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Hacking AngelList (or "social proof")

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Re: Hacking AngelList (or "social proof")

#31

Post by naval »

diolpah wrote: post #12
nivi wrote: post #8

Hey, this is Nivi from AngelList. I am very happy for Stormpulse and I'm glad to answer any of your questions here. A couple things: 1. We're getting out of the "gatekeeper" business as quickly as possible. Over 70% of the intros on the site are now driven by code and community -- not us. It took a lot longer than we thought it would. We're working on the remaining 30%. 2. We don't think of it as "applying" to AngelL…

This effort to close the remaining 30% will make the primacy of social proof and popularity over team/product/traction/revenue/earnings even more powerful on AngelList. It sounds like there is a fantastic opening here for other people in the angel/vc community to take on the task of being a gatekeeper or "talent scout" of sorts for excellent businesses who don't already have the requisite social proof.

All social proof means in this context is that there is a community of gatekeepers and scouts rather than one or two gatekeepers or scouts.

Re: Hacking AngelList (or "social proof")

#32

Post by diolpah »

naval wrote: post #31
diolpah wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This effort to close the remaining 30% will make the primacy of social proof and popularity over team/product/traction/revenue/earnings even more powerful on AngelList. It sounds like there is a fantastic opening here for other people in the angel/vc community to take on the task of being a gatekeeper or "talent scout" of sorts for excellent businesses who don't already have the requisite social proof.

All social proof means in this context is that there is a community of gatekeepers and scouts rather than one or two gatekeepers or scouts.

I understand the direction you're going in, and in order to scale, it's inevitable. I don't begrudge you that.

But my understanding is that in the past, you guys made something of an implicit guarantee that you would look at all submissions and be the point of introduction for great companies who don't yet already have an introduction. The necessary shift you are now making will eliminate this opening.

You mention that there is a community of gatekeepers and scouts, but I really don't see it this way. One cannot, by policy, contact anyone on the site without already having a "follower" relationship with them.

It would be nice to see a handful of angels/vcs take upon this mantle of being the go-to talent scout for great but unconnected businesses. There's no reason these people couldn't use AngelList as the platform on which to do it, of course.

Re: Hacking AngelList (or "social proof")

#33

Post by naval »

diolpah wrote: post #32
naval wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All social proof means in this context is that there is a community of gatekeepers and scouts rather than one or two gatekeepers or scouts.

I understand the direction you're going in, and in order to scale, it's inevitable. I don't begrudge you that. But my understanding is that in the past, you guys made something of an implicit guarantee that you would look at all submissions and be the point of introduction for great companies who don't yet already have an introduction. The necessary shift you are now making will eliminate this opening. You mention th…

That's the idea. And it doesn't have to be angels / VCs only. It can also be the community of entrepreneurs. Don't worry :-)

Re: Hacking AngelList (or "social proof")

#34

Post by mcherm »

_delirium wrote: post #30
aresant wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you're disagreeing with the post and say "success needs to be a mix" but that's the point of the article. Don't miss that: a) They've been working on the product since 2004 and it's best in class as a result of an insane amount of product development. b) Every single lead they've generated has come through their "freemium" model, they've never spent a nickel on marketing. c) Only recently have they lea…

This part is strange to me: > c) Only recently have they learned that a best-in-class product isn't enough to get investors excited without talking about the market. Isn't the whole point of there existing a separate class of tech-oriented investors and investment managers, who get paid pretty well for their work, that they are knowledgeable and well-positioned to evaluate things like market prospects? If who they fu…

Yes, that's it exactly!

Re: Hacking AngelList (or "social proof")

#35

Post by wensing »

mikegreenberg wrote: post #21

Regardless of your feelings on cashing in on your social capital, it's clear that reputation goes a long way. Yes, it doesn't come cheap but the results come from long-term, compound effort. I don't doubt the 25,000 hours Matt quoted in that pitch. But the long-term, compound effort is an important catalyst. (You guys might know it as 'hustle'.) I can second what auston (and others) have echoed about Matt. I had the…

Thanks Mike ... really liked doing that HnT and was glad we could veer away from tech topics and talk about the biz. Hope we can cross paths again soon.

Re: Hacking AngelList (or "social proof")

#37

Post by mikegreenberg »

wensing wrote: post #35
mikegreenberg wrote: post #21

Regardless of your feelings on cashing in on your social capital, it's clear that reputation goes a long way. Yes, it doesn't come cheap but the results come from long-term, compound effort. I don't doubt the 25,000 hours Matt quoted in that pitch. But the long-term, compound effort is an important catalyst. (You guys might know it as 'hustle'.) I can second what auston (and others) have echoed about Matt. I had the…

Thanks Mike ... really liked doing that HnT and was glad we could veer away from tech topics and talk about the biz. Hope we can cross paths again soon.

I'm sure we will, my man! ;)
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