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I recently closed some money with angels and your results will surely vary (so take all of this this with a grain of salt): * It's never too early to pitch an
by paulsingh 17y ago
I recently closed some money with angels and your results will surely vary (so take all of this this with a grain of salt):
* It's never too early to pitch an angel. IMHO, angels are generally comfortable investing before you have real traction - smart angels have told me that they invest in people, not ideas. So, the takeaway is that you want to start talking to angels early - let them know what you're up to and, if there's mutual interest, you'll get to the next level.
* Your deck should include the Kawasaki 10: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html Though, don't whip your deck out on the first date -- I've had more success by having informal coffee/lunch meetings first. If they want to know more, that's when you send them the deck.
* When in doubt, remember this: "Ask for advice and you may eventually get money. Ask for money and you'll often get advice."
Finally, if you want to continue the conversation offline, I'd be happy to help -- feel free to email me.
- joshu 17y agoThis is great advice, and covers a great deal of what I look for when I am acting as angel. Personally, I am looking for: - A solid idea and initial implementation; you can't tell how good an idea will be until it is embodied. I don't want to even talk to two MBAs with a powerpoint deck. I'd much rather see a hacker and a codebase. - A team I would consider actually working with or for. If they are hard to get along with now, it will be worse later (this is true in the opposite direction as well.) - Business plans and TAM and all that crap? Forget it. I want product vision and an ability to roll with the punches. Business plans end up on the floor and TAM is just wishful thinking. There's also a bunch of things I look for in the products, but I guess that's more investing philosophy.
- aditya 17y agoThanks Paul, this was super helpful. Your email isn't in your profile, but if you drop me a note, I'd love to pick your brain a little bit: aditya at sublucid dot com