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Investor Target List Template

Three documents and three sheets, including the register that dates every fund's last cheque at the size you are raising.

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What you get

Pack of 6 files: 3 documents, 3 spreadsheets

Investor Target List Template
  • Dating a Fund's Last ChequeDocument
  • Outreach AnglesDocument
  • Warm Intro RequestsDocument
  • Investor RegisterSpreadsheet
  • Intro Path MapSpreadsheet
  • Pipeline TrackerSpreadsheet

Every fund's site states which stages it invests at, in the present tense, and the sentence carries no date. So there is nothing to check. What is dated is the filing: an issuer selling under Regulation D must file a notice of sales no later than 15 calendar days after the first sale. Nearly every priced round leaves a dated public record with an amount attached, filed by the company rather than by the fund. That is a different kind of evidence.

Halyard Freight is an invented company selling dispatch software to freight brokers, raising two and a half million at seed off the records already assembled for its startup data room checklist. Its starting list ran to 118 names. Thirty-one came off for a stale stage claim, twenty-two for dormancy, nine for a portfolio conflict, leaving 56 with a dated cheque at the right size. Those 31 funds had 89 dated investments between them across eighteen months, and 4 were at seed.

The second half is the paths, and the useful question is not whether you know somebody at a given fund. It is which conversations produce the most introductions, which means the map is keyed by connector rather than by target. Of the 56 qualified funds, 34 had a warm path through 19 connectors, and the top four reached 21 of them between them. Four conversations. The map also records whether a connector has ever actually made an introduction.

One bought list of 118 names, dated down to 56

The register with a date per fund, the path map keyed by connector, and the tracker that treats an undated row as closed.

Investor Target List Template
RiverInvestor Register

Investor Register

Halyard Freight, Inc. Seed raise of 2,500,000. The stage column is what the fund says about itself. The date column is what its portfolio companies filed.

FundStage claimed on siteLast cheque at our sizeCompanyAmountVerdictReason
Foreshore CapitalPre-seed to Series A2025-04Northwind Logistics2,200,000Qualified
Sable Point CapitalPre-seed to seed2025-08Dockline Systems1,500,000Qualified
Ardenmoor GrowthSeed to growth2022-11Slipway Freight2,100,000RemovedStale stage
Cavendish ReachSeed and beyond2023-03Gantryline1,900,000RemovedStale stage
Silverbeck CapitalPre-seed to seed2024-03Manifestly1,400,000RemovedDormant
Eastgate VenturesSeed2025-05Dispatchly2,500,000RemovedConflict
FunnelCountWhat the filter asked
Starting list, three sources118Database export of 74 plus two shared lists, net of overlap
Removed: stale stage31Last three dated cheques all outside our raise size
Removed: dormant22Nothing filed at any stage in a trailing 14 months
Removed: conflict9Direct competitor in portfolio, named per row
Qualified56118 less 31 less 22 less 9

The 31 funds removed for a stale stage claim had 89 dated investments between them across the trailing eighteen months. Four were at seed, which is 4.5 percent. Every one of their sites said seed. None of the 62 removed rows was deleted: each keeps its reason, because in six months one of them will arrive through an introduction.

RiverIntro Path Map

Intro Path Map

Keyed by connector, not by target. Sorting the other way answers a question with no leverage in it.

ConnectorRelation to usQualified funds reachedEver made an introductionAsk order
Aisling FarrellFormer manager, two years7Yes, four1
Marcus EbrightAngel in our pre-seed6Yes, two2
Zainab QureshiCustomer, ops lead at Northwind6No, would be her first3
Ollie FerndaleFounder of a company we sell to5Yes, six4
Fifteen tail connectorsOne or two funds each16 pathsMixed5+
Reach of the top fourCount
Raw total, 7 + 6 + 6 + 524
Funds reachable through more than one of them3
Distinct funds reached in four conversations21
Qualified funds with any warm path34
Qualified funds with no path found22

Zainab has the strongest single tie on the sheet, because Foreshore led her employer's seed, and she is asked third. She has never introduced anyone to anyone, and habit beats tie strength here more often than founders expect. Foreshore, Nethergate and Bramblewick are each reachable through two of the top four, so each gets one designated route and one fallback: two connectors introducing the same founder to the same partner in one week is a real embarrassment for both of them.

RiverPipeline Tracker

Pipeline Tracker

Twenty-one open rows. A row without a dated next action and a named owner is treated as closed, because that is what it is.

FundRouteStageDays since movementNext actionDate
Foreshore CapitalAislingSecond meeting3Send the cohort file they asked for2025-09-23
Ashgrove VenturesMarcusPartner meeting booked4Attend Tuesday, prep the churn question2025-09-24
Kettleridge PartnersAislingFirst meeting done6Chase, no reply to the follow-up2025-09-23
Nethergate CapitalAislingIntro sent11Chase Aisling once, then go cold2025-09-24
Marlstone VenturesZainabQueued6Hold until a lead is committed2025-10-06
Ravensworth CapitalColdSent3One follow-up, then close the row2025-09-29
Discipline checkValue
Open rows21
Rows with a next action and a date21
Rows with no owner0
Asks routed through the top four connectors19
Cold rows2
Longest gap since movement, in days11

Nineteen of the twenty-one asks route through four people, so they go out as four messages rather than nineteen. Two rows are blocked on a lead committing rather than on us, and their next action dates say 6 October instead of next week, which is the difference between a tracker and a to-do list.

Edit with AI

What's in the pack

01

Investor Register

One row per fund with the stage the fund claims beside the date of its most recent cheque at your raise size, the company that cheque went into, and the amount. A fund that cannot be dated reads unverified and stays out of the outreach queue.

02

Intro Path Map

Keyed by connector rather than by target, with a column for whether that person has ever actually made an introduction. That is the field normally left blank, and it reorders the asks.

03

Pipeline Tracker

A dated next action and a named owner on every open row, with days since last movement rather than stage as the headline column. Stage flatters a pipeline and elapsed silence does not.

04

Dating a Fund's Last Cheque

The method: why a portfolio page is a list of leads rather than an answer, why the offering amount is a better stage proxy than any label, and why an absent filing is a blank rather than a no.

05

Outreach Angles

Four sources of angle ranked by strength, the three openings to delete on sight, and the four things every message carries including an ask answerable in four words.

06

Warm Intro Requests

The two-block request that hands the connector a forwardable paragraph already written, plus the explicit exit that stops a reluctant connector going quiet on you.

How to use it

  1. 1

    Open in River, or download it

    Take the blank Word and CSV files with no account, or install the pack in River and have the agent date your own list against your own raise size.

  2. 2

    Date the register before anything else

    Every later step depends on it. Where a date cannot be found, the row says unverified rather than guessing, and it does not get contacted.

  3. 3

    Run the three filters in order

    Stale stage, then dormant, then conflict. Each removed row keeps its reason, because dormant may reverse next quarter and wrong stage will not.

  4. 4

    Then export your own network

    Contacts, advisors, existing investors, and the founders you know well enough to ask a favour of. This is the input people skip and the map needs it.

Frequently asked questions

Is this template free?

Yes. Three documents and three sheets download as Word and CSV files with no signup and no credit card. Edit with AI is the optional path where the agent dates your own list and builds the map from your own network. The rest of the library is at the template index.

What format are the downloaded files?

Word documents (.docx) for the method note, the outreach angles and the intro request patterns, and CSV (.csv) for the Investor Register, Intro Path Map and Pipeline Tracker. They open in Word, Pages, Google Docs, Excel, Numbers and Sheets with no conversion step.

Why not just buy a list?

You can, and this pack takes one as input. The problem is that the stage column on a bought list is the fund's own self-description refreshed on the vendor's cadence, not a dated fact. In the worked example that column was wrong for 31 of 118 names.

Where does the date on each fund come from?

A public notice of sales filed by the portfolio company, not by the fund. Rule 503 sets the deadline at 15 calendar days after the first sale in the offering, and the notice carries a date and a total offering amount, which is a better stage proxy than any label.

Can I email a large list of investors directly?

Ask counsel before you do. Rule 502(c) bars an issuer relying on the relevant exemptions from offering securities by any form of general solicitation or general advertising, outside two carve-outs. Which exemption your round uses decides what is available to you.

What if a qualified fund has no warm path at all?

Twenty-two of the 56 did not, in the worked example. The pack leaves those rows empty rather than inventing a weak path, and the cold version leads with the hardest number available instead of a thesis restatement. An unreachable count is a real finding.

What should I have ready before starting?

The raise amount, a paragraph on the company, and your network export. A reconciled cap table and a pitch narrative whose numbers trace to a source make the meetings that follow far shorter, and the term sheet explainer handles what arrives afterwards.

Sources

  1. eCFR17 CFR 230.503 — Filing of notice of sales (opens in a new tab)
  2. eCFR17 CFR 230.502 (opens in a new tab)

Written by

Chandler Supple

Co-founder & CEO, River

Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.

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Reviewed by

Brian Joseff, Co-founder, River

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Find out how many names on your list have a date

Download the blank pack as Word and CSV files, or open it in River and send the list you already have. It dates each fund's last cheque at your size.

Edit with AI