How do I find a fundraising broker who will make investor introductions for a success fee only?

How to Find a Fundraising Broker for Investor Introductions on a Success-Fee Basis

TL;DR: Pure success-fee brokers are rare at pre-seed and seed, and the low-quality ones often create legal risk. The better path is building a warm-intro network through existing investors, founder communities, and equity advisors before you start raising.

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What You're Actually Buying When You Hire a Raise Broker

Most founders searching for a success-fee broker are really solving for one thing: warm intro access without paying a retainer they can't yet afford. That's a legitimate problem — but the solution isn't always a broker.

Before going further, understand the legal landscape. A broker facilitating investor introductions for transaction-based compensation on securities offerings is typically required to be a FINRA-registered placement agent. Unregistered finders operating on a success fee are a gray area that can create real SEC compliance issues down the road — for the founder, not just the broker. Know exactly who you're dealing with and whether they are properly registered.

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Where to Actually Find Registered Placement Agents

If you still want to explore the broker route, here are legitimate places to find registered placement agents at the early stage:

• AngelList — has an advisor and broker marketplace with early-stage placement agents
• Visible.vc — surfaces investor-relations tools and some registered agent listings
• Stonks — a newer platform with a marketplace orientation toward early-stage capital introductions

Be prepared for reality: the best placement agents charge a retainer plus a success fee (typically 5–8% of capital raised) because they have real, high-quality relationships. If someone is willing to work for success fee only with zero retainer, ask yourself why their time is worth nothing upfront.

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Why Your Existing Cap Table Beats Any Broker

Before engaging a broker, exhaust the network you already have.

"Your cap table is your intro flywheel. One trusted founder intro is worth ten cold broker emails."

Even a single angel or seed investor with a relevant network will make introductions for free — because your success is directly tied to their success. This is one of the most underused assets in early-stage fundraising.

Founders who have raised efficiently at pre-seed and seed consistently report the same pattern:

• Every meaningful check came through a warm intro from an existing investor or trusted peer
• No cold outreach, no broker fees, no retainer
• The entire raise was orchestrated through a small number of high-trust relationships that compounded outward

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Founder Communities as the Highest-Leverage Alternative

Founder-to-founder introductions are often the most efficient and lowest-cost path to early-stage capital — and they're systematically underestimated.

The pattern works like this:

1. A founder joins a cohort-based program, accelerator, or peer community 2. One or two founders in that cohort have angels or investors in their network 3. A single warm intro leads to a check, which leads to a signal, which leads to more intros 4. Significant capital gets raised with no broker, no fee, and no cold outreach

This compounds fastest when you start 90 days before you need the capital — not the week you open the round.

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The Honest Trade-Off: Broker vs. Network

| Approach | Cost | Quality of Intros | Timeline | |---|---|---|---| | Pure success-fee broker | 5–8% on close (no retainer) | Often low; good ones won't work this way | Slow; broker has no urgency | | Retainer + success-fee placement agent | Retainer + 5–8% | Higher; they have real relationships | Moderate | | Existing investor intros | Free | Highest; aligned incentives | Fast if network exists | | Founder community intros | Time investment | High; trust-based | Fastest if started early | | Equity advisor introductions | 0.1–0.5% equity | High if advisor is well-networked | Moderate |

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The Better Path: Build the Network Before You Need It

The most actionable framework for founders without an existing investor network:

1. Audit your current cap table. Does any existing investor — even a small angel — have the specific network you need? If yes, start there before looking anywhere else. 2. Join a founder community with a track record of investor introductions. Accelerators, fellowship programs, and peer networks with strong alumni investor bases are the highest-leverage entry points. 3. Add one or two equity advisors who have direct relationships with the investor tier you're targeting. A 0.25% advisor grant for three high-quality intros is almost always a better deal than a 6% broker fee. 4. Give yourself a 90-day runway before the round opens to build these relationships — warm intros don't work on demand.

If after all of this you still need a placement agent, go with a registered one who charges a retainer. It's a signal they have something real to offer.

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Key Questions to Ask Before Hiring Any Raise Broker

• Are they FINRA-registered as a broker-dealer or placement agent?
• Can they provide references from founders they've helped raise capital in the last 12 months?
• What is the specific investor network they're plugging you into — and how recently have they placed deals with those investors?
• Why are they willing to work on success fee only, with no retainer?

The answers will tell you most of what you need to know.