1. “Nothing kills startups like distractions…
Paradoxically, fundraising is this type of
distraction, so try to minimize that.”
- Paul Graham,Y Combinator
FuelYour Startup Cindy Chen
2. Algorithm: Binary Link Prediction Data Source: CrunchBase
Network Pairs
100,000+
Companies
3000+
Funding Rounds
8000+
Investors
1000+
3. Algorithm: Binary Link Prediction Data Source: CrunchBase
Network Pairs
100,000+
Companies
3000+
Funding Rounds
8000+
Investors
1000+
Each
Company
Each
Funding
Round
Invested Investors
Positive Sample
Negative Sample:
Down Sample 10 X #of Positive Sample
Cut Time Extract features before the time of the funding round
X X
Random
Forest
Classifier
4. Network of Companies, Investors, and People
The Startup
Founder
Advisor
Employee
Competitor
Investor
5. Network of Companies, Investors, and People
The Startup
Founder
Advisor
Employee
Competitor
Investor
Company X CompanyY
Investor A
Investor B
Investor C
Co-work
Co-invest
Co-invest
Invested your
competitor
6. Location, Categories, and Funding Round
The Startup
Founder
Advisor
Employee
Competitor
Investor
Company X CompanyY
Investor A
Investor B
Investor C
Co-work
Co-invest
Co-invest
Invested your
competitor
Location Funding RoundCategories/Market
7. Leave-One-Company-Out CrossValidation
How many total investors I need to meet until all investors
who will actually invest are met?
Cindy Chen
Popular investors
invested in the
location and
categories
Baseline
Focus on Recall
MedianRecall
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
Number of Top Investors Chosen
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Baseline Random Forest
8. Leave-One-Company-Out CrossValidation
How many total investors I need to meet until all investors
who will actually invest are met?
Cindy Chen
Popular investors
invested in the
location and
categories
Baseline
Focus on Recall
MedianRecall
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
Number of Top Investors Chosen
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Baseline Random Forest
11. Algorithm Cindy Chen
Features are not correlated
1. Within 1st degree: Invested previous
round
2. # of paths within 2nd and 3rd degree
(co-invest and co-work)
3. Within 1st degree: other
4. Invested competitors
5. Funding round match
6. Categories similarity with investors’
portfolio companies
7. Location similarity with investors’
portfolio companies