warm introduction

Definition

A referral to an investor through a trusted mutual connection, as opposed to cold outreach. The difference between getting a response and having your email automatically archived.

Example Usage

Rather than cold email VCs, we focused on getting warm introductions through our advisors and previous investors.

Origin

Professional networking terminology, critical in high-trust environments like VC

Fun Fact

Studies show warm introductions are 10-20x more likely to result in meetings than cold emails, yet founders still blast their decks to every VC email they can find.

Source: Professional networking and venture capital relationship dynamics

Related Terms

Beginner

Pivot

A strategic change in business direction that's celebrated in Silicon Valley but called failure literally everywhere else. It's the entrepreneurial equivalent of missing your exit on the highway and announcing you meant to take the scenic route.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

Growth Hacking

A Silicon Valley term for marketing on a budget, dressed up to sound like you're breaking into a mainframe. In practice, it usually means spamming people on LinkedIn and calling it a strategy.

📣 Marketing / Advertising🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

phantom equity

Fake stock that feels like ownership but isn't, giving employees the illusion of having skin in the game without actual legal rights. It's participation trophy capitalism.

🚀 Startup / VC

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seed

The first real money a startup receives from external investors, typically ranging from $500K to $2M, given in exchange for equity to entrepreneurs brave (or delusional) enough to think their idea will change the world. This is the stage where your pitch deck matters more than your product, and your co-founder's LinkedIn connections matter more than your revenue. Named 'seed' because most of these investments will never grow into anything, much like actual seeds.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

elephant hunting

A sales or fundraising strategy focused exclusively on landing enormous clients or investors rather than building up smaller ones. It's high-risk, high-reward betting where you either feast or starve.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

unicorn hunting

The venture capital strategy of seeking only investments with potential to return the entire fund, requiring massive exits. A portfolio approach that ignores solid doubles and triples in favor of swinging for nonexistent fences.

🚀 Startup / VC

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