This week on Fundraising Demystified, I sat down with David Connors, founder of The Swarm, a Go-To-Network platform transforming how founders and investors connect- think LinkedIn but for companies.
David shares how he used The Swarm to raise capital for his own startup, how the product helps other founders close rounds, and what he learned from working at Sequoia.
Raising capital?
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Here’s what you’re in for:
00:42 - Who is David Connors and what is The Swarm?02:08 - How working at Sequoia birthed The Swarm
05:32 - Raising The Swarm’s $2M pre-seed round solo (and why it was capped)
11:37 - Raising a $4M seed and scaling a building a winning team
14:31 - How to find investors and pick the right ones for follow-on funding
18:52 - Getting warm intros for investor outreach in minutes
22:28 - The best kind of warm intros ranked
25:43 - Why Swarm raised an extension round
29:10 - The shift from SaaS to data, 10xing revenue and getting Hubspot Ventures to invest
32:40 - Vibe coding and AI tools that support The Swarm’s scale
35:02 - Top tips for personal branding that boosted growth
Check out the pre-seed investment memo for The Swarm here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wzo0PxFCyNgaD627-e2q2wefV0LUk4DJjnEr3R4b07k/edit?tab=t.0
ABOUT DAVID CONNORS
David Connors is the founder of The Swarm, a Go-to Network platform that helps startups access warm intros to capital, talent, and strategic partners. A second-time founder with deep experience in startup M&A, David previously built a company acquired by Levels, a Sequoia-backed health tech firm. With a background in enterprise sales and operations, he built The Swarm to solve one of the hardest problems founders face: getting in front of the right people without wasting time on cold outreach.
Connect with David via:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connorsdavidWebsite: http://theswarm.com/
ABOUT JASON
Jason Kirby is the co-founder of Thunder VC. He is a serial entrepreneur with 4 multi-million exits and decades of experience in fundraising and business building. He has coached hundreds of entrepreneurs in his career on fundraising, investing, capital strategy, and business development.
You can reach out to Jason through:
Email: jason@thunder.vc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonrkirby/
ABOUT FUNDRAISING DEMYSTIFIED
Our goal is simple: to equip you with the knowledge, inspiration, and guidance to navigate the labyrinthine world of fundraising. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur seeking seed funding or an established founder looking to scale your business, this podcast will provide you with the tools you need to conquer the fundraising landscape.
Thanks for tuning in! We appreciate your support and are excited to continue bringing you more inspiring stories from successful founders.
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