What tools are you using to track investor outreach?
I've seen more and more founders using Visible for tracking their investment outreach activities. I was curious what other tools people are using? A CRM? A spreadsheet? Some other dedicated tool?
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Sign InI've always ended up working in an Excel Spreadsheet when doing the process solo, and a Google Sheets when I was collaborating. I raised in 2016-2023, so I figured things have really shifted when it comes to platforms for CRM and raising VC specifically, but a recent survey (2025) of other deep tech founders showed most of them were also using these basic tools still. I'd now probably suggest AirTable which is a lot of extra functionality, or Notion if you're native on that platform.
Many of the CRM platforms are actually oriented to the VCs themselves, who use the platforms for their own deal flow. For that reason, the tools are built for their purposes more than the startups. A startup will only be managing 10-30 serious conversations at a time - a VC might need to parse 100s of deals in a given month. In deeptech, the investor pool is usually smaller, and manageable without any fancy tools.
IF you already have a CRM you use for your customer calls (eg: Hubspot) I'd integrate that into your investor process. But otherwise:
I'd still suggest a spreadsheet.
So, you think a spreadsheet can be just as effective as platforms built specifically for startup fundraising, like Visible. What seems nice about Visible is its ability to handle investor updates as well, which can help keep contacts warm for future rounds. I've seen lots of founders struggle with that regular update cadence.
Of course, I have also seen founders overshare using the updates features :)
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