Poach

Poach is the AI-powered intelligence platform that gives venture capitalists the ultimate edge in the hyper-competitive race for deal flow. In a landscape where the best founders are identified through warm intros and personal networks, Poach cracks the code on the pre-warm signal. It systematically tracks the social media activity of top-tier VCs, particularly on Twitter and LinkedIn, to identify the emerging founders and technical talent they're quietly watching. By analyzing who influential investors follow and engage with, Poach surfaces promising entrepreneurs often months before they officially begin fundraising. The platform then enriches these leads with deep, AI-processed data from LinkedIn profiles and Twitter bios, delivering clean, labeled, and actionable intelligence directly to your inbox or via API. For VCs tired of inefficient cold outreach and limited by their immediate network, Poach provides a scalable, data-driven method to discover the next wave of innovation, from stealth-mode founders in AI and web3 to engineers at major tech firms poised to spin out. It's not just a database; it's a predictive signal loved by top firms to expand and dominate their deal sourcing strategy.

VC Social Tracking Engine

Poach's core engine continuously monitors the Twitter follows of a curated list of top-tier venture capitalists and influential angels. These follows are a powerful, real-time signal of early interest, as investors often track promising individuals long before a formal pitch. This provides a direct line into the informal scouting that happens daily on social platforms, turning passive observations into an active, structured lead list for your firm.

AI-Powered Identity Resolution & Enrichment

The platform goes beyond simple handles. Using proprietary AI, Poach matches Twitter accounts to their corresponding LinkedIn profiles with high accuracy. It then enriches each record with detailed work history, education, and professional background, creating a comprehensive dossier that saves hours of manual research and provides the context needed for meaningful first contact.

Intelligent AI Labeling & Bio Generation

Every identified individual is automatically analyzed and tagged by Poach's AI. It applies specific labels like founder, engineering, funded, research, or web3 based on their combined social footprint. The AI also synthesizes a concise, informative medium bio, summarizing their professional journey and current focus, enabling rapid scanning and qualification at scale.

Raw Data Delivery & Flexible Export

Poach delivers intelligence in the most actionable formats. Receive a daily email digest with executive summaries and a full, enriched CSV attachment of new leads. For integrated workflows, access the data directly via API. You can filter exports using any criteria—such as "founder" AND NOT "funded"—to build perfectly tailored lists for your investment thesis.

Identifying Stealth-Mode Founders Pre-Fundraise

The primary use case is finding founders operating in stealth mode, often before they've incorporated or built a deck. By filtering for the founder label while excluding the funded label, early-stage VCs can discover entrepreneurs building in hot sectors like AI agents or climate tech, enabling outreach 7-10 months ahead of a competitive seed round, just as the platform did with founders like Eli Badgio.

Building a Pipeline for Specific Technical Roles

VCs and executive search firms can use Poach to source exceptional technical talent. By filtering for labels like engineering, research, or product, users can identify engineers at FAANG companies, PhD researchers in academia, or product leaders who may be considering a startup leap, building a pipeline for co-founder matching or portfolio company recruitment.

Tracking Emerging Trends & Web3 Ecosystems

For investors focused on thematic trends like blockchain or decentralized AI, Poach's web3 label and bio analysis allow for tracking key builders and influencers within that niche. This provides a pulse on emerging sub-communities, new projects, and shifting discussions on social media, offering qualitative insights alongside raw deal flow.

Competitive Intelligence and VC Benchmarking

Firms can use Poach to understand the scouting patterns of competing venture funds. By seeing which founders and engineers other top VCs are following, you gain insights into their investment theses and areas of interest, allowing for strategic benchmarking and ensuring you're not missing key signals in the market.

How does Poach find founders before they raise?

Poach operates on the signal that investors often follow promising individuals on social media long before any formal fundraising activity. By tracking the Twitter follows of a curated list of top-tier VCs, the platform identifies these individuals. AI then enriches their profiles from LinkedIn and labels them, surfacing founders who are actively building but may not yet be on the public radar of most investors.

What data is included in the daily CSV export?

The daily CSV export is comprehensive and ready for use. It includes the person's Twitter handle, full name, LinkedIn profile URL, which VC(s) followed them, AI-generated labels (e.g., founder, engineering), and a synthesized medium bio. This provides all the essential context needed for an informed first outreach, eliminating the need for manual data gathering.

Can I filter for very specific types of founders?

Absolutely. The power of Poach lies in its granular, AI-generated labels. You can filter the data—both in the CSV and via API—using any combination of labels. A common filter is founder AND NOT funded to find pre-seed opportunities. You could also search for founder + research to find academics transitioning to entrepreneurship, or any other custom criteria your thesis requires.

Is the data sourced ethically and in compliance with regulations?

Poach sources its data from publicly available information on social media platforms, specifically Twitter follows and public LinkedIn profiles. The platform focuses on data enrichment and analysis rather than private scraping, operating within the terms of service of these platforms to provide actionable, compliant business intelligence for professional investors.