Hacking AngelList

Hacking AngelListTed Mann, founder SnipSnap for DreamIt Ventures

Brief History of angel.co• Founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneurs Naval

Ravikant and Babak Nivi • Began as platform for startups and angels to network,

but has grown to also serve as indispensable job board, syndicate management platform, host to funds

• Raised $104MM in 2014 • 243 startups funded; 2,673 investors participated • Maiden Lane raises fund to back AngelList syndicate

leads

Anatomy of a Great Profile

• Big Market

• Teasing for More Information to Followers

• Lots of Social Proof

Dustin’s Advice

‣ Don’t conflate a profile and a pitch deck.

‣ Assign an editor (teammate or advisor).

‣ Be very careful about what markets you chose to list your company in.

‣ Shamelessly solicit comments on you and your company (go for people who have highest # of followers first).

‣ Post updates and press regularly.

“Fundraising is all about Fear of Being Left Out”

—Gil Penchina

Gil’s tips on creating a feeding frenzy• Have all investors, advisors, members coordinate sending

out the 140 character blurb to AL, TW, FB at the same time with a link to build more momentum

• Find a way to get one of the top 20 “megaphones” to promote you on AL. The list is here: https://angel.co/people

• Have something with a hockey-stick curve, but no #’s on the x or y axis for investor-catnip

• LARGE NUMBERS OR PERCENTAGES • And something tantalizing that makes people need to learn

more and FOLLOW YOU

Spell out your instructions

What’s a Syndicate?• People follow the lead with $$ - as little as $1,000 per deal

(crowd funding) • Lead makes an investment decision • Then AL works with to communicate the investment to the syndicate –

and also promotes it to the larger community to help fund it • AL creates an LLC and collects checks (ACH and Wires) from the

crowd • AL sends a single check to the startup and handles SEC, Audit,

Reporting • Investors pay a 20% carry, no mgmt fee

Boss Syndicate• Boston-centric, backed by Atlas

Venture

• Local entrepreneur/angels lead investments, with minimum of $250k per guaranteed by Atlas

• Other entrepreneurs can follow, along with 241 other backers

• 21 investments in first 18 months

Do’s Don’ts

‣ Link to your AL Profile in your email sig

‣ Ask everyone you meet at DreamIt to comment on and follow your page

‣ Spend as much time building your personal profile as your company one

‣ Post all your jobs and internships on AL

‣ Leave an open-ended funding round up on AL. If you announce you’re fundraising, begin to show it being filled up quickly

‣ Post a link to a long deck ‣ Post a video longer than 2

min ‣ Forget to follow every single

DreamIt company and founder

ThanksTed Mann

[email protected] https://angel.co/ted-mann