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I stopped angel investing when the “ask” jumped from $25k to $250k. At $250k I’d just as soon be an LP in a fund and spread the risk (and let the GPs do the wo

by epc 8y ago

I stopped angel investing when the “ask” jumped from $25k to $250k. At $250k I’d just as soon be an LP in a fund and spread the risk (and let the GPs do the work).

davnicwil 8y ago
(deleted content of post) Made an enquiry about parent's angel investing, attracted a bunch of downvoting, realise HN is not the forum for this. Apologies community!
- epc 8y ago
  I'm not.
  - kcarter80 8y ago
    That betrays the authority of your original response.
    - epc 8y ago
      Because I am obligated to resume investing based on a HN comment? Wow.
      - kcarter80 8y ago
        No, of course not. Because you were so quick to dismiss someone offering you exactly what you complained didn't exist.
        gpm 8y ago
        You know... I'm not an investor but if I was and someone pitched me by saying "Hey, want to give me 25k" without any other information I'd dismiss them out of hand too. Note that his profile has no clue as to what I would actually be investing in.
        davnicwil 8y ago
        I just wanted to minimise the spam as much as possible and politely ask if he'd consider it in principle first. My profile links to my resume etc which might be enough to warrant a 5 min chat to get the pitch, and who knows from there. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take :-)
        gpm 8y ago
        Ya, I think that's fair too, I didn't mind your post either (though obviously it would be problematic if it became a trend). I just don't think it's fair to criticize him for quickly dismissing it.
        kcarter80 8y ago
        I think the context matters and I said why in my other response.
        davnicwil 8y ago
        I think to be fair, this was expected, I guess he means he's getting not many leads for 25k investments from sources he knows etc.
    - code_duck 8y ago
      The statement was “I stopped investing when...”. That indicates the current status is not active.
  - davnicwil 8y ago
    Thanks anyway for responding!
lpolovets 8y ago
That's surprising to me. I've been doing 2-3 angel investments/year in Silicon Valley (while being a full-time VC), and I've never personally seen anyone ask for a $250k min check at seed stage. FWIW all of my investments are $10k (the max that my fund allows me to invest on the side), and I don't get pushback on that 90% of the time. On a slightly different note, minimums are rarely set in stone. If someone says the min is $100k and you come back with "ah that's a bummer, I love your company and think I can help with X and Y, but I can only afford $25k," there's a good chance that suddenly the minimum will drop to $25k just for you. At least that has been my personal experience.
- epc 8y ago
  I’d evaluate up to ten per year but typically only do 2-3 as well, primarily US East Coast. Fairly consistently, starting in 2015? 2016? the minimums kept creeping up, until a prospective CEO told me I'd wasted his time (he'd contacted me) when I said 25k was my limit. I may return to it at some point but it wasn't particularly lucrative and the sense of entitlement I ran into just turned me off.
  - iscrewyou 8y ago
    Sounds so very strange. Entitlement while asking for money...in tech, beggers CAN be choosers then?
  - owens99 8y ago
    That CEO sounds horrible. Don’t let a bad apple ruin angel investing for you.
  - fouc 8y ago
    Perhaps 'angel investor' needs to be rebranded or redefined so that it sets up expectations better.. Let's say the range is approximately $10-50k for 0.1% to 1% equity. Wonder if there's a term that can represent that kind fo range. Starter. Initial. Beginner. Micro. ..
- trjordan 8y ago
  I certainly see less of this than you, but you have a brand. I suspect that matters a lot.
glennon 8y ago
My loose coalition of angel friends did a blind survey among ourselves. Sixty responses received from 700 angels, conducted in March 2018. The median check size was $25K. I do not remember the exact distribution, but check sizes of less than $10K were rare, as were checks over $50K.

by epc 8y ago

I stopped angel investing when the “ask” jumped from $25k to $250k. At $250k I’d just as soon be an LP in a fund and spread the risk (and let the GPs do the work).

davnicwil 8y ago

(deleted content of post) Made an enquiry about parent's angel investing, attracted a bunch of downvoting, realise HN is not the forum for this. Apologies community!

epc 8y ago
I'm not.
- kcarter80 8y ago
  That betrays the authority of your original response.
  - epc 8y ago
    Because I am obligated to resume investing based on a HN comment? Wow.
    - kcarter80 8y ago
      No, of course not. Because you were so quick to dismiss someone offering you exactly what you complained didn't exist.
      - gpm 8y ago
        You know... I'm not an investor but if I was and someone pitched me by saying "Hey, want to give me 25k" without any other information I'd dismiss them out of hand too. Note that his profile has no clue as to what I would actually be investing in.
        davnicwil 8y ago
        I just wanted to minimise the spam as much as possible and politely ask if he'd consider it in principle first. My profile links to my resume etc which might be enough to warrant a 5 min chat to get the pitch, and who knows from there. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take :-)
        gpm 8y ago
        Ya, I think that's fair too, I didn't mind your post either (though obviously it would be problematic if it became a trend). I just don't think it's fair to criticize him for quickly dismissing it.
        kcarter80 8y ago
        I think the context matters and I said why in my other response.
      - davnicwil 8y ago
        I think to be fair, this was expected, I guess he means he's getting not many leads for 25k investments from sources he knows etc.
  - code_duck 8y ago
    The statement was “I stopped investing when...”. That indicates the current status is not active.
- davnicwil 8y ago
  Thanks anyway for responding!

lpolovets 8y ago

That's surprising to me. I've been doing 2-3 angel investments/year in Silicon Valley (while being a full-time VC), and I've never personally seen anyone ask for a $250k min check at seed stage. FWIW all of my investments are $10k (the max that my fund allows me to invest on the side), and I don't get pushback on that 90% of the time. On a slightly different note, minimums are rarely set in stone. If someone says the min is $100k and you come back with "ah that's a bummer, I love your company and think I can help with X and Y, but I can only afford $25k," there's a good chance that suddenly the minimum will drop to $25k just for you. At least that has been my personal experience.

epc 8y ago
I’d evaluate up to ten per year but typically only do 2-3 as well, primarily US East Coast. Fairly consistently, starting in 2015? 2016? the minimums kept creeping up, until a prospective CEO told me I'd wasted his time (he'd contacted me) when I said 25k was my limit. I may return to it at some point but it wasn't particularly lucrative and the sense of entitlement I ran into just turned me off.
- iscrewyou 8y ago
  Sounds so very strange. Entitlement while asking for money...in tech, beggers CAN be choosers then?
- owens99 8y ago
  That CEO sounds horrible. Don’t let a bad apple ruin angel investing for you.
- fouc 8y ago
  Perhaps 'angel investor' needs to be rebranded or redefined so that it sets up expectations better.. Let's say the range is approximately $10-50k for 0.1% to 1% equity. Wonder if there's a term that can represent that kind fo range. Starter. Initial. Beginner. Micro. ..
trjordan 8y ago
I certainly see less of this than you, but you have a brand. I suspect that matters a lot.

glennon 8y ago

My loose coalition of angel friends did a blind survey among ourselves. Sixty responses received from 700 angels, conducted in March 2018. The median check size was $25K. I do not remember the exact distribution, but check sizes of less than $10K were rare, as were checks over $50K.