European Founders Fundraising in the USA
November 25, 2025
Today, we’re talking about European startups pursuing US investors for their seed round. I meet a lot of startups doing this and I can completely understand why it’s an attractive strategy.n
Today, we’re talking about taking intros from investors who passed. I know this is really tempting but it’s just not worth it.
In most cases, if an investor just said “no” that’s the last person you want as your referral to another investor. Their pass is a strong negative signal. It’s kind of like smelling a plate of food and saying “this stinks — why don’t you eat it?”.
If you really can’t find a warm intro to a potential investor, a personalized, well-crafted, cold email is always better than an intro from someone who passed.
There are some exceptions to this rule:
People that don’t invest, like other entrepreneurs, are a great route for an introduction.
Also, if an investor is from a different stage like you’re a pre-seed company and they invest at Series A, well then it’s ok to take an intro to a pre-seed investor from the Series A investor that passed because you’re too early.
