How to get the most out of AngelList. A primer on building social capital and fundraising for your startup on the AngelList platform.

1. Hacking AngelList
Ted Mann, founder SnipSnap
for DreamIt Ventures

5. Brief History of angel.co
• Founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneurs Naval
Ravikant and Babak Nivi
• Began as platform for startups and angels to network,
but has grown to also serve as indispensable job
board, syndicate management platform, host to funds
• Raised $104MM in 2014
• 243 startups funded; 2,673 investors participated
• Maiden Lane raises fund to back AngelList syndicate
leads

6. Anatomy of a Great Profile
• Big Market
• Teasing for More
Information to
Followers
• Lots of Social Proof

7. Dustin’s Advice
‣ Don’t conflate a profile and a pitch deck.
‣ Assign an editor (teammate or advisor).
‣ Be very careful about what markets
you chose to list your company in.
‣ Shamelessly solicit comments on you and your
company (go for people who have highest # of
followers first).
‣ Post updates and press regularly.

8. “Fundraising is all about Fear
of Being Left Out”
—Gil Penchina

9. Gil’s tips on creating a feeding frenzy
• Have all investors, advisors, members coordinate sending
out the 140 character blurb to AL, TW, FB at the same time
with a link to build more momentum
• Find a way to get one of the top 20 “megaphones” to
promote you on AL. The list is here: https://angel.co/people
• Have something with a hockey-stick curve, but no #’s on the
x or y axis for investor-catnip
• LARGE NUMBERS OR PERCENTAGES
• And something tantalizing that makes people need to learn
more and FOLLOW YOU

11. Spell out your instructions

12. What’s a Syndicate?
• People follow the lead with $$ - as little as $1,000 per deal
(crowd funding)
• Lead makes an investment decision
• Then AL works with to communicate the investment to the syndicate –
and also promotes it to the larger community to help fund it
• AL creates an LLC and collects checks (ACH and Wires) from the
crowd
• AL sends a single check to the startup and handles SEC, Audit,
Reporting
• Investors pay a 20% carry, no mgmt fee

14. Boss Syndicate
• Boston-centric, backed by Atlas
Venture
• Local entrepreneur/angels lead
investments, with minimum of
$250k per guaranteed by Atlas
• Other entrepreneurs can follow,
along with 241 other backers
• 21 investments in first 18 months

15. Do’s Don’ts
‣ Link to your AL Profile in
your email sig
‣ Ask everyone you meet at
DreamIt to comment on
and follow your page
‣ Spend as much time
building your personal
profile as your company
one
‣ Post all your jobs and
internships on AL
‣ Leave an open-ended
funding round up on AL. If
you announce you’re
fundraising, begin to show it
being filled up quickly
‣ Post a link to a long deck
‣ Post a video longer than 2
min
‣ Forget to follow every single
DreamIt company and
founder

16. Thanks
Ted Mann
ted@snipsnap.it
https://angel.co/ted-mann