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AngelList Raising A Big Round, To Be Valued at $150 Million Or More

40 points by zosegal 14y ago

bravura 14y ago
What is the correct way to use angel list if you're not currently fundraising? How should one engage on the site? What is the strategy in deciding who to follow? How do you attract people to follow you?
- momoro 14y ago
  * Hire people at https://angel.co/candidates https://angel.co/candidates * Browse jobs at https://angel.co/talent https://angel.co/talent * Follow markets you're interested in at https://angel.co/markets https://angel.co/markets * Apply to incubators (e.g. techstars) Lots more.
DanBlake 14y ago
Congrats to Naval and Team. He was instrumental in helping me out when I was new to the game and of all the investors/angels I have dealt with, he is the most down to earth and awesome in many ways. I feel very confident that he is one of the few guys in the valley who actually cares about helping entrepreneurs and is not in it for the cash. Angellist's success is proof of that.
- prateekdayal 14y ago
  It is also pretty awesome that Naval tries to help out startups outside the valley (and outside the US). In fact, not just Naval but other people in the team really want to help startups succeed and will reach out to you and talk to you. Great company DNA. Congratulations!
joshfraser 14y ago
I'm a huge fan of both Naval and AngelList. They have done so much already to make life better for entrepreneurs. I'm excited to see what they do with the cash infusion when it comes.
inspiredworlds 14y ago
AngelList is a game changer. Great idea and execution. I like how they are moving into other areas like startup recruitment and facilitating the financing process by providing standardised docs, electronic signatures, etc..
timdorr 14y ago
Any idea why they need $150m? Any thoughts on what that kind of cash would be used for? That could give you more employees than Twitter.
- jewel 14y ago
  Unless I misunderstand things, a valuation of $150m means that the company is worth $150m, not that they'll be raising that much. Instead they'll be selling a shares of the company at that valuation, so if they sell 10% they'll get $15m.
  - neya 14y ago
    Can you please share with us some resources (if you may have) on how these companies are valued? What metrics, parameters are taken into account while evaluating a company's worth? Thanks!
    - tinco 14y ago
      As far as I understand it, it is based on educated guesswork. The idea is that you make a prognosis of where you think the company will be in the coming 5-10 years, and how much money they will be making at that time. To aid your guesswork you look at the state of the market the company will be in, and if possible compare it to similar companies. Once you think you have an idea of what the company will be making, you can calculate its worth. The worth of a company is usually between 5 and 15 times its yearly profits (depending on the market), multiplied by some risk factor. Though in practice this is hard because early-stage companies invest most/all/more of their profits back in to the company to allow it to grow. And ofcourse estimating risk is also a very hard thing to do. This is the process as far as I understand it. If you think I missed something or got something wrong please let me know. Also remember this is more a science than an art, most of these parameters come from experience and gut feeling.
      - neya 14y ago
        Thank you for your valuable explanation :)
vm 14y ago
Naval has been a prolific angel investor over the past few years. It would be interesting if some of this capital is used for direct investments out of AngelList. Years ago Sequoia did something like that by investing in YCombinator, and multiple venture funds created a similar structure when they invested in Betaworks.
friendstock 14y ago
I wonder if they raised the round on... AngelList? :P
billywalsh 14y ago
Must be easy to raise lots of funding from top investors when every investor worth is salt is a regular user of your product!

40 points by zosegal 14y ago

What is the correct way to use angel list if you're not currently fundraising? How should one engage on the site? What is the strategy in deciding who to follow? How do you attract people to follow you?

momoro 14y ago
* Hire people at https://angel.co/candidates https://angel.co/candidates * Browse jobs at https://angel.co/talent https://angel.co/talent * Follow markets you're interested in at https://angel.co/markets https://angel.co/markets * Apply to incubators (e.g. techstars) Lots more.

DanBlake 14y ago

Congrats to Naval and Team. He was instrumental in helping me out when I was new to the game and of all the investors/angels I have dealt with, he is the most down to earth and awesome in many ways. I feel very confident that he is one of the few guys in the valley who actually cares about helping entrepreneurs and is not in it for the cash. Angellist's success is proof of that.

prateekdayal 14y ago
It is also pretty awesome that Naval tries to help out startups outside the valley (and outside the US). In fact, not just Naval but other people in the team really want to help startups succeed and will reach out to you and talk to you. Great company DNA. Congratulations!

joshfraser 14y ago

I'm a huge fan of both Naval and AngelList. They have done so much already to make life better for entrepreneurs. I'm excited to see what they do with the cash infusion when it comes.

inspiredworlds 14y ago

AngelList is a game changer. Great idea and execution. I like how they are moving into other areas like startup recruitment and facilitating the financing process by providing standardised docs, electronic signatures, etc..

timdorr 14y ago

Any idea why they need $150m? Any thoughts on what that kind of cash would be used for? That could give you more employees than Twitter.

jewel 14y ago
Unless I misunderstand things, a valuation of $150m means that the company is worth $150m, not that they'll be raising that much. Instead they'll be selling a shares of the company at that valuation, so if they sell 10% they'll get $15m.
- neya 14y ago
  Can you please share with us some resources (if you may have) on how these companies are valued? What metrics, parameters are taken into account while evaluating a company's worth? Thanks!
  - tinco 14y ago
    As far as I understand it, it is based on educated guesswork. The idea is that you make a prognosis of where you think the company will be in the coming 5-10 years, and how much money they will be making at that time. To aid your guesswork you look at the state of the market the company will be in, and if possible compare it to similar companies. Once you think you have an idea of what the company will be making, you can calculate its worth. The worth of a company is usually between 5 and 15 times its yearly profits (depending on the market), multiplied by some risk factor. Though in practice this is hard because early-stage companies invest most/all/more of their profits back in to the company to allow it to grow. And ofcourse estimating risk is also a very hard thing to do. This is the process as far as I understand it. If you think I missed something or got something wrong please let me know. Also remember this is more a science than an art, most of these parameters come from experience and gut feeling.
    - neya 14y ago
      Thank you for your valuable explanation :)

vm 14y ago

Naval has been a prolific angel investor over the past few years. It would be interesting if some of this capital is used for direct investments out of AngelList. Years ago Sequoia did something like that by investing in YCombinator, and multiple venture funds created a similar structure when they invested in Betaworks.

friendstock 14y ago

I wonder if they raised the round on... AngelList? :P

billywalsh 14y ago

Must be easy to raise lots of funding from top investors when every investor worth is salt is a regular user of your product!