What Percentage of Investors Usually Say Yes?

Expect a 1–5% conversion rate from initial outreach to investment, and 5–10% from meetings to checks.

If you contact 100 investors, roughly 30–40 will take meetings, and 2–5 will actually invest. These rates vary by stage, traction, and founder background, but even exceptional startups face high rejection rates. Fundraising is a numbers game where "no" is the default answer.

Why Conversion Rates Are So Low

Investor rejection isn't personal, it's structural. Here's why the math works against founders:

Portfolio construction. VCs make 20–30 investments per fund. They see thousands of startups yearly. Even if they love your company, it may not fit their current portfolio needs.

Stage and thesis mismatch. Many "no's" aren't rejections of your startup, they're rejections of fit. Wrong stage, wrong sector, wrong geography.

Timing constraints. Investors may be between funds, fully deployed, or focused on existing portfolio companies.

Risk tolerance. Early-stage investing is inherently risky. Most investors pass on most deals regardless of quality.

Understanding this reality helps founders avoid taking rejection personally and plan for the volume required.

Conversion Rates by Funnel Stage

Outreach to Meeting: 30–50%

Less than half your outreach will convert to meetings. Cold emails convert at 1–5%. Warm introductions convert at 20–40%. Targeting accuracy dramatically affects this number.

First Meeting to Second Meeting: 40–60%

After an initial pitch, roughly half of investors will want to continue the conversation. The rest will pass or go silent.

Second Meeting to Diligence: 30–50%

Investors who take multiple meetings are seriously evaluating. But many still drop off during deeper evaluation.

Diligence to Term Sheet: 20–40%

Even investors who conduct diligence often pass. Reference calls, market analysis, or internal debates can kill deals late in the process.

Term Sheet to Close: 80–95%

Once a term sheet is signed, deals usually close, but not always. Due diligence findings or market shifts can derail even signed terms.

For detailed funnel analysis and benchmarks, read our guide on how many VCs to pitch: a data-driven breakdown.

Conversion Rates by Stage

Pre-Seed: 5–15% meeting-to-check conversion Angels and micro-VCs make faster decisions with less diligence. Higher conversion rates, but typically smaller checks.

Seed: 5–10% meeting-to-check conversion Standard institutional evaluation. Multiple meetings, partner reviews, and moderate diligence.

Series A: 3–7% meeting-to-check conversion Highest bar. Extensive diligence, IC presentations, and reference calls. Many meetings, few term sheets.

Factors That Improve Conversion Rates

Strong traction. Obvious product-market fit compresses decision timelines and increases yes rates.

Warm introductions. Referrals from trusted sources convert 5–10x better than cold outreach.

Precise targeting. Pitching investors who match your stage, sector, and check size eliminates wasted conversations. SheetVenture's intelligence platform helps founders identify investors most likely to say yes.

Compelling narrative. Clear problem, differentiated solution, and strong founder-market fit accelerate decisions.

Competitive dynamics. Multiple interested investors create urgency and improve conversion rates across the board.

What These Numbers Mean for Your Raise

If you need 3 investors to close your round and your conversion rate is 5%, you need approximately:

• 60 meetings to generate 3 checks

• 120–150 outreach attempts to generate 60 meetings

Plan your fundraise accordingly. Build a pipeline 10–20x larger than your target number of investors. Most founders underestimate volume requirements and run out of leads before closing.

Use SheetVenture to build a qualified investor list filtered by stage, sector, and recent activity, so you maximize conversion by targeting investors who actually match.

The Bottom Line

Expect 95–99% of investors to say no. A 5% conversion rate from meeting to check is normal, even for strong startups. The founders who close aren't those who avoid rejection; they're those who generate enough volume to find the investors who say yes.

Rejection is the rule. Your job is to find the exceptions.

SheetVenture helps founders target active, relevant investors, improving conversion rates by ensuring every pitch reaches the right audience.