Throughout your journey at a growing startup, you’ll come across several types of investors.
The investor you raise from matters just as much as how much you raise.
Types of investors
Angels
Accelerators
Venture Capitalists
Angel investors write checks from their personal savings. Their relationship with you almost always comes through a warm intro.A lot of them are ex-founders or wealthy people who want exposure to startups on the side. Think Sam Altman, Peter Thiel, or that well-off ex-operator in your network who loves helping early-stage companies.
The most well-known accelerator is YC. Others include a16z Speedrun, NEO, Pear X, and Entrepreneurs First.The model works something like this: they invest a fixed amount, you go through the program alongside other founders, and at the end you pitch to a room full of investors on Demo Day. The goal is to give you the network and momentum to raise a seed round afterward.The people running these programs usually have past startup experience. VCs raise money from a bunch of other people and use it to invest in startups. They’re expected to generate insane returns.VCs don’t need to care about all their investments; they just need one of them to become a billion-dollar company. Most VCs have some combination of investing, banking, or operating experience.
Investment size
Angels
Accelerators
Venture Capitalists
Most angels write checks ranging from a few thousand to $100K. Some high-profile angels can go higher.
It varies a lot by accelerator. YC’s standard deal is $500K for 7% on a post-money SAFE. Smaller or lesser-known programs might invest $25K–$100K for a larger or smaller stake depending on program popularity.Be aware of the terms you’re signing, and stay away from any program asking for predatory terms. A Canadian accelerator once gave me 3 hours to sign a contract. Turns out it claimed ownership of any company I started even after quitting the accelerator, could block any investor I brought in, and paid a barely livable stipend with no guaranteed investment.
It depends on whether the VC is leading. Lead seed-stage VCs typically invest $1–5M; if they’re not leading, they may do anywhere from $100–500K. Series A VCs typically lead with $5M–$15M. Later-stage rounds go significantly higher.
What do they invest with?
Angels
Accelerators
Venture Capitalists
In earlier rounds, almost always through SAFEs. Later on, an angel will come in at whatever terms a lead investor sets. Most accelerators use SAFEs.
Lead VCs prefer a board seat early, and to do that, they’ll usually do a priced round with preferred shares. Non-lead VCs will often do SAFEs. How long do they take to decide?
Angels
Accelerators
Venture Capitalists
Fast, often the fastest of any investor type. A motivated angel can commit in a single call. In the worst case, a couple of weeks.
The best accelerators take a few days, and no longer than a week.
Depends on whether they’re leading or following. A lead takes a few weeks to a couple of months. Non-leads are just filling out the round, so they move fast, sometimes a single meeting.
How to find and get in touch with them
Angels
Accelerators
Venture Capitalists
Almost entirely through personal relationships and warm intros. If you’re early and your network is thin, the fastest way to fix that is to get around other founders. The easiest ways in are through an accelerator, local startup events, or online places like Twitter.
Most accelerators have public application cycles you can find on their website.
Ideally, you get an intro from someone the VC already trusts. VCs are also reachable through industry events, demo days, or online through Twitter and LinkedIn. Another approach that works over time is building in public so investors start coming to you.
So who should you raise from?
Angels
Accelerators
Venture Capitalists
Raise from angels if you want a low-complexity check, need a small amount to hit your next milestone, or already have a lead and want to fill out the round with people who bring domain knowledge or a useful network.
Go this route if you want a community of founders around you or if you don’t think you could easily raise on your own yet. Skip accelerators if you’re already scaling and have strong investor interest, since the equity you’d give up isn’t worth it when you can raise on better terms directly.
Raise from a VC if you want a brand name for social proof when hiring or selling or if you’re doing a big round and need a lead. Don’t pick VCs if you want to raise fast, don’t want to give up a board seat, or if you’re looking for help actually building the company. Most VCs know fundraising well but haven’t built one themselves.
Common questions
Should I find a lead investor or take multiple smaller checks?
It depends on the situation and your preferences.
Lead investors are harder to get meetings with, and require much more effort in pitching and entertaining due diligence. They also usually want at least 10% ownership and a board seat early on.
A “party round” is different. You can raise $5k today on a SAFE, and if someone’s interested the same day at a different valuation? Easy, just have them invest through another SAFE. The problem is you could do this forever, and you might not be able to raise the full amount you want. You also won’t have any significant shareholders (i.e., 5-10%+), which could be both good or bad.
If you don’t even have many investor meetings lined up yet, this choice isn’t something to think about right now.
Is it true that if I get a top-tier lead, it could hurt me later on?
It can, and it often happens because of investor signaling. If you have a top-tier VC lead in your company’s seed round, and they don’t invest or lead your next round, it’s a signal to all other VCs that there’s something wrong, even if your company is in a decent position.
Those other VCs are saying to themselves, “There’s an investor smarter than me who has more information, and they’re not investing. If that’s the case, I’d be an idiot if I jumped in.” And if one VC thinks this way, many others will too.
What type of investors will help me most?
Ex-founders are usually the most useful. They can give you a real data point when you have a specific question because they’ve been there and done it before.
VCs are a different story. Manage your expectations. Vinod Khosla, a very prominent VC and ex-founder, has said publicly that most VCs add negative value to their portfolio companies. 
