The Venture CodexFinding investors starts with a clear explanation of what your next round needs to accomplish. Use that to identify firms with a relevant investment mandate, research the people making decisions, and check whether their experience matches the company you are building. A directory gives you candidates; research gives you reasons to approach them.
This is a practical research guide with references to Aaron Harris's fundraising book. The research card below is an editorial worksheet for applying those ideas.
Start with the job the capital must do
Write down the change you want to achieve with the round: a product milestone, a commercial expansion, or another concrete improvement in the business. Explain what the money enables and what evidence you expect to have afterward.
Harris treats a genuine financial constraint on growth as the central justification for seeking venture capital. That is a useful starting question before investing time in finding investors. The Only Reason to Raise Venture Capital
Turn your answer into a short research brief:
- What you build and who uses it.
- Where the business operates and which markets you plan to enter.
- The proposed round and what it needs to fund.
- The strongest evidence you have today.
- Whether you are seeking someone to lead the round or additional participants.
The brief gives you a way to explain why an investor belongs on your list.
Research firms through relevant companies
Start with companies that share something meaningful with yours: a customer, a distribution model, a technical challenge or a market. Read their funding announcements and investor profiles. Then check the investor's own website.
For each candidate, record the connection. “Invested in enterprise software” is a starting point. “Backed companies selling to the same type of customer at a similar point in development” gives you a more useful research question.
Read carefully. A firm joining a later financing does not establish that it made the first investment. A company's total round size does not reveal an individual investor's cheque. An office location does not, by itself, establish investment geography. Where the distinction matters, leave an open question for the firm's team.
The Venture Codex can be a starting point for researching company funding histories and fund profiles. Use the underlying sources to check the specific connection you plan to rely on.
Find the person who could understand your case
A firm name is only part of the research. Identify a relevant partner and look at their stated interests, investments and writing. Record what you still need to learn about their role in a decision.
In When to Raise, Harris emphasises finding investors able to understand the opportunity a founder sees. Apply that idea by asking what experience would help someone evaluate your particular business.
For an unfamiliar technical product, that might mean experience with the buyer, the development process or the route to commercialisation. Harris discusses the extra relationship-building required for businesses whose appeal takes time to explain in Spikes and Explainers.
Keep a research card for each firm
Use the same fields so the evidence is easy to compare:
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Firm and partner | The organisation and the relevant person |
| Reason for fit | A specific connection to your company |
| Evidence | A link and the date you checked it |
| Investment role | Evidence of leading or participating in comparable rounds |
| Open questions | Facts that could change your decision |
| Introduction route | Someone who can credibly connect you, if available |
| Next action | A concrete research or relationship-building step |
Download the research-card template.
Check the relationship before the formal pitch
Ask existing investors, founders and trusted contacts who they know well enough to introduce. Explain the specific reason you want to meet that person. If you have no introduction route, check whether the firm offers a public submission channel.
Early conversations can help you learn whether the investor understands the opportunity and whether you would want to work together. Harris describes this groundwork in How Rounds Happen. An interested conversation is useful information; record the actual next step rather than treating enthusiasm as an investment decision.
As the relationship develops, ask founders who have worked with the investor about communication, decision-making and support when things became difficult. Those conversations help you evaluate the relationship alongside the firm's investment history.
Turn the research into a shortlist
Your output is a collection of evidenced candidates, including unresolved questions. Next, use How to Build an Investor Shortlist to decide which conversations to pursue first and keep the process organised.
For the book's wider fundraising sequence, read The Speed Run.