How to Build a Killer Dealflow Machine (That Actually Works)
The Ultimate Deal Sourcing Playbook for VCs (2025 Edition)
Let’s be honest: The best deals don’t usually start in public databases. They show up in inboxes, in backchannel Slack groups, or via warm intros from that one underpaid analyst who somehow knows every founder in Berlin.
If you want to win at dealflow in 2025, you need more than intuition and a CRM. You need a system. A tech-enabled workflow that turns weak signals into pipeline gold. Here’s how.
1—> Build Your Dealflow Engine
Good dealflow comes from three main sources:
Most VCs still overindex on outbound and neglect building scalable inbound and warm-source systems. Personally I see the big edge here.
2—> Use Make.com to Scrape Startup Newsletters and Websites
Startup dealflow often hides in plain sight: accelerator batches, early funding announcements, emerging founder intros (and 90% of that starts in newsletters).
Here’s how to set up an automated scraping pipeline using Make.com (formerly Integromat) to create a live database of early-stage startups: