Hey 👋
If you’re trying to attract investors beyond your immediate network or you just don’t have a network of investors, the problem is usually not access.
It is positioning.
The better approach is simple: make the business easy to understand, make the money case obvious, and follow up with something new each time.
Let’s dig deeper →
A lot of women founders tend to explain the mission first.
The problem - The community - The impact….
Don’t get me wrong, that matters, BUUUUTT
if the message is 80% of the conversation, you are asking investors to do the commercial thinking for you.
Couple of weeks ago, we shared the Rise Report & found that 53% of female founders defined success as stability and profitability, 38% are building for scale or exit, and only 28% lead with social impact.
Those stats are very important: It shows that most women founders are not building non for profit but are building businesses.
Do not hide the revenue case behind softer language.
If the product is making money, say how.
If it is about to make money, say when.
If customers are already buying, say what they are buying and why.
Cold email is not deal, A Bad cold email stratgey is.
What gets ignored is the version that opens with too much context and too little commercial clarity.
Investors do not need your full life story in paragraph one. They need to know there is a real market, real demand, and a reason to care now.
Keep the first email short:
one line on the problem,
one line on the product,
one line on the money,
one clear ask.
That is it.
If they’re the right person, you do not need to convince them in one email. You need to make it easy for them to reply.
Extra tip, If you show your personality rather than the boring email layout most people have then you increase your chances to be ‘REMEMERED'
Most founders stop too early
Recent guidance on investor outreach says the first follow-up should go out 5 to 7 business days after the original email, then a second follow-up 7 to 10 days later if there is still no reply.
The key is to add something new each time.
That could be:
a new customer number
a revenue milestone
a press mention
a sharper answer to a question they/other investors might have had.
If your follow-up says the same thing as the first email, you are just reminding them to ignore you swipe ‘LEFT’.
Instead, each follow-up should move the your story forward.
This is an example:
Email 1: Here is the company, the problem, and why the market is big.
Follow-up 1: Here is traction since we last spoke.
Follow-up 2: Here is why our timing has become better.
Follow-up 3: We’ve just hit a huge Rev milestone
Final follow-up: If relevant, happy to share the deck.
Simple - Short - Calm - Specific !
Women are often encouraged to speak about mission, purpose, and change. That can be useful for brand and community. But fundraising is not a values essay.
Research in fundraising shows women are still often asked more about risk than growth, and spend longer raising capital than male founders.
That means you have less room to be vague.
You do not need to sound like a man.
You need to sound like a founder who knows how the business makes money and lot’s of it.
You need to be able to clearly articulate:
who pays,
what they pay for,
how often they pay,
what happens if more capital comes in.
When you say the money part out loud, the business sounds more real. More investable. More worth a second look.
What to stop doing
Stop leading with mission and hoping the money will be obvious.
Stop sending the same follow-up multiple times.
Stop describing a business in a way that sounds meaningful and not commercially enticing.
And stop being too modest about the numbers. If the product makes money, say it (Loud & F’In Proud)
If buyers keep coming back, say it.
If the market is large, show it.
Open your last investor email and check three things:
Did you make the revenue case clear?
Did you give them a reason to reply?
Did your follow-up’s add anything new?
If the answer is no, rewrite it & send it again
If you’re thinking about raising £/$150K–£/$500K through equity crowdfunding in the next 6–18 months
I'm still doing free 20-min Equity Crowdfund Readiness calls for founders seriously considering raising £150K–£500K in the next 6–18 months.
You'll walk away with:
A clear yes / no / not yet on equity crowdfunding
a readiness score across traction, audience, story, numbers, and timeline,
Your top 3 priorities
I also have something extra for those of you that are ready to take action to raise NOW
Bring your numbers and questions!
Venture dollars to female founders hit a record $73.6B in 2025—but 40% went to just two AI companies. The concentration problem is real.
Female Founder Funding Review 2026 — more women are raising, but deal sizes are down.
The UK's Invest in Women Taskforce fund is still not deployed — a reminder that capital can move slowly even when the headlines look good.
Female founders continue to be asked different questions in pitches — more risk, less upside, more time to raise.
