This was a question that came up during a meeting this week while we were talking about early-stage fundraising.

You constantly hear about startups raising from angels, but that can make the process sound much easier than it actually is.

How difficult is it realistically to secure an angel investor, particularly for a first-time founder without an existing investor network?

Harder than people make it sound, especially if you don't already know people in the startup world. I'd start with getting a few people who understand your market interested enough to introduce you.

The warm introduction makes a huge difference.

Cold emailing 100 investors sounds productive, but if the pitch isn't landing you can just end up with 100 polite rejections 😂

Also depends how early you are.

If all you've got is an idea and a pitch deck, I think it's a much harder sell than having actual users, even if the numbers are still tiny.