What we’ve learned from our first 300+ users at InvestLink Social

It’s been about a week since we hit the front page of Indie Hackers with our story — thank you again to everyone who read, commented, and messaged. That post brought in new users, real feedback, and honest conversations.

We’re now at just under 400 users — and I wanted to share a few things we’ve learned since launching:

🔍 1. Founders want funding — but don’t know how to approach it

We’ve talked with dozens of early-stage founders. Most are either:

• Pitching to investors who aren’t a fit

• Unsure how to position their raise

• Or completely overwhelmed with the process

Education matters. Positioning matters more.

🤝 2. Investors hate irrelevant pitches

Even angel investors who love supporting early-stage teams say they’re constantly hit with:

• Cold DMs / no relationship building

• Decks that don’t fit their thesis

• Or no thesis match at all

They want filters. They want context. They want clean signals.

🌱 3. Users join for features — but stay for community

Some people signed up because of Smart Match filters or investor access, but the real retention driver? Conversations.

We saw a spike in engagement when we:

• Featured warm intros

• Highlighted specific investor deals

• Encouraged posts within our internal feed

💡 Where we’re heading next:

We’re now improving:

• Onboarding clarity

• Founder → investor matchmaking UX

• Community tools to reduce friction and increase trust

And we’re proudly climbing to $200 MRR.

If you’re building a marketplace, a community, or a network product — I’d love to hear what worked (or failed) for you in the early days.

Or if you’re a founder figuring out how to fundraise… we’ve got space for you, too.

👉 www.investlinksocial.com
AMA below 👇