Ask HN: How are founders finding investors without warm intros in 2025? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How are founders finding investors without warm intros in 2025?

4 pointspaulwilsonn12 comments

It feels like getting investor intros is still one of the biggest bottlenecks for early-stage founders.

I’ve seen countless threads saying “you need warm intros” - but in reality, not everyone has that network on day one. Cold emails and DMs often go unread, and accelerator “investor lists” feel outdated or generic.

So I’m curious:

1. How are you finding and reaching out to investors without existing connections?

2. Have any particular strategies, tools, or outreach methods worked for you recently?

3. Is personalization or timing more important in getting actual replies?

Would love to hear what’s been working (or not) in 2025’s fundraising environment

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If you are starting from scratch getting warm intros need a "prep" phase. The best people to introduce you to investors are founders itself. You should build authentic connections with founders, try to help them.. in terms of your skills, network, hiring etc. Founder community generally works on the principle of giving. So if you are a helpful person who is building something good, other founders will make those warm intros.

I'm not sure why anyone would think a connection to an investor would be easy to find. This is likely a bigger issue than whatever you're trying to build, because funding partners need to be a good fit.

Unfortunately, without existing connections, you have to put in a lot of effort helping people in your networks so you can ask them to help you. If you haven't been putting that work in by providing real help/value/relief to those in your network for years, it is an uphill battle to get a warm intro to an investor of all things.

That’s a really fair point, building genuine relationships takes years, and warm intros are always going to have higher context and trust.

But I’ve also noticed more founders (especially first-time or solo ones) who just don’t have that network yet, even though they’re building solid products. For them, the challenge isn’t skipping relationships - it’s getting that very first foot in the door.

I think there’s space for both approaches: earn long-term trust and make the discovery + outreach part a bit less painful or random. Warm intros will always be gold - but not everyone starts with access to the mine.

> Warm intros will always be gold

I disagree. What you're calling a warm intro is more like a lukewarm intro if people don't have a background and any experience with the person they're intro-ing.

It doesn't take much to see between the lines on most "warm" intros.

- Get into a reputable accelerator program, you’ll build your network.

- Find meet ups in your major metropolitan area.

- Your 2nd and 3rd degree networks are bigger than you imagine, you can absolutely get a warm intro.

- Forgo all investment and bootstrap.

Totally agree - accelerators and local founder meetups are underrated for building real investor relationships. Even a few genuine connections can open surprising doors.

That said, I’ve seen a lot of early-stage founders outside major hubs (or first-time builders) struggle to access those same circles. For them, even getting visibility with the right investors is tough.

Warm intros are always best, but it feels like founders today need a mix — network where you can, and use smarter tools or systems to fill the gap when geography or timing works against you.

Traction opens doors imo. Unless it’s some hard tech thing and you’re an Ivy League or industry expert with a solid plan.

Totally agree - traction changes everything. Once you have proof that people actually want what you’re building, intros, investor replies, and even partnerships start to flow naturally.

But early traction itself often needs a bit of capital or network to get started - kind of a chicken-and-egg problem for first-time founders. That’s why I think discovery and outreach still matter early on, just to get those first few conversations going before traction compounds.

connect w scouts - invite them for a coffee closeby their office - those are (younger) roles that build pipeline for the partners

That’s a really good point - investor scouts are often overlooked, but they’re usually the ones doing the early pipeline building and deal sourcing. Meeting them casually (coffee, events, even quick chats at coworking spaces) can open doors that formal intros can’t.

cold emails and DMs often go unread

Often that’s because spam filters tend to filter out unsolicited emails. DM’s work similarly.

Getting a warm intro requires resourcefulness. That’s a skill investors value. If a warm intro is too much work, then building a startup will be too.

Of course if you build something interesting investors may look for you…and you will need a good spam filter to filter distractions. Good luck

Fair point - resourcefulness absolutely matters, and I agree that building a startup requires persistence far beyond cold outreach.

That said, I think the line between “resourcefulness” and “access” is thinner than it seems. A lot of early founders are putting in the effort - they’re just not starting from networks where investor intros are even possible.

Warm intros are ideal, but discovery shouldn’t depend entirely on who you already know. Sometimes a founder just needs a way to start genuine conversations - even if it begins cold.

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