INSIGHTS / News

Raising investment is often treated as a numbers game – the more investors you contact, the higher your chances of success. But for early-stage founders, this approach can dilute focus, slow down decision-making, and reduce the likelihood of finding the right long-term partners.

That was the central message from the latest Innovation Insights session, which kicked off 2026 with a talk from Daniel Sawko, CEO and Co-Founder of shipshape.vc, a UK-based venture capital search engine designed to streamline investor research and help founders and investors connect more effectively.

Rather than focusing on volume, the session explored how founders can improve fundraising outcomes by being more intentional: targeting the right investors, understanding how funds operate, and building relationships long before a round formally begins.

This round-up highlights the key insights shared during the session.

Optimising your strategy

Fundraising, particularly at an early stage, is rarely comparable to a quick transactional decision. Daniel described it instead as more akin to a major purchase, such as buying a house, where serious decisions require context, due diligence and time to build conviction.

In this context, the goal is not to maximise conversations, but to improve their quality and efficiency. Daniel encouraged founders to focus on two priorities:

• Relevance – ensuring investors are a genuine fit for stage, cheque size, and domain
• Speed to decision – helping investors reach a clear “yes” or “no” as efficiently as possible, rather than prolonged “maybe” conversations

This shift reframes fundraising as a process of qualification and alignment, rather than volume-based outreach.

Choosing the right fund at the right time

Selecting relevant funds is only part of the equation. Equally important is understanding when and how those funds are able to invest.

Funds typically raise capital from their own investors and deploy it over a defined lifecycle, often around ten years. Within that period, they generally move through phases of “sowing” – making new investments, and “harvesting” – supporting existing portfolio companies and returning capital. A key concept in this cycle is “dry powder”, referring to the capital a fund has available for new investments.

Daniel advised founders to pay close attention to these signals when prioritising outreach. A fund that has made several recent investments is more likely to still be actively deploying capital. Conversely, a lack of visible activity over the past six to nine months may indicate that a fund is largely committed, even if it is still engaging in meetings ahead of a future raise.

This is where shipshape.vc becomes relevant, aggregating global fund data and surfacing insights on typical round sizes, sector focus, and recent investment activity. This helps founders assess not only whether a fund is a good thematic fit, but whether it is actively investing.

Finding your internal champion

Even when a fund is a strong match, progress often depends on reaching the right individual within the organisation.

Daniel highlighted that while investment decisions are typically made collectively, momentum is often driven by one or a small number of internal advocates, the “internal champion” who helps build conviction across the partnership.

Identifying this person requires more than targeting a well-known fund. Founders should review investor backgrounds carefully: who has experience in relevant sectors, who has led similar deals, and who has publicly expressed interest in adjacent areas?

A strong alignment between a founder’s domain and an investor’s prior experience significantly increases the likelihood of early understanding and internal advocacy.

Conversely, engaging the wrong person at the right fund can slow progress considerably, particularly if they lack the domain context needed to confidently represent the opportunity internally.

Daniel illustrated this through shipshape.vc’s own experience, where targeted outreach led to engagement with an investor whose background closely matched their focus area. That alignment enabled faster understanding, more meaningful discussion, and ultimately a stronger commercial relationship.

Building relationships before fundraising

One of the strongest themes from the session was that effective fundraising begins long before a formal round is opened.

Daniel encouraged founders to engage investors early – not to ask for funding, but to build mutual understanding through market-focused conversations. This includes discussing where opportunities are emerging, what risks investors are currently observing, and how founders are thinking about the space.

Over time, this allows founders to position their company within an investor’s mental map of the market, rather than introducing it for the first time at the point of fundraising.

However, Daniel cautioned against excessive or low-value updates. Investors are frequently overloaded with routine communications that lack substantive change. Instead, he recommended sharing updates only when meaningful progress has been made – such as customer traction, pilots, technical milestones, or key hires.

Handled in this way, investor relationships evolve from a broad list of contacts into a smaller, informed group of stakeholders who understand the business and can engage quickly when a round begins.

A final message for founders

The session reinforced a simple but important shift in mindset: successful fundraising is less about reaching more investors, and more about reaching the right ones – and engaging them in the right way.

This means understanding fund behaviour, identifying genuine decision influencers, and building relationships over time rather than at the point of need.

For founders, this approach turns fundraising from a reactive process into a strategic extension of company building – one that increases clarity, improves alignment, and ultimately strengthens the likelihood of securing the right investment partners.

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