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I am a junior angel in Silicon Valley. AMA

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Re: I am a junior angel in Silicon Valley. AMA

#171

Post by patio11 »

joshu wrote: post #162
patio11 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm cautiously optimistic. Bigger, though, is just a side effect of playing a game well, not a goal I really go after for it's own sake. Pick a name out of your Rolodex, any name: I wouldn't trade my life for his for all the tea in China.

I know a guy who composed a message to aliens, uploaded it to his iPhone, traveled to Arecibo, and transmitted it to the stars.

I'm happy he's happy. I'm also happy he has never talked to me about my opinions on NASA. (Or iPhones, for that matter.)

Re: I am a junior angel in Silicon Valley. AMA

#172

Post by pclark »

I think that delicious is really awesome. I still use it pretty much every day, even though if anything the product has almost declined in quality over the past few years.

It feels like Delicious could have been the start of something even larger than a bookmark service, it's my primary resource for finding specific content (eg: rails + tutorial, photo + howto, etc.) I'm aware that that is a fairly large technical barrier in terms of how search works, but I feel it proves the potential for something really, really awesome. A real social search engine if you like.

Ever thought about buying it back off Yahoo?

Re: I am a junior angel in Silicon Valley. AMA

#173

Post by bjonathan »

Hi, I'm raising money for my first startup (Business angel round) and I read lots of blogs to be familiar with the process(Dixon,Suster,Wilson,VentureHacks) but I am still eager to learn more about the subject. Do you know other good ressources (blog, book,video) to learn about how to raise money and the mechanisms ?

Thank you

Re: I am a junior angel in Silicon Valley. AMA

#174

Post by joshu »

pclark wrote: post #172

I think that delicious is really awesome. I still use it pretty much every day, even though if anything the product has almost declined in quality over the past few years. It feels like Delicious could have been the start of something even larger than a bookmark service, it's my primary resource for finding specific content (eg: rails + tutorial, photo + howto, etc.) I'm aware that that is a fairly large technical ba…

I have. But then I'd be the bookmarks guy, and I'd rather go on to do something else.

Re: I am a junior angel in Silicon Valley. AMA

#175

Post by joshu »

bjonathan wrote: post #173

Hi, I'm raising money for my first startup (Business angel round) and I read lots of blogs to be familiar with the process(Dixon,Suster,Wilson,VentureHacks) but I am still eager to learn more about the subject. Do you know other good ressources (blog, book,video) to learn about how to raise money and the mechanisms ? Thank you

Those are good resources. You also need a good lawyer. All of the folks you mentioned are good people.

Re: I am a junior angel in Silicon Valley. AMA

#176

Post by felixmar »

joshu wrote: post #119

So far I'm surprised that a) nobody has really asked about exits or returns b) people that have asked questions about their own situations have been incredibly vague c) no questions about background or current work or d) no questions about delicious's creation, founding, and later sale.

At what point did you decide to sell Delicious to Yahoo? Did you sell because of the money offered, because the initial idea was more or less finished or something else?

Re: I am a junior angel in Silicon Valley. AMA

#177

Post by joshu »

felixmar wrote: post #176
joshu wrote: post #119

So far I'm surprised that a) nobody has really asked about exits or returns b) people that have asked questions about their own situations have been incredibly vague c) no questions about background or current work or d) no questions about delicious's creation, founding, and later sale.

At what point did you decide to sell Delicious to Yahoo? Did you sell because of the money offered, because the initial idea was more or less finished or something else?

Two reasons: The second round was more difficult than expected, and I thought that search engine integration made a lot of sense.

Re: I am a junior angel in Silicon Valley. AMA

#179

Post by stefanobernardi »

joshu wrote: post #160
rokhayakebe wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still build some small things here and there. I find it much more difficult to program now, though. Care to share any links?

The last thing I was tinkering with was http://lensdb.com/ but it still needs a lot of work. I haven't worked on it in months and months. I'm thinking of building an app to help manage my angel deal flow, of all things.

You have mail regarding that.

Re: I am a junior angel in Silicon Valley. AMA

#180

Post by royrod »

joshu wrote: post #169
agoric wrote: post #166

What are the prevailing terms for angel deals you've seen recently, and what do you consider to be "market" right now?

Lots more convertible debt lately, which I am not thrilled about. Or do you mean numbers? Every deal is different.

Ok, so (like many/most angels) you like priced deals :)

Any other terms, or trends, you care to share?

(Roy, "truly junior" beginning angel in Boston)

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