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Angel Investors, a Field Guide

jeanyang.com

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Re: Angel Investors, a Field Guide

#41

Post by pavlov »

I’m not quite sure what’s the takeaway here:

‘One conversation that stuck with me: I was telling Kevin how my two lead investors had both interviewed a key product hire for the company. One was positive and one was in the middle. Kevin said to always be “strong yes” or “strong no” if I could help it. I still hire according to this philosophy today.‘

Is the idea that you should ask for strictly binary yes/no feedback from interviewers, and only move forward if there’s a “strong yes” consensus from this process?

Re: Angel Investors, a Field Guide

#43

Post by _puk »

pavlov wrote: post #41

I’m not quite sure what’s the takeaway here: ‘One conversation that stuck with me: I was telling Kevin how my two lead investors had both interviewed a key product hire for the company. One was positive and one was in the middle. Kevin said to always be “strong yes” or “strong no” if I could help it. I still hire according to this philosophy today.‘ Is the idea that you should ask for strictly binary yes/no feedback…

As it was put to me over the years:

Have you ever regretted hiring someone who you were 100% sure on?

Have you ever regretted hiring someone you weren't 100% sure on?

Definitely or no, it's that binary sometimes.

Re: Angel Investors, a Field Guide

#44

Post by throwaway2037 »

Hot take: Another woman talks about her emotional journey as an angel investor. I am tired of these articles. A huge number of them: You can beat them by investing in the S&P 500 via a low cost ETF. What (economic) value these angel investors providing? I will tell you: Little, to zero, to negative.

Re: Angel Investors, a Field Guide

#45

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

pavlov wrote: post #41

I’m not quite sure what’s the takeaway here: ‘One conversation that stuck with me: I was telling Kevin how my two lead investors had both interviewed a key product hire for the company. One was positive and one was in the middle. Kevin said to always be “strong yes” or “strong no” if I could help it. I still hire according to this philosophy today.‘ Is the idea that you should ask for strictly binary yes/no feedback…

This dates back to similar advice from Joel Spolsky 25 years ago (v1 was posted in 2000).

https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/10/25/the-guerrilla-guid...

Re: Angel Investors, a Field Guide

#46

Post by CoffeeOnWrite »

bix6 wrote: post #30
kdazzle wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, sounds like a VC but without a good bit of the stress and hassle. Like you wouldnt have to gin up money from LPs

That’s what angel investing is. Instead with this strategy you get a whopping 5% of profits and Andreessen gets 95% for your efforts / network.

What? The scout doesn’t risk capital, of course they get only limited return.

Re: Angel Investors, a Field Guide

#47

Post by pempem »

zipy124 wrote: post #18
bix6 wrote: post #10

I like this in general but I think it’s sad the friends and family who helped you don’t get any financial upside. I also take issue with calling this angel investing: > I angel invest primarily through my scouting relationship with the VC firm Andreesson Horowitz. They give me a budget for investing in each fund and I get a fraction of the carry.

Yeh this is more like being a salesman selling funding contracts for a VC firm to startups, a weird dynamic.

Its the same as "bird dogging" or wholesaling in real estate or really any series of other middlemen or wholesale business who do the hard work of finding the deal but don't necessarily have the cash or want to run the business end to end.

Re: Angel Investors, a Field Guide

#48

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #23

>> I told him I wanted investment from Kevin Durant. It was fall 2018, KD was playing for the Warriors, and he had won Finals MVP earlier that year. I was a KD fan and had heard he did tech investing. So you skipped a friend or family member because KD is good at basketball and has lots of money? Super "field guide" /s

A friend or family member can’t get you box seats in an NBA game. You would be surprised how far that gets you in sales. I was a client of a recruiting company - hiring people through them - and they had season tickets to basketball games and baseball games they would give away.

Re: Angel Investors, a Field Guide

#49

Post by financetechbro »

AYBABTME wrote: post #40
abc123abc123 wrote: post #38

Stay away from the Angel investor game unless: 1. You're extremely rich. 2. You see it as a learning opportunity or you enjoy helping, without thought of financial reward. What will happen, at the slightest whiff of success, is that professional investors and VC will swoop in at a moments notice, and dilute you to pieces. In the end, you will have paid for the company while it was small, to get it started, and then t…

How does this happen with the typical SAFE?

Future investors can negotiate liquidation preference and participation terms that will give them a bigger part of the pot than their % ownership during a “liquidation event” I.e. basically any outcome other than an IPO will trigger those rights

Re: Angel Investors, a Field Guide

#50

Post by htrp »

didgeoridoo wrote: post #21
meagher wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not questioning his investment abilities, just curious what he offers that is strategic (advice, dealmaking, etc). Aside: Saquon Barkley's (pro football player) portfolio is insane https://www.readtheprofile.com/p/saquon-barkley-investment-p...

The ability of your enterprise sales team to invite a $50M deal prospect to a luxury box with Kevin Durant is not to be underestimated.

This 100%

KD is trying to be steve young and leverage his bay area fame to get a seat at the table

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