The short answer
Founders outside the Silicon Valley circuit can build a strong investor list by filtering on stage, check size, sector and geography, building in three rings (home, region, national), mixing investor types and scoring each name. The Zalarma database has 33,282 US startup investor records, 8,652 listing pre-seed (Zalarma investor database, as of 2026-11-01).
- Write your fit criteria (stage, check size, sector, geography) before opening any database.
- Filter by stage first: 8,652 US records list pre-seed versus 12,677 for Series A.
- Build in three rings: home state, region, then national.
- Mix angels, angel groups, family offices and micro-VCs on purpose.
- Score every name and lead with high scorers who have a warm path.
Most fundraising advice assumes you already know who to pitch. If you went through a well-known accelerator or worked at a venture-backed company, you probably do: you have a partner list, a demo day audience and former colleagues who angel invest. If you are building in Columbus, Birmingham or Boise, you are starting with a blank spreadsheet.
The good news is that the investor pool is much bigger and more spread out than it looks from the outside. The Zalarma database holds 33,282 US startup investor records, and 10,508 of the 28,944 with a known state sit outside California, New York and Massachusetts (Zalarma investor database, as of 2026-11-01). The work is narrowing that pool to the 50 to 100 names that actually fit you. Here is a method that works without a network.
Step 1: Write down your fit criteria first
Before you open any database, write four lines:
- Stage. Pre-seed, seed or Series A. Be honest. Pre-revenue with a prototype is pre-seed, even if you call it seed.
- Check size. Divide your round into realistic checks. A $750K pre-seed might be one $250K lead plus ten $50K angels.
- Sector. Your primary sector plus one adjacent one. A clinic scheduling tool is healthcare and B2B SaaS.
- Geography. Your state, your nearest major metro, and whether you would take a check from anywhere.
These four lines are your filter. Every name on your list should pass at least three of them.
Step 2: Filter by stage before anything else
Stage is the filter founders skip most often, and it wastes the most time. In our data, 8,652 US records list pre-seed and 19,738 list seed, against 12,677 that list Series A. Many well-known firms appear on every investor list but rarely write a first check before revenue. If your round is pre-seed, a pre-seed filter cuts your universe by more than half and removes most of the firms that would have ignored you anyway. See the pre-seed investors page for how that pool breaks down.
Step 3: Build the list in three rings
Raise from the inside out. Investors are more likely to back founders they can meet, and local investors bring local customers, hires and follow-on introductions.
| Ring | Who | Target count | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Home | Angels, angel groups, family offices and funds in your state | 20–40 | Easiest warm paths; local investors often lead regional rounds |
| 2. Region | The nearest large metro and neighboring states | 20–40 | Co-investors who know your market |
| 3. National | Sector-specialist and remote-first funds that invest anywhere | 10–30 | Fill the round once you have momentum |
Our state and city investor pages give you ring 1 and ring 2 quickly. The Midwest investor report shows how this works across a region.
Step 4: Mix investor types on purpose
A list of 80 venture firms is not a pipeline; it is 80 versions of the same conversation. Mix types. In our US data there are 5,982 angel and syndicate records, 8,385 family office records, 195 micro-VC records and 323 accelerator records alongside 19,431 venture firm and partner records. Each behaves differently:
- Angels decide fast, write smaller checks and are the core of most pre-seed rounds outside the Valley.
- Angel groups are slower but can deliver a large combined check and a lead.
- Family offices are relationship-driven and often flexible on stage.
- Micro-VCs and seed funds are the most realistic institutional leads at pre-seed and seed.
Step 5: Score every name
Give each investor a simple score from 0 to 3 on stage fit, sector fit and geography fit, then add a column for "warm path": who you know that knows them. Sort by total score, then by warm path. Your first 15 outreach targets should be high scorers with a plausible introduction. Cold-email the high scorers with no path, using the structure in our cold email guide.
Step 6: Do ten minutes of research per name
For each top-30 name, check three things on public sources: the firm's current fund and stage, two or three recent investments, and whether they have backed anything that competes with you. That last check saves you from pitching a firm that cannot invest. It also gives you the one specific sentence that makes an email feel personal.
Step 7: Track it like a sales pipeline
Use columns for status (researched, intro requested, contacted, meeting, diligence, committed, passed), last touch, next step and notes. Update it daily during your raise. Founders who track their raise rarely lose a warm lead to a forgotten follow-up.
Common mistakes
- Pitching famous firms first because they are famous, not because they fit.
- Ignoring investors in your own state because you assume the money is elsewhere.
- Treating every investor type the same, with the same deck and the same ask.
- Sending 200 cold emails instead of 40 researched ones.
If you would rather skip the spreadsheet, we will hand-pick five investors who fit your stage, sector and city and tell you in one line why each fits.
How we counted
Counts are records in the Zalarma investor database tagged as startup investors with a US location, as of 2026-11-01. A record is a person or a firm, and one record can list several stages, sectors and check sizes, so columns do not add up to the total. Shares use only records where that field is known. We never publish a count under 10; a dash means fewer than 10. More on sources in our data.
Frequently asked questions
How many investors should be on my target list?
For a pre-seed or seed round, 50 to 100 well-researched names is a workable list. Fewer than 40 leaves little room for passes; more than 150 usually means the filter is too loose.
Should I include investors outside my state?
Yes, but in order. Start with your home state, add your region, then national funds. In our data, 10,508 US records with a known state are outside California, New York and Massachusetts.
What is the most important filter?
Stage. Many investors never write a check before revenue, so a stage filter removes the largest number of poor fits.
How do I find warm paths with no network?
Look for second-degree links: founders the investor backed, lawyers, accelerators, university programs and local founder groups. Our warm intro playbook covers each route.