How to Raise Money for a Startup With No Investor Network

You can raise money with no network, but the path looks different. Start with investors who accept open applications, such as accelerators and some pre-seed funds. Let traction and customers make introductions for you. Send specific cold outreach to investors who back your stage, and borrow networks from founders one round ahead. Expect a longer process.

Most fundraising advice quietly assumes you already know people. Ask your angels for intros. Get a warm intro from a portfolio founder. Text a partner you met at a dinner.

If you don't have any of that, the advice reads like a door with no handle.

This guide is for founders starting from zero: the honest odds, six routes that work without connections, how to build a network quickly, and one 12-week plan. If you do have a few connections, our sibling guide on how to get a warm introduction to a VC covers how to use them.

Can you raise money with no network? The honest odds

Yes. It's harder, and the data says why.

One widely cited survey of how VCs work, by Gompers, Gornall, Kaplan and Strebulaev (885 VCs at 681 firms, NBER working paper 22587, 2016), found that most deal flow comes through networks. Over 30 percent of deals were generated through professional networks, 20 percent were referred by other investors and 8 percent by portfolio companies. Only 10 percent came inbound from company management.

Read that two ways. Cold inbound is one of the smallest channels. But almost 30 percent of deals were proactively self-generated, meaning investors went looking. Being findable counts for something.

The broader market is also crowded. DocSend's 2023 seed research found founders contacting more investors than in 2022 yet getting fewer meetings. That data doesn't separate founders with and without networks.

And the open doors are narrow. a16z speedrun, which takes open applications, reports an acceptance rate lower than 0.4 percent.

So the odds are real but not hopeless. In our view, the founders who raise without a network usually aren't luckier. They pick channels that don't depend on knowing anyone, and they make the business itself do the introducing.

Six routes to raise money with no network

Here's how we'd rank them for a founder with no connections, roughly from most to least accessible. Most founders use three or four at once.

1. Investors who take open applications

Some of the most respected early investors run open application processes. Y Combinator's FAQ says it considers all applications equally and doesn't rely on introductions the way many investors do. It also says that, on average, 40 percent of the companies it funds in each batch are just an idea. YC's standard deal, per its own page, is $500,000: $125,000 on a post-money SAFE for 7 percent plus $375,000 on an uncapped MFN SAFE.

Others follow a similar model. Techstars' published terms are $220,000 ($20,000 for 5 percent through a fixed-percentage convertible equity agreement plus a $200,000 uncapped MFN SAFE), and a16z speedrun invests up to $1 million ($500,000 for 10 percent on a SAFE plus $500,000 in the next round within 18 months). Terms change, so check each program's own page.

Many smaller pre-seed funds also have an application form on their website. Our sibling guide on investor and accelerator applications covers how to write answers a reviewer can read in a minute. Our startup accelerators guide covers whether the equity trade is worth it.

2. Traction that does the introducing

Customers are a network. A paying customer at a well-known company can introduce you to its corporate venture arm, its board members or the angels in its industry. A usage chart that's clearly going up gets forwarded.

Not a better pitch. A better business.

If you're early, it may be worth delaying the raise by a few months to get the proof that makes cold outreach land. Once you have it, the order you pitch in starts to matter.

3. Cold outreach that's specific

YC's 2016 seed guide calls a warm introduction by far the best way to meet an investor, and in the same breath suggests sending as many as you can a brief, compelling summary when you can't get one. Both can be true.

Cold works better when it's narrow. Fifty investors who have backed your stage and sector in the last year beat five hundred names scraped from a list. One number in the first two lines. One ask. Our guide on how to write a cold email to an investor has templates.

4. Angels, operators and communities

Angels are often more reachable than funds. Many are former operators who answer founders in their own industry. Angel groups, founder communities, university alumni networks and online communities around your market can all produce first checks. Our guide to angel investors covers how they decide.

5. Investors who seek out outsiders

Some investors explicitly look beyond the usual networks. Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures, in a 2024 Mercury interview, described his focus on founders who are more than one degree removed from the people with easy access to venture capital. Firms like this are worth finding first: their process is built for you.

6. Money that doesn't need investors at all

Customer revenue, grants and crowdfunding don't require a network. Under the SEC's Regulation Crowdfunding rules, a company can raise up to $5 million in a 12-month period from the public, online, through an SEC-registered broker-dealer or funding portal. Our sibling guide on non-dilutive funding covers grants and other options, and our comparison of equity crowdfunding vs. venture capital covers what a public raise can mean for later rounds.

How to build an investor network fast

Routes 1 to 6 get you started. A network makes the next raise easier, and it can be built in months rather than years.

• Founders one round ahead. They raised recently, remember the pain, and know which investors are active. Ask for advice, not money. Intros tend to follow.
• Your customers and advisers. Every reference customer and adviser knows someone. Ask who they'd talk to.
• Startup lawyers and service providers. They see many rounds and often know which investors are active at your stage.
• Public writing. A short monthly post about what you're learning in your market makes you findable by the investors who go looking.
• Updates to prospects. A short update every 6 to 8 weeks to investors who said "too early" turns a pass into a relationship.

Our guide on how to network with VCs lays out a 90-day plan for this.

Which route fits your stage

A worked example: a 12-week plan from zero contacts

An illustrative founder with a working product, 14 paying customers and no investor contacts wants to raise a $750K pre-seed. We don't know of a reliable public dataset of reply rates to cold investor email, so the rates below are assumptions, not benchmarks.

Weeks 1 to 3: open doors. - Apply to six accelerators and application-based pre-seed funds that invest at this stage. - Build a list of 80 angels and funds that have backed similar companies in the last year. - Ask 10 founders one round ahead for 20 minutes of advice each.

Weeks 4 to 9: outreach in waves. - Send 80 specific cold emails in two waves of 40. - Assume a 10 percent positive reply rate: about 8 first calls. - Assume half the founder conversations lead to an intro that converts to a meeting: about 5 more. - That's roughly 13 first meetings, plus any accelerator interviews.

Weeks 10 to 12: convert. - Assume about a third reach a second meeting: roughly 4. - If one in ten first meetings becomes a check, that's 1 or 2 investors, which may be enough to anchor a small pre-seed alongside an accelerator.

The point isn't the exact rates. It's the shape: no single channel carries the round, and in this example the founder conversations produce far more meetings per hour than cold email. If results come in well below the assumptions, that's usually a signal about the pitch or the traction, not the outreach.

Keeping that many applications and conversations straight is real work. The investor matching in 1752 Fundraising can help with the list, matching angels, VC firms and family offices (depending on plan) to your deck, stage, sector and check size, and its Chrome extension fills in investor and accelerator applications so you're not retyping the same answers.

If you'd rather go through a program, 1752vc's Accelerate is a remote program with rolling admissions that pairs a $100K investment with founder-led sales training and access to a network of 850+ investors, which is a network founders without one can borrow.

What investors say, and where they disagree

Investors don't agree on how much the network matters.

The network camp. YC's 2016 seed guide treats the warm intro as the best way in, and the Gompers survey suggests most deals still flow through networks. In our view, some investors also use the intro as a filter: if a founder can't find a path to them, they read it as a sign about how the founder will sell.

The open-door camp. YC's own application process ignores intros, a16z speedrun runs on applications, and Precursor's Charles Hudson built a firm around founders outside the usual circles.

Our read: both camps describe real investors. The practical answer is to spend most of your energy on the open-door camp until you have the traction or connections to reach the other one.

"But venture is a relationship business, so why bother?"

It's a fair worry. If 30 percent of deals come from professional networks and only 10 percent from cold inbound, an outsider is playing on a tilted field.

But.

The tilt is a reason to pick the right field, not to skip the game. Application-based programs, outsider-focused funds and traction-led outreach all exist because some investors see an edge in the founders others miss. And every network starts with a first relationship. Yours can start this month.

Common mistakes when fundraising without connections

• Mass-blasting every investor. Volume without fit burns your reputation in a small industry.
• Paying for access. Be wary of anyone charging upfront fees to "introduce" you to investors or to let you pitch.
• Pitching before there's proof. A few more months of customers can turn cold outreach from ignored to answered.
• Asking strangers for money first. Ask for advice. Money tends to follow relationships.
• Ignoring the no's. A pass can become a relationship. Our guide on how to read a VC pass email shows how to tell the kinds apart.

Where we land

Without a network, we'd start with open applications, let customers and traction do the introducing, send narrow cold outreach, and spend real time with founders one round ahead. Expect it to take longer than the networked version, and plan your runway for that.

It's our answer, not the answer. Some founders raise entirely from cold email. Others skip investors and grow on revenue.

The bottom line

A missing network is a real disadvantage, but a fixable one. Pick the routes that don't need it, and build it while you raise.

You can't choose who you knew last year.

You can choose who knows you by the next round.

Key takeaways

• Gompers et al. found over 30 percent of VC deals come from professional networks and only 10 percent arrive inbound from management, so no-network founders benefit from channels that skip intros.
• YC says it doesn't rely on introductions, and a16z speedrun and Techstars also take open applications, though acceptance is selective.
• Traction is the most reliable introducer: customers, usage growth and references open doors cold email can't.
• Founders one round ahead, customers, lawyers and public writing can build a usable network in months.
• Plan for a longer raise and track every channel, since no single route tends to carry the round alone.

Frequently asked questions

Can you raise money for a startup with no connections?

Yes, though it usually takes longer. Founders without connections often start with investors that take open applications, such as Y Combinator, Techstars and some pre-seed funds, then add traction-led cold outreach and introductions from founders one round ahead. Revenue, grants and Regulation Crowdfunding are options that do not depend on investor relationships at all.

How do first-time founders raise money without warm intros?

Most combine several channels: accelerator and fund applications, short cold emails to investors who back their stage and sector, angels in their industry, and introductions earned through customers and other founders. Leading with one clear proof point, such as revenue or usage growth, tends to matter more for a founder without intros than polish in the deck.

Do you need a referral to apply to Y Combinator?

No. Y Combinator's FAQ says it considers all applications equally and does not rely on introductions the way many investors do. It also says that, on average, 40 percent of the companies it funds in each batch are just an idea. Acceptance is still highly selective, so many founders apply while pursuing other routes in parallel.

What should I do if no investors respond to my outreach?

Treat silence as data. If dozens of well-targeted investors don't reply, the issue is often the proof point, the stage fit of the list, or the first two lines of the email. Consider tightening the list, leading with your strongest number, or spending a few more months on traction before the next wave, and keep sending short updates.

Sources

• NBER: How Do Venture Capitalists Make Decisions? (Gompers, Gornall, Kaplan, Strebulaev, working paper 22587)
• DocSend: Seed fundraising in 2023
• Y Combinator: Frequently Asked Questions
• Y Combinator: The YC Deal
• Y Combinator: A Guide to Seed Fundraising (Geoff Ralston, 2016)
• a16z speedrun: FAQ
• Techstars: Accelerator Investment Terms
• Mercury: Charles Hudson Is Optimistic About Outliers (Precursor Ventures, 2024)
• SEC: Regulation Crowdfunding