Deal sourcing in venture capital works in the opposite direction from buyout. A buyout fund can approach an owner who was not selling; a venture fund mostly cannot manufacture a company that is not raising. Competitive rounds close in days among investors the founder already knew of, so the work is being one of those investors rather than searching harder. This page sets out what earns that and how to tell whether it worked.
Co-investors send more than founders do
Other investors see more companies than any single fund and need to fill syndicates with people they know. That makes the co-investor graph a sourcing asset rather than a curiosity, and it is the record most tools have nowhere to keep, which is why most funds cannot say which relationships actually produce.
Published work earns inbound and lags badly
Writing that founders in a sector find useful produces opportunities for years and nothing at all for the first eighteen months. The test is whether somebody running one of these companies would forward it to a peer, not whether other investors admired it, which is the default failure because that is the audience the author knows.
Speed is itself a sourcing channel
A fund known for giving a real answer in a week gets sent more, because founders and introducers route around slowness. That makes time to decision a sourcing metric rather than an internal efficiency one, which is not how most funds treat it.
The number that says it worked
The share of opportunities that arrived without you asking, tracked over time. It is one field at entry and it is the only honest measure of findability. A fund whose inbound share is flat after two years of publishing has learned something worth knowing early rather than late.
Questions people ask about deal sourcing venture capital
Why is venture sourcing inverted?
A fund cannot manufacture a company that is not raising, so the work is being thought of when a round starts rather than searching.
Who sends the most opportunities?
Other investors, because they see more and need to fill syndicates with people they know.
Is speed really a sourcing channel?
Yes. Founders and introducers route around slowness, so time to decision is a sourcing metric rather than an internal one.