How to use Chat GPT to build your (targeted) investor list
With sample prompts and links to existing lists
You’ve heard it before: finding the right investor is like finding the perfect romantic partner. Some ‘dating apps’ exist for finding the right investors, but my experience is they’re more like ‘Match circa 2000’ than ‘Bumble in 2025’ (or they cost an arm and leg!).
The tools will eventually catch up (and we plan to post reviews on new platforms in coming posts) but for now we’re offering some guidance on making your own magic happen now, for free or cheap. As with dating, the matchmaking process starts with self-awareness and clearly defining what you need.
Part 1: Know yourself and what you need
There are two main questions to answer that will define what kind of investment you need.
1. Are you venture scalable?
I asked that question to a room of first-time founders recently, and they nodded along until someone asked ‘uh, what does that mean?’.
At baseline, your company needs to:
Be serving a total market opportunity worth with > $1B TAM. This ensures you’ll both have enough room to grow and have enough players who can buy you. More here on sizing your market.
Growing fast – the typical expectations for SaaS are Triple, Triple, Double, Double, Double, which means you’ll see 3x growth in your first 2 years in market and 2x growth the following 3 years. Venture funds need to see a return on a timeline – speed matters.
Have a team in place who can execute on that rapid growth. At early stages, team is more important than any other factor.
Be defensible, ideally with technology that provides a unique value proposition.
Have a clear ‘exit path’ or opportunity for your investors to make their money back through a merger or acquisition (most common in deeptech), an initial public offering (rare), or by paying dividends (very rare).
If you’re not venture scalable, don’t pitch a VC. Accelerator programs, angel groups and grants are important steppingstones as you develop the business into something backable. If you’re not interested in growing fast or selling the business, you might never be ‘venture investable’ and a bank loan might be more suitable.
Remember, investors invest for one main reason: to make money.
2. What’s your next big milestone?
Investors aren’t just a piggy bank for your company to stay afloat. The investment needs to be accomplishing a clear milestone for accelerating your growth, tech or topline strategy.
Start by defining the milestone, THEN define your round. It will be clear by milestone what stage you’re at (pre-seed, seed, Series A+) and how much you need (which determines what check size you’re a fit for). The milestone should also define what type of capital you need. Building a factory? Look at asset-based lending and project finance. Purchasing some real estate? That’s not where VC plays. Just getting started? You might need to work your network first in a friends and family round.
[Join the waitlist for our Fundraising Personal Training program to learn how to do F&F when you don’t have a wealthy network.]
Example milestones and round design:
Pre-seed (F&F/Angel): $500k will enable us to finalize a prototype validating proof of concept (TRL 2-3) and achieving key performance metrics within 50% of the end-goal specifications. Provisional patents will be drafted or an exclusive license option signed. We will confirm product market fit by securing MOUs or LOIs.
Pre-seed (VC): $1M will enable us to level up our prototype to demonstration (TRL 4-5) with a third party validating the data to within 25% of our end goal, as indicated in the TEA we’ve drafted. We will complete the founding team and move with speed for a priced seed in no more than 12 months. We will secure LOIs or purchase orders from several key customers.
Seed (VC): $2-5M will allow us to build a pilot project (TRL 5-6) with our BOM and/or unit economics validated for further scale up. We will initiate any regulatory work to ensure a clear path to market. We will deliver first sales or demonstration projects with some customers and sign offtake, supply or other agreements >$1M in contract value. Patents will be secured and pursued internationally in alignment with our IP strategy.
Series A (VC+): $5-25M will allow us to build a full-scale commercial pilot/prototype (TRL 7+) and validate our target COGs at commercial scale. Building on our existing revenue and pipeline, we will secure legally binding and longer-term offtake of more significant value ($50M+). We will secure key team members needed for scale up, including in business and operating roles.
Don’t forget non-dilutive funding to support R&D at all thes stages. Programs such as the Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grants can help offset early costs for your company. Since there is a high degree of technical diligence involved in securing SBIR funding, the dollars and the independent validation of your ideas should both be positives to investors.
Main takeaway: An investor will never write a check if you can’t clearly articulate what you’re building and the fit with what they are funding. Knowing yourself and your business is central to selling your company as a solid bet for returning their capital at a significant multiple.
At the end of this process you should have answered the following to create a clear prompt in your investor search:
Stage: Are you pre-seed, seed, or Series A? Note: these are all ‘early stage’ with Series B+ being considered ‘growth stage’ (with some funds defining growth at A+).
Amount needed: What is the significant next milestone and how much cash do you need to achieve it? Don’t forget to factor in the ~12 months of runway needed to raise the next round.
Sector and focus: What industries or verticals are you serving? What technology are you creating? What is your business model?
Exit paths: How much more capital will you need before you reach an inflection point for a sale? What is the timeline for you to exit? How does an investor get their money back?
Funder type: Is your deal appropriate for angels, venture capitalists, or other financing? Would strategic or corporate venture funds be interested (ie: do you align to their investment thesis which often relates to the core business)?
Example prompt: Insect Bug Co. is an early stage biomanufacturing and agtech business, needing to raise a ~$2M seed round to build our first pilot facility. We sell insect protein as animal feed and insect frass as organic fertilizer. We have developed patentable equipment and process for the scalable production of a sustainable protein platform. We expect a strategic sale to a major agricultural or ingredient player as the main exit path, such as a sale to Darling Ingredients, ADM, Intrexon or Tyson Foods who have all acquired stakes in insect protein. We are in a rural geography and expect corporate venture capital in agriculture and ingredients to be interested in our deal. [Optional: I’ve attached our pitch deck to share more about the business].*
* If you’re going to upload your pitch deck or other sensitive information, make sure you’ve got data sharing turned off and appropriate privacy settings.
Part 2: Find the right investors
Long gone is the era of ‘spray and pray’ where you send your deck to a thousand investors and hope one bites. Investors see literally hundreds of opportunities every week, and with AI screening tools they can curate an ever more precise deal flow. You should use those same tools to streamline your investor outreach. Here’s how.
1. Leverage existing lists first
A few places you can find some investor lists:
Ask a fellow co-founder [our peer groups offer a great place for this kind of trade!]
LinkedIn – it’s not uncommon for accelerators, investors or others to post their lists, often in trade for a follow or comment [follow GAV – we’ll share our own lists soon!]
Start with a free database – sites like investorlist.co can provide a starting place with thousands of funds. Paid services like Crunchbase also offer thematic investor lists by sector and stage.
The best investors help entrepreneurs out even when they give a no. This list came to me in a rejection email from Earthshot VC, who are really top notch.
Build it yourself – use search engines, LinkedIn, Crunchbase or sector specific news sources (eg: AgFunder) to identify the top investors that apply to your business. Compile your list in a csv – I’ve found keeping it simple with two columns of ‘Fund name’ and ‘Website’ works for further data scraping with AI.
Example prompt: I’m attaching a preliminary list of 20 investors who I think are a fit for my business. These investors have a predefined thesis in agtech or biomanfucturing, invest in rural businesses or are strategics with lines of business related to my company.
2. Prompt the AI engine to find you more leads
I would aim for around 150 matches to start and scrape relevant information so you can curate that down to the top 30 or so that fit your company’s stage, sector, business model and financing needs.
Example prompt: I am looking for 150 more related investors that could potentially finance my business. Please provide a copyable table that includes the following columns: fund name, fund website, fund LinkedIn page, fund Crunchbase page, current fund number and dollar size [if known], check size, investment stage, whether they lead rounds or follow, fund thesis or areas of interest, application process [whether webform], and any relevant emails you can identify for decision makers at the fund.
For ChatGPT, I’ve found that model o3 performs best at extracting the nuance from different sites, and that using ‘Deep Research’ will yield the best results.
Full prompt text for easy copying:
[COMPANY NAME] is an early/growth stage [SECTOR AND TYPE OF BUSINESS], needing to raise a [SIZE AND STAGE OF ROUND] to achieve [KEY MILESTONE]. We sell [YOUR PRODUCT AND BUSINESS MODEL]. We have developed [YOUR UNIQUE ADVANTAGES] for the scalable delivery of [YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE]. We expect a [EXIT STRATEGY] to a [WHO WOULD BUY YOU] as the main exit path, such as a sale to [GIVE EXAMPLES] who have all acquired stakes in [YOUR SECTOR]. [LIST SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS SUCH AS FEMALE OR BIPOC FOUNDED, GEOGRAPHY OR SOCIAL/CLIMATE IMPACT POTENTIAL]. [Optional: I’ve attached our pitch deck to share more about the business].
I’m attaching a preliminary list of [###] investors who I think are a fit for this business. These investors have a predefined thesis in [YOUR SECTOR OR TYPE OF TECH] or [OTHER REASONS WHY YOU THINK THEY ARE A FIT].
I am looking for [###] more related investors that could potentially finance this business. Please provide a copyable table that includes the following columns: fund name, fund website, fund LinkedIn page, fund Crunchbase page, current fund number and dollar size [if known], check size, investment stage, whether they lead rounds or follow, fund thesis or areas of interest, application process [whether webform], and any relevant emails you can identify for decision makers at the fund.
3. Edit the list for fit
Now that you’ve got a list of prospects, it’s time to swipe left or right. I like to do this step in excel so I can sort the list, search for keywords and add notes and new information to my list. You can also prompt the AI tool to do this filtering for you. The goal is to eliminate 75% of the identified funders.
First, hunt for relevant keywords to exclude something that isn’t a fit, such as a stage mismatch (pre-seed vs growth/Series A) or a focus on business model (CPG or SaaS) or sector (eg: solar energy or EV infrastructure) that doesn’t apply to you. After eliminating obvious mismatches, do a bit of hunting on the funder’s website, LinkedIn and Crunchbase pages to further assess fit and verify that the funder is still active. There are a lot of zombie funds out there who no longer write checks. If they’ve invested in a key competitor, it is also probably a no-go as they’ve already placed their bets.
Don’t ignore a poor fit. It wastes both yours and an investor’s time, and you can get distracted from your true north star if you’re trying to satisfy an investor’s mandate that doesn’t ring true. Your perfect match is out there! But if you’re having a hard time finding a fit, go back to Part 1 and reassess whether your business is fundable.
Pro tip: Move the eliminated funds to a new tab and keep an eye on the sector aligned but stage incorrect funds, especially those that would give you the ‘you’re too early for us’ feedback. Securing an investment is all about building a relationship. Take opportunities to meet those funds as you network, keep those future investors up to date, and circle back when the time is right.
4. Ask GPT to do another search
With your further refined list, see if the AI tool can surface more leads with better focus.
Example prompt: I have refined the list you created to curate only the best fitting funds, focusing on stage, sector and overall fund fit. Please use the attached refined list and find me 20 other prospective investors with similar characteristics. Provide the new leads under a similar format in a copyable table.
With the new list, edit again, and voilà! You should have 40-50 truly on point leads for funding your business.
Part 3: Run a bomber investment process
Running the right investor process is a whole post in and of itself, but there are a few immediate next steps to maximize the investor list for your fundraise.
Warm introductions are far more successful than cold outreach. Use LinkedIn or a tool like Signal or Visible to find someone who can introduce you.
Use introductory calls to confirm hard-to-find information that will increase the utility of your list, such as the life cycle of the fund and how many investments they have left to make. Share this up to date intel with other founders!
Import your list into a CRM tool, such as Hubspot. Managing an investor list is similar to managing a list of customer leads – you need to make sure your process keeps everyone moving through the funnel and that you don’t leave anyone behind or ghosted.
So, how did Chat GPT do with my Insect Bug Co (aka Beta Hatch circa 2017) example?
Looking at the activity monitor during the search suggests it relied heavily on public databases, such as the 2000+ accelerator list compiled by failory.com. So starting with your own list could be really beneficial.
The first result only returned 54 investors, and I have heard of all of them and spoken personally with 39 of them. Four of them had invested in Beta Hatch. So, not bad.
I prompted to find another 96 more and got back other potential investors. I had likewise heard of most of them and spoken to a few, though several zombies were present (ie: funds that are no longer writing checks). The secondary prompt returned more corporate and regional funds that might have a narrower focus. A few did deeper diligence on us back in the day.
Overall, ChatGPT identified 150 investors which included 24 who did deeper diligence on Beta Hatch, and only 12 who had actual investments in the sector (4 made investments in us), suggesting some decent alignment without over reliance on searching the investor’s existing portfolios.
Best of luck in your fundraising!
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