A few months ago, I was helping a founder prep for his Series A. I was really excited about the company’s platform technology, which was already showing real traction with early users.

Then I asked to see the investor list.

“Give me a sec,” he said. “It’s in a few different places".”

A few different places turned out to be seven different spreadsheets.

One was a "Top 50 Biotech VCs" list he'd pulled from a LinkedIn post in 2022.

Another was a CSV export from a database trial that expired eighteen months ago.

There was an Excel file labeled "Investors_FINAL_v3_JPM_final" that his former BD lead had started before leaving.

A Google Sheet with 200 names and no context - his intern's summer project from two years back.

And three more fragments: conference badge scans, a purchased list from some "biotech investor database," and random names he'd collected in the Notes app on his phone.

Seven spreadsheets. Maybe 600-700 names total. Zero usable intelligence.

He'd spent two years collecting investors. But he'd never built a system for tracking them. Every few months, he'd start fresh - new spreadsheet, new energy, but the same result.

The old lists would drift into the graveyard, half-finished and abandoned.

Here’s the thing: As founders, we start with big, audacious goals - and an abundance of energy.

We see the future so clearly. How could it NOT work? And why should this be any different with raising capital?

But, to quote James Clear: "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems."

The founder’s goal was to raise $15M. But his system was a google drive folder full of zombie spreadsheets.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: most founders I work with have some version of this graveyard.

Maybe it's not seven spreadsheets. Maybe it's three. Maybe it's one massive file with 500 rows and no way to tell who's active, who's relevant, or who you've already contacted.

The sourcing work you've done over these six weeks is valuable. But without a system to maintain it, qualify it, and act on it - it'll end up in the graveyard too.

Today, we fix that.

Over the past five weeks, you've learned where to find investors. But sourcing is only half the equation. The other half? Turning names into intelligence.

The challenge is that most founders treat investor research like a Google search. Type in a name, skim the website, maybe check LinkedIn. That's not research, that's trial and error.

Professional fundraisers use systems. They know which investors are actively deploying, which partners to target, what portfolio companies signal about thesis fit, and when a fund is too early or too late in its cycle to lead their round.

This week, I'm giving you that system.

We'll cover the tools landscape (what exists and what it costs), the final SIFT process (turning your 300+ names into a tiered hit list), and the CRM setup that keeps you from starting over every time you raise.

Let's be honest: the paid databases are expensive. Here's what's out there and when each makes sense.

The Enterprise Tier: $5k-$20k/year

PitchBook - Usually the first go-to for VC/PE data. Comprehensive fund profiles, portfolio companies, deal history, partner-level data. Pricing varies by company size and number of seats but typically is in the $8k-20k/year range for a single user. Worth it if you're a serial fundraiser or running BD for multiple companies. For most first-time founders? Overkill.

DealForma - Biotech-specific, great for partnership and M&A deal comps, licensing terms, funding benchmarks. Individual subscriptions start at $18k/year. Excellent for BD and partnership strategy, less essential for pure equity fundraising, especially at pre-seed/seed.

BioCentury / Evaluate - Industry intelligence and analysis. Great for market context and competitive landscape. Enterprise pricing (typically $5k-$10k+). Better suited for later-stage companies or investors.

The verdict: Unless you're raising multiple rounds or advising several companies, these are hard to justify.

The Accessible Tier: $50-$200/month

Crunchbase Pro - $49-99/month or ~$600/year. Best for early-stage investor research. Good filtering, decent VC data, portfolio company tracking. The sweet spot for most biotech founders. You can start here.

Life Science Nation (LSN) - Biotech-focused investor database. Tiered pricing, but more accessible than enterprise tools. Strong for family office and early-stage investor sourcing.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator - $79-99/month. Underrated for investor research. Advanced search, InMail credits, real-time updates. Pairs well with your sourcing work from Weeks 2-5.

The verdict: For most pre-seed to Series A founders, Crunchbase Pro + LinkedIn Sales Navigator covers 80% of what you need.

The Free Tier (what you can do today)

Don't underestimate free resources:

The verdict: You can build a professional-grade pipeline with free tools if you're systematic.

The ROI Framework: When to pay

Ask yourself three questions:

For most first-time founders: Start free. Add Crunchbase Pro when you're actively in fundraising mode. Graduate to enterprise tools only when the math makes sense.

You've spent five weeks building your investor universe. Now it's time to compress it.

Here's where most founders go wrong: they treat all investors equally. Same outreach, same pitch, same follow-up. That's a recipe for exhausted effort and mediocre results.

The tiering framework

Your final list should have three tiers:

Tier 1: Your "Dream 20" (15-20 investors)

Tier 2: Your "Strong 50" (40-60 investors)

Tier 3: Your "Long Shots" (50-100 investors)

The qualification scorecard

For each investor in your tracker, score them on five dimensions (1-5 scale):

Scoring:

You've sourced. You've qualified. Now you need a system to act.

The simple CRM setup

You don't need Salesforce. You need a single source of truth. Your tracker should include:

Core fields:

Intelligence fields:

The weekly ritual

Starting in January, block 2 hours every Monday:

This rhythm prevents the chaos. No more "wait, did I already email them?" No more lost follow-ups. No more starting from scratch.

The 100-meeting math

Remember: you need 100+ investor meetings to close a round. If 25% of outreach converts to meetings (which is optimistic), you need to contact at least 400 investors.

Your tiered approach means:

That's 35-50 meetings from your current list. You'll need to expand and iterate - but now you have a system & a repeatable approach.

This week is about consolidation and preparation. By next Sunday, you'll have a single, tiered, January-ready investor pipeline.

Start by mapping the established VC landscape for your specific sector and stage.

Estimated time: 3-4 hours

Estimated time: 4-5 hours

Estimated time: 3-4 hours

Estimated time: 1-2 hours

By Sunday night, you should have:

✓ A single master tracker with 150-250 qualified investors

✓ Every investor scored and tiered (Tier 1 / Tier 2 / Tier 3)

✓ Your "Dream 20" identified with warm intro paths mapped

✓ A CRM system ready for January outreach

✓ A calendar reminder to start activating your list

I've built you a complete Google Sheet that consolidates everything from this intensive into a single, ready-to-use toolkit. No more scattered spreadsheets. No more starting from scratch.

What's Inside:

Note: the tracker has been pre-populated with values for illustration purposes; please edit as needed.

[Access the Fundraising Tracker & CRM]

One mega-prompt to rule them all. Use this with ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity to research any investor on your list. Paste in an investor's name and firm, and get back:

[Grab your AI Research Mega-Prompt Here]

… and here’s what’s next!

Six weeks ago, you started with a vague goal: "find more investors."

Today, you have a system.

You've sourced angels, family offices, micro-VCs, and established funds. You've learned where to find them, how to qualify them, and why fund timing matters more than brand names. You've built a tracker, scored your targets, and tiered your list into Dream 20, Strong 50, and Long Shots.

If you’ve done all this work, your fundraising is no longer a vague aspiration. It’s a pipeline.

But a pipeline without action is just a list.

Which brings us to January.

Coming next week: Activating your investor pipeline

You've built the list. Now it's time to use it - and the timing couldn't be better.

JPM Healthcare Conference kicks off January 13th. For one week, the entire biotech investor ecosystem is concentrated in San Francisco, energized, and actively looking for deals. Even if you're not attending (many founders aren't), this is the highest-signal week of the year to activate your outreach.

Next week, I'll share:

You did the hard work. Now let's make it count.

To be honest, building this community started as a thought experiment, and a bit of a “what if”.

After all, we live in such a noisy world, and I honestly had no idea if anyone would actually want to read about biotech fundraising every Sunday evening :)

But in just 2-3 months, Bio Founder GPS has grown beyond my biggest aspirations. The conversations, the feedback, the potential collaborations that could bear fruit next year - I’m truly excited, and grateful.

So, if there's one message that I'd like to leave you with as we close out the year, it's this: you are bound for greatness.

Over the past three months, I've been fortunate to speak with many of you who joined this community. And I have to say - there was never a single call that didn't leave me energized. Never a conversation where I thought, "eh, the science is a bit second-rate" or "this company doesn't have real potential."

On the contrary. Every call left me more excited than the last. More convinced that what you're building matters.

So, while I recognize how tough the past few years have been, and how much uncertainty still lingers, I can't help but feel that your success is inevitable.

And if there's a small part I can play in supporting that, well, there’s not much more that I can ask for :)

Wishing you a restful holiday and a happy New Year.

And if you're attending JPM - let me know! I'll be there and would love to connect in person.

See you next Sunday (and next year)!

To your success,

- Vadim

Now that we've wrapped the Investor Sourcing Intensive, I'd love your feedback!

Was this series helpful? What worked well, what didn't? Is there anything you'd like me to explore further - corporate VCs, international investors, something else entirely?

A few readers have already reached out asking if I could put all the materials and walkthroughs in one place. Would that be useful to you?

Just hit reply and let me know in a few words. I'd love to support you as we head into the new year!

PPS: If you have someone on your team helping with fundraising or know another founder who could benefit from being in this community - I’d love to include them. They can join us here: [Join the Community]