RagMetrics was raising a $2M SAFE for their AI trust layer. The product worked, the market was hot, and the founders were credible. What they didn't have was a way to consistently land in front of partners at the top funds. We ran one focused, signal-led campaign and put their deck on five tier-one desks.
Most outbound for fundraising fails for the same reason: it's volume-led, not signal-led. Founders blast a generic deck to a thousand investors hoping one bites. The funds that matter -- the ones that lead rounds and bring real follow-on capital -- see right through it.
RagMetrics needed the opposite. Lower volume, sharper targeting, and messaging that read like it was written by someone who actually understood the AI infrastructure space. Like most early-stage founders, the team had already burned through the standard fundraising playbook with limited returns -- warm intros from their angel network produced a handful of conversations but ran out fast, and a previous outbound attempt with stock templates produced opens but no real engagement.
“We needed real conversations with real funds, not vanity metrics. ClayStan delivered exactly that.”Founding team · RagMetrics
We were brought in to run a single, focused investor outreach campaign. The target was clear: tier-one and tier-two AI-focused VCs in the United States who write checks at the seed and Series A stage in AI infrastructure, developer tools, and AI safety.
The reply rate looks modest on paper. The quality of the replies is what matters. When five partners at brand-name VCs ask you to send the deck in a single campaign, that is not a numbers game. That is signal that the targeting and messaging are working.
Subject-line research, framing, and body structure -- broken down on LinkedIn.
Read the data-backed guide to fundraisingIf you're a founder building in AI infrastructure, developer tools, or AI safety -- we can replicate this for your campaign.
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