3 ms·

I've set a budget of ~20% of my liquid capital and can afford to lose it, I believe. I have no debts etc. What can of financial position do you suggest is a mi

I've set a budget of ~20% of my liquid capital and can afford to lose it, I believe. I have no debts etc. What can of financial position do you suggest is a minimum for an Angel?

Shamiq 17y ago
10k + a rolodex, from what I gather. Or a couple million in risk capital.
jimboyoungblood 17y ago
The real question is why would an entrepreneur want your money? Unless there's something else that distinguishes you, the only way anyone would take your money is if you offered ridiculously generous terms. Buy a condo, put it in a brokerage account, or take it to Vegas. Your odds of seeing a positive return are better there.
- tiredkid 17y ago
  A great question! If that's what I learn here, then its a great piece of information all by itself. Assuming I and some other angel offer comparable amounts, then you should go with the guy with more contacts and a better track record. That certainly isn't me. If you happen to need excellent technical advice on systems software and hardware then I can help and have amazing contacts for that. But you raise an excellent point in that it may well be that I'm not at the right phase of my career to be an angel. Vegas gets boring. I have existing separate long term investments I intend to retire off. No particular interest in the stock market right now. (Been there, wrote the code, made some money).
  - lincolnq 17y ago
    Hello - I'd be interested in chatting with you. I'm very interested in systems stuff (programming languages, multicore, etc.), and I also have a startup which might want to take some angel investment soon. lincoln@newsbrane.com is my email.
  - paulsingh 17y ago
    Actually, my team and I could use some help on the systems software and hardware side. If you're interested, I'd love to introduce myself via a brief call or something -- we're working in the real-time relevancy space. Let me know: paul@philtro.com
newacc 17y ago
i would suggest a combo idea: buy a condo and rent it out to a YC startup founders for equity (stock option) in their startups... this will give you multiple benefits: 1. You will learn 2 fantastic investment trades (angel funding and real estate) at one shot and keep your money safe as you're buying a property which wont loose money. I wish i could do this, seriously. 2. You will make money from both, as price of your condo will definitely go high and if at all your tenants (starup founders) are successful then you will gain from the stock options. 3. Real estate is down so chances are high that you will buy a decent condo at lowest possible price. Remember to buy a condo in a good location even though you might have to pay a little more. 4. You will get a chance to be in touch with startup founders on regular basis and would learn important stuff from them which will help you to become a startup founder in the future and an angel investor once you have money that you can afford to loose. 5. You will also learn about real estate investing by meeting real estate agents, mortgage brokers, lawyers etc. Trust me investing in real estate is also an interesting domain and its one of the best option of getting good return in long term... and fortunately this is the best time to invest. MAN, you're one lucky guy. 6. Go to YC's angel investor's conference with those founders and see how everything works. 7. THE MOST IMPORTANT is, you will make new friends from variety of backgrounds... a huge networking opportunity - knowing people like Pg in particular is no small deal. The above idea is inspired from a YC posting a while a go, please visit and read: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=565493 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=565493
- tiredkid 17y ago
  Now that's an interesting idea I hadn't considered; will need to ponder whether the limited amount of cash (rental equivalent * x months) is sufficient investment. I suppose a club house for hackers has other benefits as well.. Meeting the right startup people is very important to me. As with everyone else I have a list of cool ideas. The trick will be the right people to execute.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - ivankirigin 17y ago

I've set a budget of ~20% of my liquid capital and can afford to lose it, I believe. I have no debts etc. What can of financial position do you suggest is a minimum for an Angel?

Shamiq 17y ago

10k + a rolodex, from what I gather. Or a couple million in risk capital.

jimboyoungblood 17y ago

The real question is why would an entrepreneur want your money? Unless there's something else that distinguishes you, the only way anyone would take your money is if you offered ridiculously generous terms. Buy a condo, put it in a brokerage account, or take it to Vegas. Your odds of seeing a positive return are better there.

tiredkid 17y ago
A great question! If that's what I learn here, then its a great piece of information all by itself. Assuming I and some other angel offer comparable amounts, then you should go with the guy with more contacts and a better track record. That certainly isn't me. If you happen to need excellent technical advice on systems software and hardware then I can help and have amazing contacts for that. But you raise an excellent point in that it may well be that I'm not at the right phase of my career to be an angel. Vegas gets boring. I have existing separate long term investments I intend to retire off. No particular interest in the stock market right now. (Been there, wrote the code, made some money).
- lincolnq 17y ago
  Hello - I'd be interested in chatting with you. I'm very interested in systems stuff (programming languages, multicore, etc.), and I also have a startup which might want to take some angel investment soon. lincoln@newsbrane.com is my email.
- paulsingh 17y ago
  Actually, my team and I could use some help on the systems software and hardware side. If you're interested, I'd love to introduce myself via a brief call or something -- we're working in the real-time relevancy space. Let me know: paul@philtro.com

newacc 17y ago

i would suggest a combo idea: buy a condo and rent it out to a YC startup founders for equity (stock option) in their startups... this will give you multiple benefits: 1. You will learn 2 fantastic investment trades (angel funding and real estate) at one shot and keep your money safe as you're buying a property which wont loose money. I wish i could do this, seriously. 2. You will make money from both, as price of your condo will definitely go high and if at all your tenants (starup founders) are successful then you will gain from the stock options. 3. Real estate is down so chances are high that you will buy a decent condo at lowest possible price. Remember to buy a condo in a good location even though you might have to pay a little more. 4. You will get a chance to be in touch with startup founders on regular basis and would learn important stuff from them which will help you to become a startup founder in the future and an angel investor once you have money that you can afford to loose. 5. You will also learn about real estate investing by meeting real estate agents, mortgage brokers, lawyers etc. Trust me investing in real estate is also an interesting domain and its one of the best option of getting good return in long term... and fortunately this is the best time to invest. MAN, you're one lucky guy. 6. Go to YC's angel investor's conference with those founders and see how everything works. 7. THE MOST IMPORTANT is, you will make new friends from variety of backgrounds... a huge networking opportunity - knowing people like Pg in particular is no small deal. The above idea is inspired from a YC posting a while a go, please visit and read: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=565493 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=565493

tiredkid 17y ago
Now that's an interesting idea I hadn't considered; will need to ponder whether the limited amount of cash (rental equivalent * x months) is sufficient investment. I suppose a club house for hackers has other benefits as well.. Meeting the right startup people is very important to me. As with everyone else I have a list of cool ideas. The trick will be the right people to execute.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- ivankirigin 17y ago