why this, why you, and why now. A beautiful deck or perfectly phrased email is no substitute for those answers.
Will Richardson of Giant Leap described one cold email that caught his attention. Its subject line was “Lame cold intro from the US.” The founder referred to specific portfolio companies, explained their personal reason for reaching out, and demonstrated familiarity with the firm's website. Richardson replied because the message was clearly written for him.
6. Make the next step easy.
A cold email needs one clear ask. Depending on the context, that might be asking whether the investor would be interested in learning more or proposing a brief introductory call. Don't ask for investment, advice, feedback, and introductions all at once.
Have a deck ready and include it as a link or PDF rather than making the investor reply just to request it. The email should make sense on its own, though. If the email doesn’t get them excited, they’re unlikely to open the deck.
7. Follow up thoughtfully, then move on.
A good email can get buried. If you haven't heard back, send one short follow-up after several business days. You don't need to rewrite the original pitch or apologize for following up.
Venture Capital Careers recommends one follow-up, then stopping unless you have a meaningful new development. A new customer, product milestone, or financing update can provide a genuine reason to reengage later. Repeatedly sending “just bumping this” can be annoying.
Best practices for reaching out on LinkedIn
Cold outreach doesn't have to happen over email. LinkedIn gives investors an immediate way to understand who you are, but you have even less space to make your case.
Chirag Shah of Define Ventures shared a simple rubric for the unsolicited founder messages that catch his attention: a highly credentialed founder, a company aligned with an investment thesis he's excited about, or compelling early traction. Lead with your strongest signal.
A few LinkedIn-specific considerations:
Make sure your profile establishes credibility. Your headline, company, and experience should make it easy for someone to understand who you are and what you're building.
Find a thoughtful way in. Avoid sending generic connection requests. Consider a personalized connection note, InMail, or an introduction through a mutual connection. You can also engage with an investor's posts before reaching out directly.
Keep it exceptionally short. A LinkedIn message should be even more concise than a cold email. Give the investor one reason you're reaching out and make the next step easy.
Keep the momentum going. If the investor responds, be ready to continue the conversation and schedule a call promptly.
Estelle Giraud, founder of Trellis Health, shared a cold LinkedIn message she sent to an investor she didn't know. We've redacted the investor's identifying information:
The investor replied seven minutes later and asked to schedule a call. Estelle sent her calendar link that evening, and they booked a meeting within 24 hours. That one outreach developed into a relationship with a core angel investor who ultimately invested more than $200,000 in Trellis's pre-seed round.
What made it work? Estelle demonstrated that she'd researched the recipient, succinctly described her company, and made a low-pressure request. When the investor responded, she kept the conversation moving.
Estelle also shared another tactic: leave a thoughtful, substantive comment on an investor's LinkedIn post, then follow up privately if they engage with it. That creates a natural opening for a conversation rather than an entirely unsolicited message.
Build relationships before you need the money
There is an old fundraising saying: “If you want money, ask for advice. If you want advice, ask for money.” There is some truth buried in it, but we would not take it literally, especially in the early stage.
If you know who you may want to raise from in the future, start building those relationships before you are actively fundraising. It takes time to build conviction in a team. An investor who has watched you make progress over six or 12 months has much more context than someone meeting you for the first time.
That might mean asking for specific advice on an area where they have genuine expertise, sharing an occasional company update, or simply introducing yourself and saying you think there could be a fit down the road.
The important part is to be genuine about the ask. Do not pretend you want advice when you are actually fundraising. If you are raising, say so. If you genuinely want feedback, ask for something specific. The best outcome is that when you eventually start the formal process, you are not introducing yourself from scratch.
Next up: what to look for in a VC
Getting the meeting is only the first filter. In Part 3, we get into how to diligence the investor and the fund before you take their money, from who you will actually work with to fund size, follow-on behavior, and what happens when things go badly.
