I never show this spreadsheet to anyone. 54 top investors. This is my secret weapon.
My money is no greener than anybody else’s. So if I want to invest in the best founders, I need to bring something else to the table.
This spreadsheet makes it happen.
Meet “The Sheet”
Startups are always raising money. And because VC’s almost never invest in cold pitches, warm intros are critical.
So when one of my companies is raising, I consult The Sheet.
I don’t open The Sheet for every founder. This weapon is for folks I’ve invested in only.
I don’t want to be sending random dealflow to investors. Every deal I send out, I’m investing in myself.
That makes the messages valuable and rare, instead of frequent and spammy.
How I Use The Sheet to Help My Founders
Let’s say “Icetech” is raising money. They make POS systems for ice cream trucks.
I look through The Sheet and find investors that love vertical SaaS. I make sure they invest at Seed, since Icetech is at Seed stage.
Then, I ask them if they want to meet one of my investments: an incredible company called Icetech.
Most of these VC’s take me up on the offer. Soon, a founder has a raft of warm intros to VC funds in their inbox.
The reason uptake is so high is because I don’t send the same deals to everyone. I make sure that the deal fits their criteria.
I’m not going to send an American deal to an investor who only does Europe. I’m not going to send a Series A to a pre-seed fund.
Making Your Own Sheet: For Investors
If you’re an investor, keep track of every other investor you meet. Find out what they invest in and add it to a spreadsheet.
Here are some columns to include:
- Name
- Title
- Firm
- Sectors (Vertical SaaS, spacetech, etc.)
- Geographies (US, Europe, etc.)
- Check Size
- Best contact method (e-mail, iMessage, etc.)
The best way to meet investors is to contact the folks who invested alongside you in prior deals.
Put a particular emphasis on investors who are in your best deals. Those are the most able folks you know.
Soon, you’ll have a spreadsheet with some awesome names in it. When one of your companies is raising, match them up with the right VC’s from the list.
Making Your Own Sheet: For Founders
If you’re a founder, you should be building a secret weapon too…
Put every investor you know that invests in companies like yours into a spreadsheet. Find more using an LLM or tools like Crunchbase.
Be sure they invest at your stage and in companies similar to yours. For example, you don’t want to pitch a SaaS VC if you’re a biotech startup.
Then, work your way down The Sheet and pitch those investors. If you targeted your list well, you should start closing some checks in short order.
Wrap-Up
Getting $5,000 or even $25,000 from me is not going to change anyone’s life. Getting intros to funds that invest millions…that just might.
Helping founders is a lot of fun! It lets me feel like I played a small part in building one of the great companies of the future.
That’s a lot more exciting than just sitting back and hoping for a return.
If you’re an investor, you should be creating your own secret weapon. And if you’re a founder, building The Sheet could bring in millions for your startup.
Not a bad return on a few hours work.
P.S. Want to be added to The Sheet? Drop a comment below and let me know what you invest in...
More on tech:
Meet My Latest Investment: Zeon Systems
My Biggest Lesson from Four Years Angel Investing
Are Hackers After Your Brain? — The Rise of CogSec
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