Where to Find Investors in 2025?

One thing I will throw out there, just to answer the question a little bit, because I also think it applies very much in the Canadian ecosystem, because I hear this question all the time. Like, where do I find investors? It's like Twitter, Google. Social media in general, a lot of the good funds and investors are actively looking for deals. They're not trying to hide. They're not mysterious. There's lots of great people that share lists, that share databases, that share resources of who's investing in what sector. A lot of the venture funds know the angels that play in their ecosystem. So whether you're in Canada or the US, it's literally just reach out and talk to people. And the ones that are doing deals aren't hiding in the shadows. They're out there looking to try and find good deals. So they're not... They're not completely hidden. We also have a very organized ecosystem for angel investors in Canada that's sponsored by FedDev ultimately. So I recommend you go to angelinvestorsontario.com and that'll give you every angel group that's operating in Ontario. And then you go to their websites and there's a pitch application process and it's all there. Now, just referring back to my small business startup comparison situation, if you're a small business and you keep applying for angel funding, they're never going to even let you pitch because you're not who they're looking for, but make sure you understand and fit what the investor is looking for. And then you'll probably get through to pitch. Yeah, it's a good idea to find the right fund to pitch to. They're ones who are looking for things specifically. If you're applying to these large funds and it's not in their wheelhouse, then they're never going to respond to you. Then I'm going to say, no, we're not interested for the most part. You're not even going to get a response. The biggest thing is grow your network. go out to networking events, reach out to people online, start conversations. Your best chance of getting a successful pitch or getting to pitch to someone and getting them to listen and investor primarily is getting a warm intro. Warm intros are probably one of the best ways. If you're reaching out cold, it's a lot more difficult, not impossible, but yeah. Yeah. Can I just throw in success rates on social media have dropped dramatically over the last few years. We're all inundated with requests for check out my deck, please check out my deck. And so I agree the warm intros, the meeting people that will really open doors that won't necessarily be open with a cold send out on either social media or email. Yeah, and when you're reaching out to angels on social media, if you reach out not asking for funding right away, but you reach out and say like, hey, Jeff, heard you on startup talk. I would love... to get five minutes of your time to chat about my idea, to get your feedback. And I'll send you a Starbucks gift card as a thank you. And then you do that. And then at the end, you take his feedback and you ask for, are there two people you think I should speak to about this idea? That will get you further along the route than just a blanket like, here's my deck. Uh, cause I get probably on LinkedIn, like I probably get like. Fifty messages like that a week. And it's just like, I'm not, I don't even have time to read them. There's so many, but if somebody's saying like, somebody's just saying like, Hey, like, you know, I'd love to like buy you a virtual coffee and just get your advice for five minutes, which is something I can give. And it's not like, okay. It's not about whether I'm going to give you fifty thousand dollars, then that's a different, different situation. Yeah, for sure. Agreed. Because if you think about it, just you, you might have a great idea, but there are thousands of other people who think they have great ideas as well. So you're not unique in, in the fact that you're, you're trying to reach out and, and try to get people's attention and everyone's DMing nowadays. Not it's, it's nothing. It's nothing new. Also last thought, if you don't mind, accelerators and incubators are both great places to start if you're just getting going. They have a lot of resources. They do take in founders who are pre-revenue. And that can be a really great environment to help start off, kick off your business.