the best founders are raising through other founders investors see hundreds of decks every month founders only pay real attention to a much smaller group of people they actually respect so when a credible founder tells a partner “this is one of the best teams I’ve met this year,” alot of things change the energy shifts around the whole situation become the kind of founder that other strong founders who have tread the path before you actually want to help and make warm intros for you can't really fake that reputation compounds inside the peer layer first over time and the capital follows later the ones who get this stop obsessing over perfecting the deck or investor meeting they start thinking about the long term, building trust and relationships