6 ms·

Who needs angel financing/help? Testing hacker news for this purpose.

59 points by betashop 17y ago

I'm currently evaluating potential new angel investments. Checking out hacker news as a potential source of discovering interesting startups in need of some help.

joshu 17y ago
You didn't post an investment thesis, direction, or field. Just looking for engineers that think they are good, apparently. (One never sees investors who ask for people who iterate slowly and hate shipping.) I find it slightly odd that you specify people who aren't just looking for any money, and then announce "Who needs some money?" I suspect you are going to see a great deal of adverse selection with this strategy.
- betashop 17y ago
  we'll see. sometimes you just have to ship it and see what happens.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
- gridspy 17y ago
  If you restrict yourself to only funding those startups which have prototypes and real clients you would be off to a great start.
  - betashop 17y ago
    Hi. As I noted, I invest in people and products, not business plans. Frankly, for a seed stage investment, i don't want to see your business plan. I just want to touch your product and understand the way you think.
    - gridspy 17y ago
      That is what I meant - your 'products only' approach eliminates the posers in favour of those who get stuff done
vaksel 17y ago
I think you should probably tailor the post a little bit more to the HN community. Right now this is the equivalent of you linking to an angel investor's "contact us" page. Interesting, since you are an angel investor, posting on HN, but otherwise a little bit too generic, since most of them have those types of statements. I dunno maybe expand on what you are looking for in a founder, or what you are looking for in a company. Also focus more on what you can offer, angel money is the same, a dollar from you is the same as a dollar from the next guy, what differs is the advice and the connections you can give.
- betashop 17y ago
  Hi. I agree with everything you have written here. What I bring to the table is my recent experiences and network of contacts.
  - joshu 17y ago
    ... every investor says this.
    - deleted 17y ago
      [deleted]
  - wavesplash 17y ago
    I'm with Joshua on that point. In Silicon Valley experience and contacts are in abundance. Why would someone want to bring you on board vs. other well connected people in the valley? How do you differentiate from the other great angels and early stage VCs out here?
    - joshu 17y ago
      I don't think he's in Silicon Valley. Possibly a big plus, or a big minus, depending. Personally, I like to meet the people I'm investing in. Meeting your investors is probably good too. Network effect, etc etc etc.
DanielBMarkham 17y ago
Interesting idea -- using HN as a forum. E-mail me if you'd like to start a conversation.
betashop 17y ago
Ok, in the first hour since posting this.... I've received about 15 emails so far from founders. All full of passion and belief in their ideas. 3-4 are definitely products I'm interested in exploring more.
- joshu 17y ago
  They should post their projects. A lot of VCs and investors read HN.
  - betashop 17y ago
    @joshu: I agree. We should create a simple way for HN readers to post their projects.
    - joshu 17y ago
      Since we have threaded conversations, you don't need to @ like in twitter. There's already a way for HN readers to post their projects. It's called "submit" and it's in the orange bar at the top.
    - stanleydrew 17y ago
      A lot of people post their projects under "Ask HN: Review my startup" type posts. See here: http://searchyc.com/review+my+startup http://searchyc.com/review+my+startup
      - miloshh 17y ago
        It seems that many of the review requests are ignored without any comment, as I learned by clicking on that link.
        spokey 17y ago
        "Review my startup" posts are among my favorite aspects of HN. I generally find them valuable no matter what the submitted site is about. Time permitting I go out of my way to try to comment on them but unfortunately lately it seems that many of these posts don't get a lot of traction or thoughtful discussion. I wish I knew how to help the HN community keep these going. I'd trade 3 techcrunch posts for 1 "review my startup". (Also, that link doesn't seem to list the most recent posts, or at least not at the top of the list. I think there have been more recent review posts than the top few on that list. Some use variations on the searched terms, for example "rate" rather than "review".)
davidw 17y ago
I could really use some advice, but don't really need money at the moment.
- betashop 17y ago
  @davidw: ask HN, or email me directly
quellhorst 17y ago
Maybe you guys looking for investment should test posting your response as a comment here instead of emailing privately. He isn't the only investor on hacker news.
zackattack 17y ago
Would it be a dumb idea to email this guy if I have a product that competes with one of his investments?
- eam 17y ago
  I don't think so, at least not if your idea is better.
lefstathiou 17y ago
I decided to follow quellhorst's suggestion and post my product publicly (see it as a good little exercise). My name is Leo. I'll try to keep this short and sweet. If any of you have specific questions or comments, you can email me or reply to the thread (lefstathiou@gmail.com). To preface this: I have large ego, so please dont hesitate to speak your mind, share your thoughts, tell me how ridiculous this is, etc. I value everyone's feedback, most importantly the constructive kind. Here are a couple links: - Our website: www.groupie.mobi - Download the app on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=330225210&mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftwa... - Facebook fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/groupie http://www.facebook.com/groupie - Screenshots of the App: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121496&id=92527063538 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121496&id=92527063... What is it? Groupie is a communication tool that allows you to create, join and manage social and professional groups on the iPhone. Designed specifically for a smart-phone, it is (arguably) the most efficient way to network and communicate with the groups and communities that share your interests. It does so by providing every group access to four tools: a group message board, live chat room, GPS-enabled map and member directory. People like to think in terms of analogies so here are a couple: it's like yammer without the exclusivity and shared email domain requirement or a streamlined Facebook groups without the friending, pokes, status updates, etc. Of course there are a dozen other nuances that separate us from them but you get the gist. What problem do we solve? Groupie is the most efficient way communicate with a group of people from your smartphone (yes there are some exceptions). It is also a very practical networking tool. If you attend a conference, meetup, etc. There are a lot of people you meet and even more you dont. Groupie is an easy, practical, and informal way to do it from the device you keep on you considerably more than your laptop. Monetization: we have a model we're very excited and confident in but this I would rather discuss in private. About us: My partner and I are Finance and Marketing guys from NYU. We launched Scriblink.com a couple years ago, now the leading online whiteboard (which operates at a small, but decent annual profit). It's a big fish in a small pond with over 60,000 visitors a month. We started Groupie about 10 months ago and just launched. We've invested $30,000 of our own money and will release a web and Android based version in mid 2010 (god willing). While I would like to say we arent "winging" it in terms of marketing the application, to be honest we are. My partner and I are fanatically ambitious and will likely try everything possible to get the word out. That being said, we could use some direction. While we've come a long way in 10 months, we've made so many mistakes (and costly ones) that i can say with confidence that it always helps to hear from someone who walked down our path before.
jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
This is a smart approach. If I were a founder, I'd certainly want to be pitching an angel/vc that was on a similar wavelength as the crowd on hn. X2 credit if they actually participate on a regular basis ala joshu. I would like to know some of the areas you're interested in. Your past experiences give some good idea of areas you like, but there are obviously other sectors.
gridspy 17y ago
Here is my proposal, public for HN investors. Enquires to tom at gridspy .co.nz Gridspy provides an online realtime power monitoring system for homes and businesses. They are looking for both trading partners and investors, especially with marketing or sales background. http://www.gridspy.co.nz/ http://www.gridspy.co.nz/ The Pitch: Gridspy provides you with an interactive view of power, water, gas and other resource usage in your building. Gridspy allows you to access and monitor your consumption patterns in real-time using a standard web browser on your PC, laptop or mobile phone. The data is accurate and updated each second as you watch. The power data is split into multiple channels so you can see which parts of your building are using the most power. Unlike a smart-meter, the Gridspy system can isolate the power usage within your building to individual systems such as AC, hot water, lighting or computers. This allows you to focus your power efforts where they really count. Learn how much you actually use on standby devices, or how changing to compact florescent lights will actually save you money. Gridspy has passed the development phase and is a working product. We need your help to get to market. The team behind Gridspy bring years of experience creating smart hardware devices and off the shelf solutions and have supported a variety of customers that have succeeded both in New Zealand and internationally. What sets us apart from our competition is our live data collection and display, our web based approach, and our low cost. We also offer high accuracy and can sample many different loads at once. We can also provide automation and control to any degree of complexity. The aim is to give people back control of their power usage, helping our customers measure and save power. Accomplishments to date: * Development of a power monitoring prototype, with all the key technical hurdles overcome. * Manufacturing plan that will take us from prototype to fully automated production over three months grounded on previous experience. * Comprehensive manufacturing contacts. * Several sales leads with potential for large sales volumes over the next quarter. Development plans: * Begin the electrical approvals process, including CE Mark, so our solution can be sold both domestically and internationally * Create staged runs of 25, 100, and 400 units to build our manufacturing pipeline * Design and test several related devices to round out our offering * Offer Gridspy to New Zealand industrial clients * Improve the look and feel of our website and general branding * Create a stock of rental and trial units to enable sales * Build a community of home and business owners who are proud to openly discuss their power usage and demonstrate their environmental credibility. Key Challenges: * Cash to finance due diligence and further prototype runs so we are ready to handle future high demand. * Our current small production runs force us to adopt higher prices than we would like * Competition is entering the “Smart Grid” arena all the time. Our niche is unique and we need to continue to differentiate ourselves. Principals & Previous Experience: Stephen Leys as 30 years experience as the managing director of Technman designing custom electronics solutions for a wide range of clients. He is an experienced electrical engineer and has seen many products through concept to large scale production. Tom Leys is a software developer who has been working with firmware with Stephen for 9 years. Tom has a background in designing user interfaces for a number of applications. Since 2008 he has been spending all his free time making Gridspy a reality.

59 points by betashop 17y ago

I'm currently evaluating potential new angel investments. Checking out hacker news as a potential source of discovering interesting startups in need of some help.

joshu 17y ago

You didn't post an investment thesis, direction, or field. Just looking for engineers that think they are good, apparently. (One never sees investors who ask for people who iterate slowly and hate shipping.) I find it slightly odd that you specify people who aren't just looking for any money, and then announce "Who needs some money?" I suspect you are going to see a great deal of adverse selection with this strategy.

betashop 17y ago
we'll see. sometimes you just have to ship it and see what happens.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
gridspy 17y ago
If you restrict yourself to only funding those startups which have prototypes and real clients you would be off to a great start.
- betashop 17y ago
  Hi. As I noted, I invest in people and products, not business plans. Frankly, for a seed stage investment, i don't want to see your business plan. I just want to touch your product and understand the way you think.
  - gridspy 17y ago
    That is what I meant - your 'products only' approach eliminates the posers in favour of those who get stuff done

vaksel 17y ago

I think you should probably tailor the post a little bit more to the HN community. Right now this is the equivalent of you linking to an angel investor's "contact us" page. Interesting, since you are an angel investor, posting on HN, but otherwise a little bit too generic, since most of them have those types of statements. I dunno maybe expand on what you are looking for in a founder, or what you are looking for in a company. Also focus more on what you can offer, angel money is the same, a dollar from you is the same as a dollar from the next guy, what differs is the advice and the connections you can give.

betashop 17y ago
Hi. I agree with everything you have written here. What I bring to the table is my recent experiences and network of contacts.
- joshu 17y ago
  ... every investor says this.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
- wavesplash 17y ago
  I'm with Joshua on that point. In Silicon Valley experience and contacts are in abundance. Why would someone want to bring you on board vs. other well connected people in the valley? How do you differentiate from the other great angels and early stage VCs out here?
  - joshu 17y ago
    I don't think he's in Silicon Valley. Possibly a big plus, or a big minus, depending. Personally, I like to meet the people I'm investing in. Meeting your investors is probably good too. Network effect, etc etc etc.

DanielBMarkham 17y ago

Interesting idea -- using HN as a forum. E-mail me if you'd like to start a conversation.

betashop 17y ago

Ok, in the first hour since posting this.... I've received about 15 emails so far from founders. All full of passion and belief in their ideas. 3-4 are definitely products I'm interested in exploring more.

joshu 17y ago
They should post their projects. A lot of VCs and investors read HN.
- betashop 17y ago
  @joshu: I agree. We should create a simple way for HN readers to post their projects.
  - joshu 17y ago
    Since we have threaded conversations, you don't need to @ like in twitter. There's already a way for HN readers to post their projects. It's called "submit" and it's in the orange bar at the top.
  - stanleydrew 17y ago
    A lot of people post their projects under "Ask HN: Review my startup" type posts. See here: http://searchyc.com/review+my+startup http://searchyc.com/review+my+startup
    - miloshh 17y ago
      It seems that many of the review requests are ignored without any comment, as I learned by clicking on that link.
      - spokey 17y ago
        "Review my startup" posts are among my favorite aspects of HN. I generally find them valuable no matter what the submitted site is about. Time permitting I go out of my way to try to comment on them but unfortunately lately it seems that many of these posts don't get a lot of traction or thoughtful discussion. I wish I knew how to help the HN community keep these going. I'd trade 3 techcrunch posts for 1 "review my startup". (Also, that link doesn't seem to list the most recent posts, or at least not at the top of the list. I think there have been more recent review posts than the top few on that list. Some use variations on the searched terms, for example "rate" rather than "review".)

davidw 17y ago

I could really use some advice, but don't really need money at the moment.

betashop 17y ago
@davidw: ask HN, or email me directly

quellhorst 17y ago

Maybe you guys looking for investment should test posting your response as a comment here instead of emailing privately. He isn't the only investor on hacker news.

zackattack 17y ago

Would it be a dumb idea to email this guy if I have a product that competes with one of his investments?

eam 17y ago
I don't think so, at least not if your idea is better.

lefstathiou 17y ago

I decided to follow quellhorst's suggestion and post my product publicly (see it as a good little exercise). My name is Leo. I'll try to keep this short and sweet. If any of you have specific questions or comments, you can email me or reply to the thread (lefstathiou@gmail.com). To preface this: I have large ego, so please dont hesitate to speak your mind, share your thoughts, tell me how ridiculous this is, etc. I value everyone's feedback, most importantly the constructive kind. Here are a couple links: - Our website: www.groupie.mobi - Download the app on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=330225210&mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftwa... - Facebook fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/groupie http://www.facebook.com/groupie - Screenshots of the App: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121496&id=92527063538 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121496&id=92527063... What is it? Groupie is a communication tool that allows you to create, join and manage social and professional groups on the iPhone. Designed specifically for a smart-phone, it is (arguably) the most efficient way to network and communicate with the groups and communities that share your interests. It does so by providing every group access to four tools: a group message board, live chat room, GPS-enabled map and member directory. People like to think in terms of analogies so here are a couple: it's like yammer without the exclusivity and shared email domain requirement or a streamlined Facebook groups without the friending, pokes, status updates, etc. Of course there are a dozen other nuances that separate us from them but you get the gist. What problem do we solve? Groupie is the most efficient way communicate with a group of people from your smartphone (yes there are some exceptions). It is also a very practical networking tool. If you attend a conference, meetup, etc. There are a lot of people you meet and even more you dont. Groupie is an easy, practical, and informal way to do it from the device you keep on you considerably more than your laptop. Monetization: we have a model we're very excited and confident in but this I would rather discuss in private. About us: My partner and I are Finance and Marketing guys from NYU. We launched Scriblink.com a couple years ago, now the leading online whiteboard (which operates at a small, but decent annual profit). It's a big fish in a small pond with over 60,000 visitors a month. We started Groupie about 10 months ago and just launched. We've invested $30,000 of our own money and will release a web and Android based version in mid 2010 (god willing). While I would like to say we arent "winging" it in terms of marketing the application, to be honest we are. My partner and I are fanatically ambitious and will likely try everything possible to get the word out. That being said, we could use some direction. While we've come a long way in 10 months, we've made so many mistakes (and costly ones) that i can say with confidence that it always helps to hear from someone who walked down our path before.

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago

This is a smart approach. If I were a founder, I'd certainly want to be pitching an angel/vc that was on a similar wavelength as the crowd on hn. X2 credit if they actually participate on a regular basis ala joshu. I would like to know some of the areas you're interested in. Your past experiences give some good idea of areas you like, but there are obviously other sectors.

gridspy 17y ago

Here is my proposal, public for HN investors. Enquires to tom at gridspy .co.nz Gridspy provides an online realtime power monitoring system for homes and businesses. They are looking for both trading partners and investors, especially with marketing or sales background. http://www.gridspy.co.nz/ http://www.gridspy.co.nz/ The Pitch: Gridspy provides you with an interactive view of power, water, gas and other resource usage in your building. Gridspy allows you to access and monitor your consumption patterns in real-time using a standard web browser on your PC, laptop or mobile phone. The data is accurate and updated each second as you watch. The power data is split into multiple channels so you can see which parts of your building are using the most power. Unlike a smart-meter, the Gridspy system can isolate the power usage within your building to individual systems such as AC, hot water, lighting or computers. This allows you to focus your power efforts where they really count. Learn how much you actually use on standby devices, or how changing to compact florescent lights will actually save you money. Gridspy has passed the development phase and is a working product. We need your help to get to market. The team behind Gridspy bring years of experience creating smart hardware devices and off the shelf solutions and have supported a variety of customers that have succeeded both in New Zealand and internationally. What sets us apart from our competition is our live data collection and display, our web based approach, and our low cost. We also offer high accuracy and can sample many different loads at once. We can also provide automation and control to any degree of complexity. The aim is to give people back control of their power usage, helping our customers measure and save power. Accomplishments to date: * Development of a power monitoring prototype, with all the key technical hurdles overcome. * Manufacturing plan that will take us from prototype to fully automated production over three months grounded on previous experience. * Comprehensive manufacturing contacts. * Several sales leads with potential for large sales volumes over the next quarter. Development plans: * Begin the electrical approvals process, including CE Mark, so our solution can be sold both domestically and internationally * Create staged runs of 25, 100, and 400 units to build our manufacturing pipeline * Design and test several related devices to round out our offering * Offer Gridspy to New Zealand industrial clients * Improve the look and feel of our website and general branding * Create a stock of rental and trial units to enable sales * Build a community of home and business owners who are proud to openly discuss their power usage and demonstrate their environmental credibility. Key Challenges: * Cash to finance due diligence and further prototype runs so we are ready to handle future high demand. * Our current small production runs force us to adopt higher prices than we would like * Competition is entering the “Smart Grid” arena all the time. Our niche is unique and we need to continue to differentiate ourselves. Principals & Previous Experience: Stephen Leys as 30 years experience as the managing director of Technman designing custom electronics solutions for a wide range of clients. He is an experienced electrical engineer and has seen many products through concept to large scale production. Tom Leys is a software developer who has been working with firmware with Stephen for 9 years. Tom has a background in designing user interfaces for a number of applications. Since 2008 he has been spending all his free time making Gridspy a reality.