I am a junior angel in Silicon Valley. AMA • Hacker News Board

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

#211

Post by adrianscott » Tue, May 18, 2010, 8:07 PM UTC

I've done a series of angel investments, but was most active 99-01. Performance would probably put me in top decile v.c. for that time.

Had two liquidity events in last 2 years from advisory shares. Expecting an IPO in next year.

Most famous startup I passed on: Paypal, back when they were doing palmpilot stuff. ;)

Most famous startup I invested in: Napster, which went bankrupt

Best return: Giganet, acquired quickly by Emulex. Haven't heard of it? Could there be a connection? ;)

Present day: In the process of closing an angel round for my own new startup, mainly from friends I've known for a while who've built and sold off companies, plus a small number of friend of friends.

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

#212

Post by pclark » Tue, May 18, 2010, 8:22 PM UTC

joshu wrote: post #208

pclark wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

pretty much every change Yahoo has done has been a step backwards, except for changing the url to delicious.com

That was actually my decision! We bought the domain before the acquisition. I think I heard it on the radio as "del issy oos" and knew it had to be changed.

dyslexic delicious deviants around the world thank you (i'm not one, i quite liked the exclusive deli.cio.us domain)

(yes that was intentional)

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

#213

Post by pclark » Tue, May 18, 2010, 8:24 PM UTC

coryl wrote: post #209

Hi Joshu, 1) How aggressive are you in getting deals done? Are you more like "lets have a chat, sign here" or more like "okay, call me if you ever need funding."? 2) I'm actually working on a site similar to Delicious, http://www.howl.com . Its not quite bookmarking, we call it link blogging. What do you make of the market? Thanks

howl looks neat (good domain) how are you better than tumblr?

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

#214

Post by shafqat » Tue, May 18, 2010, 8:57 PM UTC

joshu wrote: post #93

jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What terrifies you about b2b (besides not understanding it)?

Sales. Seems very hard. Not that that route is bad but I understand b2c better,

Would you still consider investing in new B2B startups that have shown traction with sales?

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

#215

Post by coryl » Tue, May 18, 2010, 9:38 PM UTC

pclark wrote: post #213

coryl wrote: post #209

Hi Joshu, 1) How aggressive are you in getting deals done? Are you more like "lets have a chat, sign here" or more like "okay, call me if you ever need funding."? 2) I'm actually working on a site similar to Delicious, http://www.howl.com . Its not quite bookmarking, we call it link blogging. What do you make of the market? Thanks

howl looks neat (good domain) how are you better than tumblr?

still figuring that out. I think we're lighter and easier to post with. We also don't offer any blogging tools other than pasting links. We think we can do comments and content discovery better.

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

#216

Post by joshu » Wed, May 19, 2010, 2:09 AM UTC

shafqat wrote: post #214

joshu wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sales. Seems very hard. Not that that route is bad but I understand b2c better,

Would you still consider investing in new B2B startups that have shown traction with sales?

Maybe.

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

#217

Post by joshu » Wed, May 19, 2010, 2:12 AM UTC

mattmaroon wrote: post #202

joshu wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not fond of secondary franchises. If you are going to live in the shade of one tree, it'd better be a huge fucking tree. I am also not fond of temporary opportunities. If you are doing X for Android because there's a successful X for iPhone and nobody has done it yet, then it's not a scaleable business.

It worked pretty damn well for Playdom. They did X for Myspace because there was an X for Facebook and it took them to a huge amount of revenue. It's scalable as long as you can keep finding new Xes indefinitely.

Sure. I'm not saying it won't work - I'm just saying what I prefer to invest in.

Lots of things that I pass on go on to get acquired. It often makes me feel stupid and doubt my strategy and decision-making.

I'm also not entirely sure that I'm actually any good at this.

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

#218

Post by joshu » Wed, May 19, 2010, 2:12 AM UTC

btw0 wrote: post #198

Will you invest in a Chinese company?

I really don't understand the lay of the land there.

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

#219

Post by jwegener » Wed, May 19, 2010, 3:05 AM UTC

pclark wrote: post #167

joshu wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am wearing a red "foo camp" tee shirt from 2007, jeans possibly from j-crew, and white gym socks I bought at walmart. a year or two ago I threw out all my mismatched pairs of socks and bought all identical white socks. now I do not have to match and fold the socks when washing them. I just pile them into the drawer.

I do the same thing, except I bought lots of socks of different colors from the same range. Best feeling ever - not having to pair socks. (and being told you're wearing odd socks like some kind of mad man) Want to be friends?

I've had the same thought about socks. I've pondered starting a business around the idea -- pay $100 and we'd send you a few samples of different sock brands. Then choose the one you want most and we'll send you 30 pairs -- all you'll need!

Feedback?

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

#220

Post by srw » Wed, May 19, 2010, 3:27 AM UTC

Imagine that somebody is beginning a company that will be valued at >$ 1 Billion in three years and you believe on that. What will be your investment range and % of shares for an angel investment today. Also assuming that this company will not require any extra investment.

Just a question.