How to Find Investors Through LinkedIn The professional social network has become a tool for identifying and pitching investors.

Dave Gowel has raised $3 million in the three years since he started RockTech, a Cambridge, Mass.-based enterprise-training platform for cloud technologies. Of the 29 angel investors he's brought onboard, all have one thing in common: "Every investor relationship I have was influenced by LinkedIn," says Gowel, RockTech's CEO.

"A compelling example of this came when one of my investors listed his affiliation with RockTech on LinkedIn, and then another angel who saw that update contacted me," Gowel continues. "The latter angel had a very strong respect for my investor who had updated his profile, and [he] became an investor within six months—he even brought in another angel to invest with him."

Thanks to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lifting the ban on general solicitation for investors, LinkedIn has become a potential mother lode for identifying and pitching investors. But it's a nuanced and regulated game.