LinkedIn For Startups: Growth Acceleration Platform For Startups

Whether this is your first rodeo, or you’ve been through the wringer a couple of times, there’s one thing that’s always true:

Launching and getting your startup off of the ground is a nightmare.

You have to find investors that believe in your business, get the ball rolling with the first few customers, stay consistent while expanding your services…

The list is endless.

That’s exactly why I recommend LinkedIn for startups.

But what does the biggest B2B platform for professionals and industry veterans have to offer an emerging brand?

I aim to show you just that with this blog. And that’s not all, I’ll also cover:

• The best strategies to grow your startup in 2025.
• How to raise funds for your brand with LinkedIn.
• And finally, the best way to reach out to potential investors (without breaking a sweat).

So sit back, relax, and watch how you can boost your startup’s growth on LinkedIn. 😇

Importance of LinkedIn for startups

LinkedIn is pretty important for B2B professionals, we got that out of the way.

But why exactly am I recommending LinkedIn for startups?

For starters, thanks to Sprout Social, we know that 91% of executives use LinkedIn, and the platform generates 277% more leads than Facebook and Twitter.

Those are some INSANE numbers!

So if you’re a startup not on LinkedIn, you’re taking away a ton of potential brand visibility, hyper-targeted outreach, and future customers that fit your ICP perfectly.

With a consistent LinkedIn content strategy, cold outreach, and staying active in relevant communities, you can generate leads from LinkedIn like never before.

Here are a few other reasons LinkedIn is an irreplaceable part of growing your startup:

1. Engagement from top candidates and industry leaders:

I know I just mentioned how LinkedIn for startups works like a charm to gather more prospects, but let me tell you a little about the quality of prospects you can expect.

Around 49 million candidates use LinkedIn to look for job roles every week. Not to mention, at least 97% of HRs and recruiters already use LinkedIn for new hires.

The numbers sure don’t lie, and you bet you can find your next top candidate on this platform.

And if you’re looking for key decision-makers from target companies, remember that 10 million C-level executives use LinkedIn to assert themselves as thought leaders in the community.

That means more potential business partnerships, networking opportunities, and customers with a higher LTV (lifetime value).

2. Budget-friendly marketing:

You don’t need to tell me that you run a tight ship with your startup.

Been there, done that.

And budget is a huge factor (and headache) when you’re planning out your annual roadmap.

Lucky for you, the reason I recommend LinkedIn for startups is because growing your brand doesn’t cost a dime!

Of course, that means you have to send out connection invites, wait for your prospect to accept the request, send them an outreach message, then wait again…

It’s a lot of work.

But with an outreach automation tool like SalesRobot, you can send up to 200 connection requests a week, reach out to them, and follow up on auto-pilot.

That means you have a consistent way of scheduling meetings with sales-ready leads and dream clients. 😇

3. Target your audience with LinkedIn Ads:

LinkedIn Ads can be a direct and hands-on approach for startups to reach their audiences in a meaningful way based on criteria like job titles, company size, etc.

As the name suggests, LinkedIn Ads promote sponsored content created by your startup to boost your organic growth even further.

One of the popular ways startups use LinkedIn Ads is by implementing LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms.

Basically, LinkedIn lead forms let you gather contact information of prospects.

So the next time you send out a lead magnet, you can exchange gated content for prospect data.

Top 7 strategies to grow on LinkedIn for startups in 2025

So, now that you know the role of LinkedIn for startups around the world, let’s get you to grow your brand.

The right way.📈

Here are the 7 strategies that startups NEED to exploit in 2025:

1. Optimize your LinkedIn profile

First things first, you need to set up your LinkedIn profile as a startup owner.

Think about it, it’s pretty much your digital business card!

It builds a good first impression, and it shoots up your client’s trust in your brand instantly.

‍That’s why I made this checklist for your LinkedIn profile to showcase just what your startup is all about:

• Profile photo.
• Banner image.
• Summary.
• About section.
• Headline.
• Recommendations.

2. LinkedIn cold outreach

Remember how I mentioned just how many people use LinkedIn? And remember how the platform is a goldmine for cost effective marketing?

Great, because that is the whole point of cold LinkedIn outreach.

You find prospects that match the criteria of your ICP, send them messages or InMails on LinkedIn, and follow-up with them till they convert.

Startups looking for funds and capital to get their show on the road could simply use cold outreach to target potential investors with hyper-personalized messages.

By the way, if you want to skip to the good part, i.e., closing more deals, SalesRobot helps you with that by automatically personalizing your messages in bulk.

You can add prospects from your preferred source (for e.g., LinkedIn search URL) and add them to outreach campaigns.

From here, its SalesRobot’s job to send automated messages based on your sequence, and stop only when you get a response.

So that you can jump in at the perfect moment to seal the deal and bag a new customer. 💰

3. LinkedIn SEO

Quick, go look up something on your search engine (like Google) and see what comes up.

Notice the videos and articles that show up on the first page? They rank because of SEO optimized keywords.

You can say the same works with LinkedIn SEO!

LinkedIn SEO helps your profile rank on search results and get more market visibility with clever use of keywords and content your audience would love to engage with.

And for those using LinkedIn for startups, getting LinkedIn SEO right can help you be found by your dream clients and show up on searches before your competitors.

Take a look at how I’ve optimized my LinkedIn profile’s “About” section:

So the next time a high-profile lead is looking for business solutions to their pain points, there’s a pretty high chance that your business solutions show up first. 😉

4. Advanced LinkedIn search (Boolean search)

Boolean search is an advanced search method to laser target your prospects on LinkedIn. All thanks to specific operators to segment your search.

You can string these operators together to make complex search queries and find investors best suited for your startup.

And trust me, it beats the regular LinkedIn search any day of the week.

‍Here is a list of the Boolean search operators you can use on LinkedIn:

• “AND” - Search results include all items in the query.

For example, “VP of Sales AND Manhattan AND Finance”

• “OR” - Search results include one or multiple items mentioned in the search query.

For example, “marketing OR product design OR sales”.

• “NOT” - Search results will exclude items in your search query.

For example, “manager NOT designer”.

• Quoted searches - Search results will only include prospects that match the quoted text.

For example, searching for “sales manager”shows results for profiles with the same phrase.

• Parentheses searches - String together different combinations of Boolean search operators.

For example, “(social media OR content marketing) AND manager”.

A focused prospecting experience can help you connect with investors willing to back your startup to get it off of the ground.

5. LinkedIn influencers

Do you follow any of the industry thought leaders, or anyone whose content you find valuable?

Congratulations, you’re already following LinkedIn influencers!

But there’s another reason to keep up with what they post. And that’s because you can network with them.

As a startup, your goal should be to start off slow by engaging with their content. That means leaving likes, comments, and sharing their posts.

When you have built enough rapport with your contributions, you can target them with an outreach message.

Start off by talking about shared interests, pitch your startup and what you do, and propose a potential collaboration for a wider reach and brand awareness with their audience.

Easier said than done, I know.

But trust me, get it right and your efforts will pay dividends with your brand name reaching quality leads.

Thanks to the exposure you’ll be getting from a trusted member of the community. 😄

Not to mention, you can always let SalesRobot do the hard part by automating your outreach messages (and complex LinkedIn actions 😉).

6. Promote. Promote. Promote.

If you’ve noticed one thing by now, it's that using LinkedIn for startups is pretty much wasted unless you’re getting word of your brand out there.

• First rule of promoting your brand, engage your audience.

Respond to comments on your posts, answer queries, reply to messages, all of these help your prospects feel catered to.

• Another way you can promote on LinkedIn for startups is to be active on relevant LinkedIn groups.

Think of LinkedIn groups as a hub for discussions among well-respected members of your industry.

You can network with like-minded professionals to grow your sphere of influence, and set up potential business partnerships.

And as for prospects and clients, asserting yourself as a trusted source of information by sharing industry trends and advice keeps your startup memorable.

• Creating a LinkedIn company page for your startup is essential to throw a spotlight on your business solutions.

This is your chance to focus on promoting your startup’s products, services, and updates, so that your prospects have a clear understanding of what you can offer.

Additionally, you can engage with prospects directly with company pages by answering questions and conveying your brand message directly.

7. LinkedIn content marketing

You’ve heard me talk on and on about sharing and engaging with content your audience finds valuable.

But do you know what’s better than that?

Creating valuable content for your audience.

A LinkedIn content marketing strategy relies on creating organic content that aligns with your startup’s mission and values, and is something your audience engages with.

And don’t forget, if your content goes viral, that’s free brand marketing you didn’t have to pay a dime for! 😄

So, if you want to start converting leads, follow these few guidelines:

• Be consistent:

Posting regularly is key to keeping your brand memorable for your prospects.

As a startup, keep your target at one organic post per day.

The engagement metrics will be minimal in the beginning. But once you get the ball rolling, there’s no telling where you’ll land!

• Be relevant:

This one is a little obvious, but its worth pointing out.

Create organic content that is relevant to your target audience. That way you’re only attracting prospects that mean business to your startup.

• Be authentic:

Build content that is reliable, and provides value to your audiences.

You can do this by sharing accurate information, real-life experiences, and offering solutions.

Doing so ensures your prospects see you as a trustworthy source of information.

How to scale your fundraising campaign on LinkedIn

While I have covered everything you need to start growing on LinkedIn for startups, there’s still one crucial thing a lot of startups struggle with:

Getting funding.

Afterall, it's necessary to keep your startup afloat as you scale your business with more customers.

But don’t worry if you’re lost on what to do if you’re looking to raise funds for your startup, because I’ll give you a comprehensive breakdown you can follow (with a little help from SalesRobot 😇):

1. Define your ICP

Even if cold LinkedIn outreach is a good way of getting sales-ready leads, you can’t simply reach out to every possible investor under the sun.

More than just targeting irrelevant prospects, you could be looking at a few “F*** off” messages headed straight to your LinkedIn inbox.

To avoid that fate, you need to focus on segmenting your audience based on criteria like:

• Keywords (like “angel investor”).
• Industry (are they in the Venture Capital industry).
• Location (do they live near you).
• Company size.
• Annual revenue.

2. Choose how to approach investors

With your target customers set, you can start expanding on your LinkedIn outreach. Because this time around, your brand messages will actually resonate. 😉

Inbound and outbound marketing helps you bring in leads with tried and tested strategies like content marketing.

But there’s one thing we know.

You saw how LinkedIn is a cost-effective way of marketing to your potential investors. And direct messages or InMails is a great way to reach your prospects.

While sending connection requests and personalizing messages manually can get hectic, you can always automate your cold outreach with SalesRobot.

Add high-revenue investors to message campaigns, and SalesRobot will send them personalized messages and follow-up with them on auto-pilot.

Once they do, our Smart Reply Detection feature will stop your message sequence so that you can swoop in and close the deal.

3. Add potential investors and then post consistently on LinkedIn to create hype

If you’re using LinkedIn as a  startup, these are 2 things you have to do to get funding :

• Post consistently -

Write about customer success stories, you way of looking at your market and more.

Aim to post 3-5x a week

• Comment consistently -

If any of the investors in your target list post, make sure to leave a thoughtful comment on their posts or posts they have commented on.

Leave 10+ thoughtful comments a day.

But are you really planning on prospecting, drafting, personalizing, and following up all by yourself?

Only if you want it to drive you insane!

There is a better way to secure funds and investors for your startups.

And you’ve heard the name, you’ve seen what it’s possible…

It’s time you saw everything that SalesRobot has to offer.

SalesRobot: #1 automated sales tool to help you grow on LinkedIn

SalesRobot is a sales automation tool that lets startups cut down on the boring, repetitive tasks that come with LinkedIn + email cold outreach.

You’ve heard me talk of the basics of LinkedIn automation, let me give you a closer look into what actually goes on behind the scenes.

SalesRobot lets you pull prospects from LinkedIn/Sales Navigator search URLs, groups, events, posts, and even custom CSV imports.

And if you’re using LinkedIn for startups in niche industries on LinkedIn Sales Navigator (like eCommerce), you can always go with SalesRobot’s B2B lookalike database.

This feature helps you find more prospects that resemble your winning clients. All you have to do is input the website of your best customer, and let SalesRobot do the heavy lifting! 😄

Once you have your prospects, you can add them to outreach campaigns where SalesRobot will reach out and follow-up with them on auto-pilot.

But did you know? SalesRobot can also automate complex LinkedIn actions like viewing and following profiles, leaving likes and comments on relevant posts, giving endorsements, etc.

This kind of engagement with your angel investors can warm them up for your outreach messages!

If you’re lost on what to say when you’re creating message sequences, SalesRobot’s “AI brain” assists you by calculating the likelihood of a positive response based on your drafts.’

So if you don’t see a high score, keep editing!

Since SalesRobot understands that personalizing each message can be mind-numbing, and downright impossible.

That’s why our tool hyper-personalizes your messages in bulk with our Hyperise integration, so that no two prospects get the same message. 😇

SalesRobot not only automates your LinkedIn outreach, but it also helps you bypass the LinkedIn weekly limits to send up to 200 connections requests a week.

Without risking your LinkedIn account!

It uses emails and free InMails to make that happen. And SalesRobot’s safety settings humanizes your outreach with configurable delays and daily limits.

After all that, what if I told you SalesRobot still has a few tricks up its sleeves?

SalesRobot can schedule and book meetings on your calendar with your investors, create multichannel outreach sequences, and auto-respond to prospects.

You might call it impossible, but we call it SalesGPT 2.0.

Your job? Simply define your ICP (aren’t you glad you followed along with this blog 😉) by answering 5 questions, and let SalesRobot work its magic!

LinkedIn for Startups: What now?

Using LinkedIn for startups is a great way to approach investors and raise funds for your brand, as you can reach out to professionals in your industry that believe in your solutions.

Not to mention, it's incredibly cost-effective and allows you to scale your startup with enough time invested in your outreach strategy.

Optimize your LinkedIn profile, set up a comprehensive LinkedIn company page, find the best prospects, and engage with your audience till they convert. That’s all it takes!

And to help you cut down on the manual tasks so that you can close deals faster, you can always use SalesRobot to automate your LinkedIn outreach.

So, what do you think? Feel like SalesRobot is on to something cool?

Then try out our features to see everything I didn’t talk about with a 14-day risk-free trial 😇.

And hey, if you want to talk about getting your dream LinkedIn outreach up on its feet, then stop by for a quick chat! Coffee’s on me. 😄

‍

Until next time,

Good luck!