How Synapse Network built a list of 326 venture managing partners
An invitation only network for fund managers, LPs, lenders and family offices, where every introduction is matched to what each member needs and holds.
What wasn’t working
Synapse Network only works if the right people are in it. Members are verified and every introduction is matched to what they need and what they hold, so a list full of associates, scouts and advisers is worse than no list at all. The team needed the people who run venture funds, and a search for anyone with venture in their headline returns everyone else first.
What they changed
The team gave Saava one narrow description: Managing Partners at venture capital firms of 11 to 50 people in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Saava keeps finding people who match it and scores each one against the description before it lands, so the list fills with the partners who run funds rather than the people who work around them.
How it played out
A network is only as good as who is in it
Synapse Network is a private network for the people who move capital: fund managers, LPs, lenders and family offices. Every member is verified, and introductions are matched to stated needs and assets, never taken as a percentage of a deal. That puts all the weight on who gets invited.
One title, one kind of firm
Rather than a broad investor list, the team asked for one title at one kind of firm: managing partners, at venture firms of 11 to 50 people, in the US, the UK and Canada. A wider search brings in the people around the decision along with the person making it.
What the list looks like
Since July, Saava has found 343 people for Synapse. 326 of them hold the Managing Partner title, across 288 firms, and each one arrived scored against the description, so the team reads the strongest fits first.
“I honestly used to hate having to do outbound, marketing campaigns always felt like I was shouting into a void and hoping for a response. Saava's been able to take care of all of this for me. I've been using the Track Profiles feature to see when my audience is engaging with relevant content. Doesn't feel like I am wasting time anymore.”
The steps, if you want to try this
- 01Decide who belongs in the room before you look for anyone. For Synapse that was one title at one kind of firm.
- 02Put it in the targeting exactly: Managing Partner, venture capital, firms of 11 to 50 people, and the countries you cover.
- 03Let every match be scored against that description before it reaches the list, and read the strongest fits first.
- 04Let the list keep growing in the background instead of buying one big file that is out of date by the time you use it.
