Choosing Your Angel Investors

Max Shapiro from People Connect Staffing turned me on to this great video of a recent gathering of Angels and VCs titled “How to Select Your Angels“, from a Total Access session sponsored by Orrick.

The panelists were Jeff Clavier, Jared Hansen, Rob Hayes, Mitchell Kapor, and Naval Ravikant and moderated by Larry Kane.

Here are some key points from the talk:

• The bar for startups is set higher, you need more than an idea to get funding, need to show traction.
• Investors want to see something that actually works, if you have revenue is better.
• What’s your team structure? Investors want to know who’s going to actually do all the work. Make sure you have more “doers” thank “executives” in your team.
• The product that gets funding is almost never the product that ends up winning, so investors are looking for a team that can move in a big enough market, take whatever they started out with, and make it work, become massive.
• You’ve gotta know how customer acquisition, retention, and referral will work for your company. If you don’t, is likely investors may pass (higher risk).
• Naval says “focus on the product, the team, when the time is right the money will show up” and what he means is that the funding process takes time and energy, don’t let that distract you.
• On incubators, they suggest you pick one as if you were choosing the best college. Each incubator has its own culture, find one that fits you.
• A key aspect of getting funded is showing you know where you are, how far you’ve come, and that you know the meaningful milestones you have to reach for your next round of financing.