I'd suggest investing your time in the product first and converting the waitlist to real users before trying to take on external investment. It will either make it much easier or you won't need to raise depending on what happens when your product goes out to the 1000 user list.
Make friends with other entrepreneurs. Impress them and ask them for intros to their investors. If you're good, and your product is good, they'll want to introduce you as it looks good for them.