It’s tough to get a meeting with an investor. There are good and bad ways to get to an investor. The path that you take will determine your likelihood of success. Cold calling an investor, for example, will almost always put you in the “automatically reject” category. Investors get inundated with pitches and meeting requests, so they almost always prefer trusted sources to unknown people. In other words, you need to find a way to get introduced to an investor by one of his or her trusted sources.
A good way to start is with your own network. Ask friends and associates if they have any connections. If this doesn’t work, a great way to be introduced is through one of the CEOs of the investor’s portfolio companies. Founders usually like meeting other founders, so ask them to coffee and find out about their business, their experience with the investor, and ask advice about your business. When the time is right, ask for an introduction to the partner they work with. If you have your act together, the CEO should have no problem doing this.
