Poach

About Poach

Poach is the ultimate dealflow intelligence platform that gives investors a massive head start in the race to find the next big thing! It's designed specifically for venture capitalists, angel investors, and anyone serious about getting into deals early. The core mission is simple yet revolutionary: identify promising founders before they officially begin their fundraising process. Poach achieves this by intelligently tracking the social media activity of top-tier VCs. When a VC follows someone new on Twitter (often a signal of early interest), Poach captures that signal, enriches it with deep data, and delivers it directly to you. This creates a powerful, high-quality lead that sits perfectly between a warm introduction and a cold inbound email—it's a proactive signal of latent potential. By providing daily, enriched data on who influential investors are watching, Poach empowers your firm to expand and qualify its dealflow systematically, ensuring you never miss a ground-floor opportunity again!

Features of Poach

VC Social Tracking

Poach's engine starts by continuously monitoring the Twitter follows of hundreds of top-tier venture capitalists. This is where the first signal is born! We recognize that a VC following a founder is often a quiet, early indicator of interest long before any term sheet is signed. This feature automates the surveillance of this critical social signal, transforming passive online behavior into actionable, competitive intelligence for your investment team.

LinkedIn Enrichment & Identity Resolution

Raw Twitter handles aren't enough! Poach uses proprietary identity resolution technology to accurately match Twitter accounts with their corresponding LinkedIn profiles. This crucial step enriches each lead with verified professional data, including detailed work history, educational background, and career trajectory. It turns an anonymous social account into a fully-fledged professional profile, giving you the context needed to make an informed first outreach.

AI-Powered Profile Labeling

Our advanced AI doesn't just collect data—it understands it! The system analyzes the combined Twitter and LinkedIn data to automatically label each person with specific, useful tags. Is this person a founder, engineer, researcher, or investor? Are they funded or bootstrapped (non-vc)? This automated categorization allows you to instantly filter and search for exactly the type of talent or founder that matches your investment thesis.

Raw Data Delivery & Export

Get direct access to the complete dataset! Poach delivers everything in simple, actionable CSV exports sent directly to your inbox every morning. Each export includes all enriched data, AI-generated labels, bios, and the source VC who provided the signal. This gives you and your team the full flexibility to sort, filter, and integrate these high-potential leads directly into your existing CRM and workflow systems.

Use Cases of Poach

Identifying Stealth-Mode Founders

The primary use case is finding founders operating in stealth mode, long before they list on AngelList or start pitching! By filtering for profiles labeled founder but NOT funded, early-stage VCs can discover entrepreneurs building the next big company in secret. This provides a multi-month advantage to start building a relationship and position your firm as the first check in.

Building a Thematic Pipeline

Looking for founders in specific niches like AI, climate tech, or web3? Use Poach's AI labels (like research, web3, or engineering) to filter leads and build a targeted pipeline of individuals with relevant expertise who are now catching VC attention. This allows you to proactively build dealflow in emerging sectors aligned with your firm's focus.

Competitive Intelligence & Market Mapping

Understand which investors are interested in which types of companies and people! By seeing which VC follows which founder, you can map competitive interest and emerging trends. This intelligence helps you understand what your competitor funds are looking at, allowing you to anticipate market shifts and see patterns before they become mainstream news.

Talent Sourcing for Portfolio Companies

Beyond just founders, Poach is a powerhouse for executive and technical talent sourcing! Investment teams can use it to help their portfolio companies find key hires. Filter for top engineering, product, or design talent that reputable VCs are following—a strong signal of exceptional skill and industry recognition.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Poach get its data?

Poach uses public APIs and data sources to track the Twitter follows of venture capitalists. We then apply our proprietary technology to resolve these Twitter identities to LinkedIn profiles, enriching the data with public career and educational information. All data is sourced from publicly available information on social media platforms.

What makes Poach's signal better than a lead list?

A lead list is static and cold. Poach's signal is dynamic and warm! We don't just give you names; we give you context. By showing you which VC is following a person, we provide a powerful signal of pre-vetted potential. It’s the difference between a random cold call and reaching out to someone who is already on the radar of respected investors.

How accurate is the AI labeling?

Our AI labeling is highly accurate, as it analyzes multiple data points from both Twitter bios and detailed LinkedIn work history. The system is continuously trained and improved. However, we always provide the raw data in our CSV exports so your team can review and make final judgments, using our labels as a powerful starting filter.

Can I track specific VCs or firms?

Absolutely! The platform allows you to focus on the signals from the VC firms and individual partners that matter most to your investment thesis. You can prioritize tracking from top-tier firms, specific sectors, or individual investors known for their keen eye for early talent, ensuring your dealflow is highly relevant.