Raising your seed in Virginia
How to think about lead investors, follow-on dynamics, and the real reason most Virginia founders end up flying to New York or Boston anyway.
The hard truth about leads
There are very few institutional seed leads headquartered in Virginia. CAV Angels and New Dominion Angels can fill out a round, and a handful of micro-funds will write $50–250k checks, but most Virginia founders raise their seed lead from a Mid-Atlantic, NYC, or Bay Area firm and fill the round locally.
Plan for two trips
Budget two extended trips — one to the Northeast corridor, one to the Bay Area — during your seed process. The Acela between DC and NYC is your cheapest fundraising tool.
Use your local angels strategically
Local angels are excellent for diligence acceleration, customer introductions, and signaling. They're not always your best source of dollars-per-hour. Use them for what they're best at.