The Challenge

Creatorland is building a professional network for the $100b+ creator economy. Similar to how Doximity has built a $5b specialized network for the healthcare industry, Creatorland is building the core connectivity layer for the rapidly growing creator economy. As an early-stage startup, they need to target investors that have a track record of investing in high-potential companies which are just getting started or seeing early traction.

The pre-seed landscape is particularly complex – most investors like to come in as early as possible, but yet very few actually invest in pre-revenue companies. Most investors want to see significant operating data and revenue growth before they feel comfortable making an investment decision. It is particularly challenging to identify investors that frequently invest in companies who are pre-revenue or in the early stages of revenue generation.

Accelerators such as YCombinator and Techstars have been exceptional financing partners at the pre-seed stage; however, they’re not right for every startup and of course, have limited slots for their programs.

Investor Intelligence via Metal

With Metal, Brian, founder of Creatorland, has been able to laser focus on the cohort of investors that have historically made more than 20%+ of their investments at the pre-seed stage. Additionally, he has also been able to identify investors that are particularly well-suited to lead the round that they’re putting together.

The above are only a few filters that Brian uses to identify the “most likely” investors for the Company’s current stage. With a laser focus on the right investors, the Company is able to have more focused and nuanced conversations (versus the standard scenario of investors wanting to see revenue and customer data at a stage when the company doesn’t have any).

Impact on the Fundraising Process

Pre-seed and seed investors tend to have vastly different expectations. Investors that specialize at seed typically like to see operating data, revenue growth and customer retention. In the absence of this data, they are unlikely to invest. On the contrary, investors that specialize at pre-seed commonly invest in the absence of revenue data.

By focusing on the right pre-seed investors, Creatorland has significantly increased its odds of success by engaging with investors who frequently invest in pre-revenue companies, have the necessary dry powder, are actively investing, and understand their sector.

Executive Summary

•    Pre-seed and seed investors have vastly different expectations
•    Taking a super targeted approach can fundamentally shift the odds in your favor
•    Targeting the right investors at pre-seed requires a detailed and nuanced approach