An investor target list is the shortlist of investors you will actually contact for this round, with a written reason for each one. Not a download of 2,000 fund names. A good list answers four questions on every row: why this investor fits, what evidence shows it, what you still do not know, and when you last checked.
If a row cannot answer the first question in one sentence, it does not belong on the list.
When I worked in venture capital in London, I could tell within a line or two whether a founder had a list like this. The emails built from one mentioned a deal we had done or a view a partner had written about. The emails built from a database mentioned our name and our address.
Who this is for
This is for founders raising pre-seed, seed or Series A who are about to start outreach and want a list they can defend. It works whether you have a network or not. If you are starting with no contacts at all, read how to find pre-seed investors with no network first, then come back to build the list properly.
It is less useful if you already have a committed lead and are filling the last part of the round. By then your lead's suggestions matter more than any list you build.
What most investor list guides leave out
Most guides tell you to filter by stage, sector and cheque size, then score each investor out of ten. The filtering is right. The scoring is where it goes wrong.
A score of 8 out of 10 looks precise. It hides whether the 8 came from three recent deals in your space or from one line on a website you skimmed. Two weeks later, you cannot tell which investors you checked properly and which you guessed. You email them all the same way.
The fix is to keep the evidence on the row, keep the unknowns on the row, and let the tier follow from both.
The template
Copy this into a spreadsheet. One row per investor. Every column has a job.
Firm | Partner | Why they fit (one sentence) | Evidence (link) | Evidence date | Stage and cheque | Unknowns | Conflict check | Tier | Status | Next action
- Firm and partner. One partner per firm. The partner is the person whose deals look most like yours.
- Why they fit. One sentence a stranger could check. "Led the seed round of a company selling to the same buyer as us" beats "great fit".
- Evidence. A link to the source: a portfolio page, a funding announcement, a partner's own post. Not a database row with no source behind it.
- Evidence date. When the evidence happened, not when you found it. A deal from last month and a deal from four years ago are different signals.
- Stage and cheque. What they write, and whether you confirmed it or estimated it.
- Unknowns. What you have not been able to confirm. Write it down rather than leaving the cell blank.
- Conflict check. Whether they back a direct competitor, and which one.
- Tier, status, next action. Covered below.
The method, step by step
1. Set hard filters before you open a single database
Write down the filters that remove an investor outright. Stage. Cheque size against your round. Geography they actually invest in. Sector, if you are in one they must understand.
A fund that writes cheques bigger than your whole round is not a stretch target. It is a no, however well known it is.
2. Build the longlist from deals, not directories
Start from companies like yours that raised in the last year or two. Who invested? Who led? That gives you investors with a record, not just a stated interest.
Public filings help confirm that a round happened and when. In the US, companies relying on Regulation D file a Form D notice with the SEC within 15 days of the first sale. In the UK, companies file a return of allotment of shares (SH01) with Companies House when they issue new shares. Neither will usually tell you who invested. They will tell you the round was real.
3. Pick one partner per firm
At most funds, a specific partner decides whether your company goes forward. Find the one whose past deals or published views match your company. Put that name on the row and no one else from the firm.
Three emails to three partners at the same fund in the same week reads as careless. It also means the firm sees you as a list, not a founder.
4. Write the reason, then the evidence
Write the "why they fit" sentence first. Then find the link that proves it. If you cannot find one, the sentence was a guess. Rewrite it or drop the row.
5. Write the unknowns down
This is the column founders skip, and it is the one that saves you. "Cheque size estimated from fund size." "Not sure the partner is still at the firm." "Last deal in our sector was 2023."
An honest unknown tells you what to check before you send. A blank cell tells you nothing, and you will fill it in your head with whatever you hoped.
6. Run the conflict check
Look at each portfolio for direct competitors: companies selling the same thing to the same buyer. Many investors will not back two companies fighting for the same customers. Some will not take the meeting.
Adjacent is fine. Direct is a reason to skip, or at least to know before you write.
7. Tier by evidence, not by enthusiasm
Use the table below. The tier comes from what you can prove, not from how much you would like the investor.
| What the row shows | Tier | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Passes hard filters, recent comparable deal with a link, right partner named, no conflict, few unknowns | 1 | Write a personal email. Send in the same week as the rest of tier 1. |
| Passes hard filters, evidence is older or only a stated thesis, one or two unknowns | 2 | Check the unknowns first. Promote to tier 1 or keep for a second wave. |
| Passes hard filters, no deal evidence, mostly unknowns | 3 | Research more or hold. Do not send on a guess. |
| Backs a direct competitor | Skip | Remove, or note why you are making an exception. |
| Fails a hard filter (stage, cheque, geography) | Cut | Delete the row. It will only tempt you later. |
8. Turn each row into one next action
Every row ends with a single next action and a date. "Confirm partner is still at the firm by Thursday." "Send first email Monday." "Follow up on the 14th." A list without next actions is a reading list.
A worked example (illustrative)
This example is made up to show the method. The company, fund and partner are not real.
A founder is raising a seed round for software that helps independent pharmacies manage stock. They are looking at "Fund A".
- Why they fit: Partner B led the seed round of a company selling scheduling software to independent dental practices. Same kind of buyer: small, owner-run, regulated.
- Evidence: The fund's announcement of that round, linked, dated eight months ago.
- Stage and cheque: Seed. Cheque size not published. Estimated from the size of the round they led.
- Unknowns: Whether Fund A has invested from its current fund in the last six months. Whether Partner B covers healthcare or only the dental company.
- Conflict check: No pharmacy software in the portfolio. One company sells to pharmacies, but it is a payments product, so adjacent, not direct.
- Tier: 2. The evidence is good but the fund's current activity is unknown.
- Next action: Check the fund's recent announcements and Partner B's recent posts by Wednesday. If they are active, move to tier 1.
Notice what the row lets the founder do. The first email almost writes itself: it names the dental deal and the shared buyer. And the founder knows exactly what to check before sending.
Where target lists go wrong
- Too long. If you cannot write a real reason for a row, you will not write a real email for it either. A shorter list you can defend beats a long one you cannot.
- Firms, not people. A row that says only the firm name is not ready. Emails go to people.
- Old evidence treated as new. A sector deal from years ago may mean the partner has moved on, or the fund has stopped making new investments. The evidence date column exists to catch this.
- Unknowns hidden as blanks. A blank cheque size column quietly becomes "probably fine". Write "unknown" and check it.
- Ignoring conflicts until the meeting. Finding out on the call that the investor backs your closest competitor wastes both your time, and some founders worry about what they have just shared.
- Never updating. The list is a working document for the whole raise. Every reply, pass or introduction should change a row.
Worth your time
Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson (4th edition, Wiley, 2019). Read chapter 12, "How Venture Capital Funds Work": it explains how funds are structured and why a fund's age affects whether it is still making new investments, which is the question behind half your unknowns.
A next step
Build the first ten rows this week, tier them, and check the unknowns on your tier 2 rows before you send anything.
If you would rather not build it yourself, RaiseRunner's Investor Navigator produces this kind of list for you: each match comes with why the investor fits, the sources behind it, what is still uncertain and a conflict check. You confirm the facts and approve who gets contacted.