How to build relationships with VCs before fundraising: interview them first
The best way I know to build relationships with VCs before fundraising is to interview them. Months before you need the money, invite the investors you'd want on your cap table onto your show and talk about what they're seeing in your market. You meet them as a host, not as a founder with a deck, and the relationship has time to form before anyone asks for anything.
Most founders do it backwards. They wait until they need capital, then start asking for intros, then send a deck to people who've never heard of them. By then the clock is loud and everyone on the other side of the table can hear it.
The raise starts before the raise
On August 3 I was on a weekly call with a founder of a wellness software company. He'd done something hard and smart. He had cut costs by 80 to 85%, which stretched his runway to March 2027 without raising another dollar. His seed round target was November 2026.
He was honest about where he stood. Forty paying customers, and he didn't think that was fundable yet. His plan was to grow for three more months and be able to show the whole sales funnel before going to VCs.
That's a good plan for the numbers. It leaves one problem untouched. When November comes and the raise starts, how many of the investors he wants will know who he is?
If the answer is none, he's starting cold with a clock. Our raise-capital page says it plainly: intros run out. Your network gets you the first twenty meetings. The round needs sixty. Three months of growth won't fix that on its own. Three months of relationships might.
Why the host has the posture
His plan for investors was to invite target VCs onto his podcast first and build the relationship before pitching. And on the call we noticed the dynamic that makes it work: on the show, the VC is the one trying to impress the host.
Think about what happens in a pitch meeting. You prepared for days. They skim. You're performing, they're judging. The investor holds the posture because you need something from them.
Now flip it. You invited them to share their thesis on your show. They prepare. They want to come across as smart, as founder-friendly, as the kind of investor good companies want. They'll share the episode with their network. For thirty minutes, they're making their case to you.
You learn more about how an investor thinks in a thirty-minute interview than in a dozen pitch meetings. What they get excited about. What scares them. How they talk about founders. And they learn something about you that a deck can't show: how you think, how you listen, whether you're someone they'd want to hear from every quarter.
Five or six practice episodes first
The founder wanted to do five or six interviews before reaching out to any VCs. I think that's right.
Your first few episodes won't be your best. You'll talk too much, you'll miss a follow-up question, you'll fumble the intro. Better to make those mistakes with customers, operators and friendly founders than with the partner you most want to lead your round.
Those early episodes also give you something to point to. When you invite an investor, a show with real episodes and real guests is a different invitation than an empty channel. They'll check. Give them something to find.
And the early guests can be customers. If you sell to a specific kind of buyer, interviewing them builds pipeline and gives you a library of conversations about the exact problem you solve. Investors will notice that you have direct access to the market.
One practical tip: record on a proper studio tool, not a meeting link. It looks more like a show, it feels more like a show to the guest, and it tells an investor you take the format seriously.
Turning an episode into an investor relationship
The episode is the start, not the relationship. What turns a recording into a relationship is what happens around it.
Before the episode, there's a short pre-interview. You learn what they want to talk about, you plan the questions together. It's a real conversation, and it's where they first decide whether they like you.
After the episode, you send the clips and the link and you set up a debrief to go over them. That's a second meeting with a real reason, and it's a natural place to say what you're building, without a pitch.
Then you stay in touch. Share an update when you hit a milestone. Send them a clip from a later episode that's relevant to their thesis. Ask for their read on something. By the time you raise, they've been watching you execute for months.
Who to invite first
Start with the investors you'd actually want, but not with the one you want most.
Make a short list of funds and angels who invest at your stage, in your sector, at your check size. Then sort it. Put the partners you'd be thrilled to have lead your round near the bottom, and put friendly, active investors near the top. Operator angels who've built in your space are great early guests. So are scouts and newer partners who are building their own reputation and like the exposure.
By the time you reach the names at the bottom of the list, you'll have a few investor episodes published, you'll be a better interviewer, and you'll have something specific to say in the invite: who else has been on, and what you talked about.
Ask every investor guest the same core questions about your market. Where is it going? What would make them write a check in it? What do founders in it usually get wrong? Over ten or fifteen episodes, you'll have a map of how capital thinks about your category, in their own words. That's research no deck template gives you, and it'll shape how you pitch when the time comes.
What to show by the time you ask
When November arrives for a founder like this one, I'd want three things on the table.
The numbers he planned for. Three more months of growth, the full funnel visible from first touch to paying customer, a trend line instead of a snapshot.
A list of investors who already know him. Not cold names from a database, but people he's interviewed, debriefed and kept updated. Some will pass. Some will want in early. Either way the first meeting isn't a first meeting.
A show that keeps working. The same system that brought investors in can keep bringing customers in. That's a story investors like: a founder who built his own channel to the market and to capital.
There's a quieter benefit too. Cutting costs as hard as this founder did is lonely work. A weekly conversation with smart investors about where your market is going keeps you sharp and keeps you visible while you're heads down. When the raise comes, you won't be walking out of a cave. You'll be continuing conversations that have been going for months.
If you're six months from a raise, start the show now. If you're three months out, start it today.
Frequently asked questions
How early should I start talking to investors?
Months before you need the money. The founder in this post had runway to March 2027 and a November seed target, and planned to start investor conversations through his show well ahead of the raise. Starting early means your first pitch is never a cold meeting.
Will a VC really come on a small podcast?
Many will, because being interviewed is about them: their thesis, their view of the market, a recording they can share. A show with a handful of real episodes and guests helps, which is why we suggest doing five or six interviews before inviting investors.
When do I mention I'm raising?
Not on the episode. Let the interview be about them. The debrief after the recording, or a later update, is a natural place to say what you're building and when you plan to raise.