

Use Angel List for customer development...and then raise money. - jaf12duke
http://www.humbledmba.com/i-was-wrong-the-sooner-you-start-on-angel-lis

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alexwolfe
I actually emailed them explaining my frustation on how the site was really
for people who already had connections. It didn't work very well for
connecting people that had very little influence or existing connections with
investors. They were very honest and admitted:

"Right now, we don't do a great job addressing your situation. That forces
some users to make initial contact with investors off-site (LinkedIn is
common); we're working on new ways for you to make those initial contacts
within AngelList."

If they can solve this problem then I think the platform will really gain
mainstream appeal. Otherwise I think it will remain a tool that works well for
a small niche of startups.

~~~
davidhansen
Yes. Here's a little bit about our experience with AngelList. We are quite
profitable and are doing well growing from our existing cash flow. We are not
seeking capital at this time.

We have had profiles on AngelList for a while now, with the expectation that
we would "age" the accounts and gradually accumulate interested parties, such
that if the day came when we would like to seek additional growth capital, we
could then reach out to these people.

Result: Zero followers. Most likely zero views. AngelList is very much a
walled garden, useful only to those with preexisting angel connections.

~~~
tylerhwillis
Did you do anything to drive people to your profile, even initially?

Even on the web, where search is more relevant than on discovery driven social
networks, it's very hard to capture even small amounts of interest just by
creating a site.

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nateberkopec
Your investors are not your customers! This is the worst kind of "do-what-
gets-funded" thinking.

I love AngelList, but it's proper use is not making sure your startup has
enough buzzwords and TechCrunch-influenced positioning to attract investors.

~~~
csallen
I agree with you, but after reading the article, I don't think the author is
saying, "Put your idea on AngelList and if investors don't like it, don't do
it." He used AngelList to connect with investors, and he used those investors
to connect with actual customers (in his case, landlords, hotel managers,
etc). So I don't think he's confusing investors with customers.

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cambler
I have to agree. I signed up and put as much information as I could about my
company, but am now left with an, "Okay, what now?" situation.

We've been banging code for about two years now as a labor of love, and
actually have a running system, ready for investment to actually take it out
and make something of it. I've been the tech founder a number of times, but
this is my first time in the game as both technical lead _and_ business lead,
and I'm more than happy to admit that I'm learning as I go.

A site like Angel List would be a great help, because part of taking on
investment is also getting experience from the investors. But how do I reach
out to them?

And how do I show them what we have without broadcasting it to the world?
Because between you and me, what we've built is the kind of thing that I
suspect many people would say, "Wow, I can't believe nobody's done that yet!"
Sure, the barrier to entry is reasonable, but why give someone else a head
start?

Sigh ;)

~~~
jaggederest
> And how do I show them what we have without broadcasting it to the world?
> Because between you and me, what we've built is the kind of thing that I
> suspect many people would say, "Wow, I can't believe nobody's done that
> yet!" Sure, the barrier to entry is reasonable, but why give someone else a
> head start?

Just broadcast it. You're overly concerned with secrecy if you're concerned
about it at all.

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lacker
This is a good quote:

"I tried to go after cold money and make it warm. Instead, I should have gone
after warm money and made it hot."

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jaequery
"You don't have to have your advisors ready yet. Set-up your profile as fast
as you throw your Launchrock page up."

This strategy won't work for everyone. Angellist actually reviews every new
published profiles to determine if your profile is worthy of being syndicated
to their angels. This only happens once, when you hit publish.

If you just publish your profile w/ just a name and phone number, you put
yourself in a hole where you now have to climb to get out.

So unless you are a "rockstar" and can easily get followers and the likes, I
would advise not follow this approach.

~~~
nivi
AngelList used to be like that but things have changed. =)

Most of the updates that investors receive are determined by who is involved
in your company (advisors, investors, references) and the level of interest in
your company (follows, intros). If you add people to your company over time,
these notifications will still go out. So no need to have the ultimate profile
when you publish -- I would still make it great though.

We still review every new startup because our algorithmic updates can't pick
up every good startup. So your startup shouldn't look awful when you publish.
If it looks promising, we'll ask you to ping us when you've made some
progress. And, in any case, you can still ping us.

~~~
cambler
Who is involved? How is this helpful?

My company is myself and about five other developers and designers. Simply
put, we kick ass. We have a great idea, have running code, and are, as a labor
of love, making it work.

Now that we're thinking funding would accelerate things even more, what the
heck can we do? We don't have advisers, we don't have investors and we don't
have contacts.

What we have is a great idea and running code (and decades of development
experience), something we're not keen to just broadcast to the world and have
another well-funded company say, "Yeah, that IS a good idea, thanks!"

What can AngelList do for ME?

~~~
jaequery
It's simple.

This is what they (investors) want you to do.

Come down to S.V., spend some time there (preferably move), and try to party
crash into every tech meetups they have to connect and network. Get their
business card, and add them as your facebook/linked in friends.

This is how it used to be and this is how it will still be. Angellist doesn't
try to solve this one bit, yet I think.

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tryitnow
It sounds like it works for those who have some credibility already either
from pre-existing connections or an exit.

I seriously doubt that Angel List can maintain its sense of community and
still be useful to those who don't possess those pre-existing connections/past
successes.

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. What it does is working for
its target market.

This may just be a classic example where another company needs to step in and
fulfill the needs of those who don't fit the Angel List target market profile.
Given the comments here I definitely think there's a market opportunity for
catering to those who need intros/connections/mentoring etc but don't have the
sort of assets the blog author has (pre-existing connections from earlier
startups, Ivy League MBA alumni network, etc).

