You're pitching the wrong investors. Here's how to raise in 2027

WRITTEN BY

James Church

Author, Investable Entrepreneur

James is an award-winning business advisor and best-selling author. His clients have raised over £250m in early-stage funding.

Nearly every founder I speak to has the same (wrong) expectation about how they’re going to close their pre-seed or seed round.

Most founders think they’re going to raise from a handful of investors, putting in £150k to £250k each.

And I can understand the attraction – a smaller cap table, fewer conversations and fewer investors to manage.

But this isn’t how you’ll close your round in 2027.

The people who can comfortably write cheques for 50% or more of the round are a much smaller group than you realise.

Let’s take someone investing £100k into a startup.

To write this kind of cheque, they’ll be a serious investor. And so they’ll understand that startup investing is a portfolio game and will probably be building a portfolio of 30+ companies to spread their risk.

That’s £3m of capital they plan to deploy.

And if they have that kind of money, they also have a financial advisor, who will suggest they limit high-risk startup investments to 10% of their available wealth.

So to find an investor who’s able to invest £100k, you’re actually looking for someone with £30m spare cash.

Suddenly, finding that £100k cheque isn’t quite as straightforward as it first appeared.

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The problem is that early-stage founders are designing their fundraising strategy around attracting ‘professional’ investors.

When there’s a completely different group of people they should be speaking to – the higher earners.

Higher-earners might invest £10k or £20k, and will also benefit from SEIS tax relief.

These types of investors have a very different mindset. They invest not because they’re building a sophisticated portfolio, but because they believe in the founder, love what they’re building and want to be part of the journey.

They wouldn’t even call themselves an angel investor. They’re just excited to be involved in your project.

And at a pre-seed and seed stage, this is the type of investor who closes 90% of rounds.

How to find early-stage investors in 2027

Finding these investors takes a slightly different approach; they’re not listed on investor databases, and their job title on LinkedIn isn’t “Angel Investor”.

Here’s what you should focus on:

1. Your existing network

These people already know you, like you and trust you. Tap them up, even for £5k investment, and ask them for introductions to their network. I’ve known founders who’ve unlocked £50k-£100k from the network of a colleague who invested £5k themselves.

2. Industry leaders

They understand the problem you’re solving better than anyone, and they’re already aligned with your vision. Reach out on LinkedIn, introduce what you’re building, sell them the vision and slowly move the conversation towards your funding round.

The reality is, too many founders are making fundraising harder for themselves by starting with the wrong assumption about what their ideal investor should look like.

When they could be deepening connections with their existing network, or building relationships with industry leaders who’d benefit from SEIS, rather than chasing down the next professional angel.

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About the Author

James Church is an award-winning UK startup advisor, fundraising strategist, and author of Investable Entrepreneur. He has helped founders raise more than £250 million in investment by improving investor readiness, refining fundraising strategies, and developing compelling pitch decks.

Through Investable Entrepreneur, James works with entrepreneurs to create investor presentations that communicate value clearly, strengthen fundraising confidence, and improve investment outcomes through practical, real-world expertise.