If you think you can secure funding with a handful of meetings, think again. The truth is that you need more meetings than you think to raise capital. Here’s why:

🦕 Pre/seed round reality check

For a pre-seed and seed round, be prepared to meet with at least 50 investors before a single one says yes. To successfully raise a meaningful $500,000 seed round, you should plan on pitching to at least 150 or more investors. Yes, you read that right: 150 investors. This is not about inadequate numbers. This is about perseverance; it is about being persistent.

To get 5 commitments for a $500,000 angel round, you’ll need commitments from 8 to 20 investors. To get that kind of 5 commitment, you need to soft circle 40-50 investors. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. 

🪶 Here is a more detailed breakdown:

The startup investment funnel typically follows this pattern:

Initial outreach -> first meetings -> follow-up meetings -> due diligence -> term sheet -> closing

Initial outreach: 

• Number of investors to contact: 200-300

• Response rate: 20-30%

First meetings: 

• Number of first meetings: 40-90 (20-30% of initial outreach)

• Conversion to follow-up: 25-35%

Follow-up meetings: 

• Number of follow-up meetings: 10-30

• Conversion to due diligence: 20-30%

Due diligence:

• Number entering due diligence: 2-9

• Conversion to term sheet: 30-50%

Term sheet to closing:

• Number of term sheets: 1-4

• Conversion to closing: 75-90%

If your response rate is less than 20-30 per cent, you should raise the overall number of investors to contacts from 200-300 to 500-600 and so on.

Why so many meetings?

The simple answer is this: every investor is different. Different interests, different concerns, different criteria. More meetings = more chances = more people = more possible matches, more people who get your vision. It’s a numbers game. The more you play, the better your odds.