How Investors Find Startups Now, and Why Google and AI Decide Who Gets the Meeting
How investors find startups today starts with a search, not a pitch. An investor types a founder's name into Google or asks ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity who is worth a look, and the answer shapes the first impression. Founders who publish proof, show up on trusted third party sites and keep every profile consistent get found first.
This recap covers the Digital Niche Agency (DNA) webinar "Can Investors Find You?" from October 28, 2026, presented by Jason Fishman, CEO and Co-Founder; Ashley Inman, Account Manager; and Brenden Togioka, Creative Director.
How do investors find startups in 2026?
Investors find startups through search engines, AI assistants, podcasts and personal introductions, and they usually check you more than once. Jason Fishman estimates it takes seven touchpoints or more before an investor acts, because investors like to do their due diligence.
The question that matters, in Jason's words from the webinar, is "who's doing something interesting in this space?" He heard it again and again at investor meetups during the Crowdfund Professional Association Summit in Washington, DC the week before the webinar. If your name does not come up in that conversation, the pitch never happens.
Ashley Inman compared it to how she picks a hard to book restaurant or a trip. She searches Google, asks AI and reads reviews before she commits money. Investors do the same thing before they commit capital, except now they ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity or Grok whether a founder is a good CEO.
What do investors look for when they search a founder?
Investors search a founder to confirm one thing: that this person is the best fit in the world to lead this company to its goals. The more your search results defend that claim, the better.
On the webinar, the panel searched "Jason Fishman Digital Niche Agency" as a live example. The results showed his LinkedIn profile, his role on the DNA website and his Forbes Councils articles. Ashley pointed out that podcast appearances and publisher placements like the Forbes feature are often overlooked, even though they are some of the strongest validation a founder can have.
Brenden Togioka listed what investors want to see:
A clean, recent profile photo with decent lighting
Successes from past roles, including any prior exits, placed high on the page instead of buried at the bottom
Third party validators such as articles, podcasts and people talking about you
A visible history of comments, recommendations and engagement on your posts
He also listed what raises questions:
Your raise page and your website saying different things
Dead links, including a broken link in an Instagram bio
Old raise numbers and stale news
Big claims with no source behind them
A name search that returns nothing, or returns someone else
Jason's view is that investors rarely look at one deal in isolation. If two health AI companies target the same investor and one CEO is published, shows up on podcasts and speaks on big stages, that CEO stands out. He added that a CEO who wants to stay behind the scenes while running a public crowdfunding campaign looks like something is missing.
What is the difference between SEO and GEO for founders?
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the work of ranking in search engines like Google. Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the work of getting named, described and cited by AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
Brenden summed up the difference with a line he read recently: SEO gets you listed, and GEO gets you described. He noted that he often reads the AI overview at the top of Google and never scrolls to the links.
Jason's view is that the two reward different signals:
Google style search rewards good, engaging content, and more so when authoritative third parties link back to it.
AI tools look for unbiased sources, such as a Reddit thread, a Google review or content from people who have used your product or service.
Brenden added that SEO does not happen overnight. Based on DNA's experience, an updated website can show an uptick in Google rankings in roughly three to six months, depending on engagement. For a deeper walkthrough, see DNA's guide to generative engine optimization for ChatGPT and Claude.
Why does off-site content matter so much for AI search visibility?
AI search visibility is how often AI assistants name, rank and cite your company when someone asks a question you should answer. It depends heavily on what other sites say about you, which is why off-site content carries so much weight.
"Content marketing is code for off-site SEO," Brenden said on the webinar. That covers articles you write on sites like Medium or Forbes, articles that reference you, backlinks and cross posts.
Jason, who has worked in marketing since 2008, made the case that "it'll never be less competitive than it is today." Keyword research and SEO audits used to require a specialist. Now anyone can ask an AI platform how to research keywords, earn links and plan content. His view is blunt: if this is not part of your strategy, you will be left behind, whether that is next month or the year after.
Jason also pushed back on founders who say social posting does not reach anyone. It may get few engagements, but it still reaches the tools, and that is how they measure you today. A steady content marketing program feeds both search engines and AI answers at the same time.
What can founders control in search and AI results?
Founders control what they publish and how current it is. They do not control where Google ranks them or whether an AI tool recommends them.
Ashley's advice was to focus on the first part: your website, your LinkedIn profile, your articles and how consistently you share updates. Many founders publish once and never update it. She also urged founders to build that credibility before they need it, not after a raise is live.
Jason compared it to buying a suit. You do not calculate a return on a haircut. It is a cost of doing business so you appear to be a legitimate investment opportunity. He said founders should plan a few weeks and around $5,000 to build a real strategy before creative production, whether that work is done by an agency or by employees whose time you count. DNA's strategy plans follow the same idea.
What should founders fix first to show up in AI answers?
AI tools answer from a short list of sources they already trust, so the fastest gains come from showing up in those sources and making your own site easy for them to read. Four fixes, in order of impact:
Get featured on the sites AI already cites. AI answers lean on publisher articles, Wikipedia, open publishing platforms and "best of" list articles. Earn placements, guest articles and spots in neutral roundups for your category.
Publish pages that answer the exact questions investors and customers ask. If no one has written a direct answer, AI tools skip you or name someone else. Give each question its own page or section, with the answer in the first two sentences.
Join the community threads AI reads. Reddit threads, forum answers and review sites read as unbiased sources, which is why Jason said AI tools look for them first.
Fix the gaps on your own website. Confirm AI crawlers can access the site, add an llms.txt file, organization schema and a meta description, add an FAQ section, and make sure the homepage carries at least 300 words of text that loads without JavaScript.
Watch for "best of" lists written by a competitor that rank themselves first. AI tools cite them anyway, so the answer is to get listed on neutral roundups and publish your own direct comparison content.
Results also differ by platform. A company can show up often in Gemini and rarely in ChatGPT, so check each AI tool on its own instead of assuming one result covers them all.
What should founders do next to show up when investors search?
Start with the steps the panel said founders can finish this month, before any new ad spend.
Search your own name and your company name on Google, then ask ChatGPT and Claude about both, and note what an investor would see.
Fix every dead link, old raise number and mismatch between your raise page, website and social profiles.
Update your LinkedIn headline, photo and title so they match the role you hold at the company.
Publish one piece of founder content every week, such as a product update, a customer lesson, a new partnership or a challenge you worked through.
Pitch podcasts in volume. Brenden suggested around 100 outreach messages a week with a one sheet of your background and topics, and Jason noted that even a 1% booking rate at that pace adds up to about 50 shows a year.
Ask current investors, partners and advisors for specific introductions, and write the three sentence forward for them.
Prepare a short pitch deck and a longer one, so you can answer the "send me your deck" request the same day.
Block two to four hours one day a month to record answers on video, and let your team or agency turn them into clips, emails and articles.
DNA covers the podcast side of this in its podcast guesting strategy for founders, and through its outreach and podcast placement work.
What did the panel say founders get wrong?
"Remember, it's not just people. The future is AI talking to AI. How are the AIs going to know it's you when they don't have a relationship with any of your friends? They're just looking at what's available online."
Jason Fishman, CEO and Co-Founder, Digital Niche Agency
"Build that credibility before you need it, not when you're raising capital and you need to suddenly scramble to try to make all of these changes."
Ashley Inman, Account Manager, Digital Niche Agency
"Content marketing is code for off-site SEO."
Brenden Togioka, Creative Director, Digital Niche Agency
FAQ
What does AI visibility mean for a company raising capital or acquiring users?
AI visibility is how often tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini name, rank and cite your company when people ask questions in your category. For a company raising capital, it shapes what investors hear before they ever visit your raise page, and for user acquisition it decides whether you get recommended at all.
How do investors use AI tools to research companies?
Investors ask AI tools whether a founder is a strong CEO, whether a deal looks credible and which companies stand out in a space. The tools answer from what is published online, including reviews, articles, Reddit threads and directories, so a founder with thin or inconsistent coverage gets described poorly or not at all.
How can I check what ChatGPT or Claude says about my company?
Ask ChatGPT and Claude the questions an investor or customer would ask, such as who the best companies are in your category and what they know about your founder. Record whether you are named, where you rank and which sites get cited, then repeat the same questions every month to track change.
How long does it take to improve AI visibility?
Expect several months, not weeks. Brenden Togioka of DNA said an updated website can show a Google ranking uptick in roughly three to six months, and AI answers lean on the same published content. Fixing site gaps and publishing direct answers are the fastest starting points, with results compounding as content keeps going out.
What content gets cited most by AI tools?
AI tools cite content that answers a question directly and comes from sources they trust. The sources AI tools cite most often include company websites, Google, Wikipedia, open publishing platforms and "best of" list articles. AI tools also favor unbiased sources such as reviews and community threads over a brand's own claims.
About the presenters
Jason Fishman is CEO and Co-Founder of Digital Niche Agency (DNA) and has worked in marketing since 2008, leading strategy across the capital raises and growth campaigns DNA runs.
Ashley Inman is an Account Manager at DNA, where she has spent almost five years managing hundreds of campaigns, including Reg A+, Reg CF and Reg D raises.
Brenden Togioka is Creative Director at DNA, where for almost six years he has led creative across raise pages, ads and social, reviewing what top founders produce week over week.
If you want a second set of eyes on what investors find when they search your company, DNA's paid media team and content team can walk through it with you.
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