First-time, but not unknown — a couple of recognizable corporate names on the resume. Early traction, nothing explosive yet.

→🤝 150 people/investors reached out

→📞 46 intro calls booked

→🔁 10 second/third-round conversations

→💰 2 offers → $250K secured

→ Accelerator networks converted well — warm intros from program affiliations consistently outperformed cold outreach.

→ 50% application-to-intro-call conversion — a strong signal that their pitch and positioning were resonating once in front of the right people.

→ Having a real customer — even one paying customer went a long way toward de-risking the story for investors.

→Spoke with 30 other founders -> only 3 of them were introduced to their investors, which he had a first-round call.

The funnel is real, and it's steep — 150 touches to 2 offers. But the conversion rates at each stage tell the story: warm channels and proof of demand (even minimal) make all the difference between a maybe and a check.