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Via for founders

Every month you cannot reach them is a month of runway.

The introduction that would have opened the account already exists. You just cannot see it.

A founder uses Via to sell at the reach of their entire orbit rather than the part they happen to recall on a given day. Via reads the relationships you, your team, your investors, your advisors, and your customers already hold, then tells you which of them can open a specific account on your list and exactly what the connection is. You already knew an introduction was the fastest way in. What you did not have was a reliable way to know which introduction exists.

Request accessHow founders get warm intros
The problem

Founder-led selling runs on recall, which is why revenue stalls.

You can name the fifteen people you would call for anything, and you sell at the reach of that fifteen, even though the real orbit around your company runs into the thousands once you count your team, your board, your angels, and every customer who has ever been happy with you.

The investors and advisors are the sharpest version of the problem. They told you they would help and they meant it, but you ask twice a quarter because you do not know what to ask for, so the ask comes out as a request to keep us in mind, and it goes nowhere in a way nobody feels bad about. Meanwhile the quarter closes short and the board asks why.

Three plays

What you run with it.

Your own reach first, then the two channels most founders leave sitting idle.

Play 01  ·  Founder-led sales

You sell at the reach of your whole network, not just the part you can remember.

You already know an introduction is the fastest way into an account. What you do not have is a reliable way to know which introduction exists. Via looks across everyone you and your team are connected to and shows you where a real path runs into the company you are chasing, including the connections you would never have thought to check. Where the only route is a thin one you still get what the connection rests on, which is what makes a direct note read differently from a cold one.

How it runs
  1. Give Via the ten or fifty companies you actually want this quarter.
  2. Via returns the warmest route into each, ranked, with the person named.
  3. Work the top of that list yourself, because a founder ask carries weight nobody else on the team has.
  4. Re-run when you close a round or hire, since both reshape the orbit overnight.
Play 02  ·  Investors and advisors

The people who backed you become a channel instead of a slide.

Your investors and advisors told you they would help, and you probably ask them twice a quarter because you do not know what to ask for. Via shows you exactly which accounts on your list each of them can open, so the ask becomes specific, small, and easy to say yes to. Vague asks get vague answers, and named ones get introductions.

How it runs
  1. Add your investors and advisors to your orbit in Via. They do not need an account of their own.
  2. Via shows which target accounts each of them can credibly open.
  3. Send each person two or three named asks rather than one general one.
  4. Put the specific asks in the monthly update, where they get read and acted on.
Play 03  ·  Customer referrals

Your happiest customers point you at the next ten deals.

The customers who already love the product sit inside networks full of people with the same problem they had. Via finds which of them is connected to an account you are targeting, so a referral request turns into a specific and reasonable ask rather than a hopeful note. A peer vouching for you carries further than anything you could write about yourself.

How it runs
  1. Add your customer champions to your orbit, starting with the ones who have already renewed.
  2. Via shows which target accounts each champion can reach.
  3. Ask at the moment the relationship is strongest, right after a renewal or a win they are proud of.
  4. Close the loop with the champion afterwards, which is what earns you the second ask.
Where Via shows up

It fits the way you already work.

No new system to adopt in a week where you have four other priorities.

Claude or ChatGPT

Ask who can get me into this company inside the assistant you already use for everything else, and get a named path with the reasoning attached.

The monthly update

Replace the general ask with three named ones. Specific requests get acted on in the week they are read.

Before a fundraise

The same engine that finds routes to buyers finds routes to partners at the funds you are targeting.

Your first sales hires

What you built as a founder motion carries over, because the orbit is company-wide rather than tied to you personally.

What Via moves

The metrics the board asks about.

Nothing new to instrument. These are the numbers already on the update, and the warm slice is what moves them.

Pipeline createdThe one the board actually reads. Track how much of it started with an introduction rather than a cold send, because that share is what tells you the motion is repeatable.
Intro conversion rateAsks sent against intros granted. A high rate means the asks are landing. A low one usually means they are too broad rather than too frequent.
Sales cycle lengthAn introduction routed through someone the buyer trusts does not sit in a queue behind everything else. Deals that start warm tend to close faster, which is runway.
Win rateSplit it by how the deal started. If warm-sourced deals win at a materially different rate, you have found where founder hours should go.
Questions

Straight answers.

Do my investors and advisors need their own Via account?

No. You add them to your orbit and Via reads the routes that run through them. They are only involved at the point you send a specific ask, which is the same moment they would have been involved anyway.

I only have a few hundred connections. Is that enough?

Usually yes, because the orbit is not just you. It is your team, your investors, your advisors, and your customers together, and second-degree reach compounds quickly once those are in. Coverage on a target list is the honest test, and you will see it on your own accounts within the first session.

What if the only path is a weak one?

You still get the context, and as a founder that is often all you needed. Via shows what the connection actually rests on rather than reducing it to a score you cannot act on. A thin path may not be worth spending an investor's goodwill on, and it will still hand you the shared employer, the overlapping years, or the mutual name that makes a direct note read like it was written for that person.

Strong or thin, you go in armed. The only company you should ever approach blind is one where we found nothing at all, and we will say so.

What do I actually send my advisor?

A short note naming the person and the company, one line on why you are worth introducing, and a forwardable paragraph they can pass on without editing. Via drafts this so the advisor's job is a single forward.

How is this different from putting an ask in the investor update?

The update asks everyone for anything, which is why it rarely converts. Via lets you ask each supporter for the two or three specific accounts they can actually open, which is a much easier thing to say yes to.

Does Via work for fundraising as well as sales?

Yes. Finding the warmest route to a partner at a target fund is a similar problem to finding the route to a buyer, and founders tend to run both from the same orbit.

Also built for

Other people who run this.

Sales leaderOwns the number the team carries AgencyRuns GTM for other companies AE, SDR or BDRProspects into target accounts
Keep reading
How founders get warm intros8 ways to get warm introsCustomer referrals vs warm pathsWhat is a connectorExtended networkVia vs Boardy

The way in is already there.

Via reads the relationships you, your team, your customers, your advisors, and your investors already have, then shows you who can open the account you are chasing and why they can.

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