How to get venture capital: a first-time founder's playbook.

A venture capital fund is, in the SEC's words, a type of private fund that typically invests in rapidly growing companies, often with a specific industry focus. The fund invests for equity, an ownership share, rather than as a loan. The SBA adds that venture capital normally comes with an active role, and that almost all venture capitalists will want at least a seat on the board. Be ready to give up some ownership and some control.

The money is concentrated. According to the NVCA 2026 Yearbook, US venture investment reached $320 billion across 15,352 deals in 2025, and AI companies took 65.4% of the deal value. Venture funds raised $67 billion, the lowest in nine years, and the number of US firms fell for the first time on record, to 2,984.

Venture capital is one route among several. The SEC also describes friends and family rounds and angel investors, individuals who invest their own money, and Regulation Crowdfunding lets a company raise up to $5 million in 12 months through an SEC-registered platform. The SBA's own list adds small business loans, SBA-backed loans and programs such as SBIR. Which route fits depends on the company, and that is a conversation for your advisers, not a blog post.

Stage decides most of the fit. A firm that writes first checks and one that focuses on growth rounds can share an office and have nothing to offer the same company. Sector comes next: many funds say which industries they back, and a firm that has funded a direct competitor may pass for that reason alone.

• Start with stage. Our investor directories let you filter firms by the stage and sector they state, with each firm's own website and sources.
• Read the firm's own words, not a label. Check what it says it invests in now, and when its site was last updated.
• Look at recent investments in your sector, and at the partner who led them.
• Keep a dated list. Firms change focus and partners move; write down when you checked each detail.

The SEC's checklist for companies ready to raise capital is a good place to start, because it names what investors ask first:

• How much you are raising. The SEC calls it one of the first questions a company will hear.
• How the money will be spent, in service of the company's goals.
• A current cap table and financial statements that show the company's position.
• Advisers with experience in raising capital, which the SEC calls critical to a smooth financing.
• How investors get their money back: the long-term vision for returning capital to them.

Investors then run due diligence, a review of your legal and financial disclosures, so keep those documents in one place before the first meeting. Bring the numbers the business actually runs on, defined the way you track them, and say which ones are estimates.

A firm's own site is the place to learn how it wants to hear from founders. Some run open applications, such as Y Combinator; many ask for an introduction from someone they know. An introduction from a founder the firm has backed, or from someone who knows your work, carries more context than a cold message, so it is worth asking the people around you who they know.

Keep each conversation short and specific: what the company does, for whom, what you have learned so far and what the money is for. Then follow up the way the firm asked you to.

Selling shares, a SAFE or a convertible note is a securities offering. It must be registered with the SEC or fall within an exemption, and the exemption decides who can invest and how you can talk about the round:

• Rule 506(b) allows unlimited accredited investors and up to 35 non-accredited investors, but no general solicitation or advertising of the offering.
• Rule 506(c) allows general solicitation, but only if every purchaser is an accredited investor and the company takes reasonable steps to verify it.
• Both require a notice on Form D within 15 days after the first sale. For Rule 506(b) offerings, the SEC notes that states can still require notice filings and fees.
• Accredited investors include individuals with net worth over $1 million, not counting their home, or income over $200,000 ($300,000 with a spouse or partner) in each of the last two years.

Which exemption fits is a question for a qualified securities lawyer, ideally before you speak to your first investor.

Before a first meeting, an investor is likely to look you up. What they find is the company's marketing: a site that explains the product to the buyer, content that shows you understand the category, and founders who are visible where their customers are. In most cases the same work also wins customers, and customers are evidence an investor can check.

One caution matters more than any tactic. Promoting the company is marketing; promoting the round itself can be general solicitation, which the SEC describes as a solicitation that conditions the market for an offering, and which Rule 506(b) does not allow. Talk to your securities lawyer before anything public mentions the raise.

Mining Wells does not make investor introductions or give fundraising advice. If the marketing is on your list too, our page on marketing for technology companies explains how we work, and a marketing plan is where that work usually starts.