

Ask YC: What's the best way to meet an angel investor? - leolin

Hi,<p>We're a startup based in Palo Alto. We've been working on our project for more than 6 months and now close to a private beta. The problem is, my partner went to a full time job to pay rent, and can only work on the project on weekends. He does all the development and thus our progress was stalled.<p>I figure if I can get some money (15k~20k) to support him to work on our project for a few months, it would go live pretty soon. A little money would really help a lot.<p>I wonder if you guys know how to get in touch with a angel investor? We have presentation movie and prototype but can't find someone to pitch.<p>I've tried:<p>- Email VCs<p>- YC winter funding<p>- <a href="http://gobignetwork.com" rel="nofollow">http://gobignetwork.com</a><p>- Also considering taking a loan.<p>Thank you,<p>Leo Lin
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skmurphy
A number of folks have already suggested that you need to be introduced, and
that's normally the best way to proceed.

It seems like you can make progress without additional funding, just at a
slower rate. Is your partner really committed to the project? Asking an angel
to pay development salary for a co-founder may be a difficult sales pitch. It
sounds like your partner may have lost faith and is now asking for money. You
are much better off to proceed more slowly and not go into debt or waste time
on trying to raise funds until you have something that you can sell, so that
you can use additional funds to accelerate revenue. That being said there are
several pitch events a month in Silicon Valley you can go to and meet Angels
and VC's.

<http://www.vctaskforce.com/>

<http://www.sdforum.com/> see Venture Funding SIG

<http://www.svase.org/> see "First Impressions" event; also you might check
out the Startup-U events, it's normally a chance to meet a VC or Angel.

<http://www.startupepicenter.com/> runs pitch events (with training)
periodically

<http://www.angelsforum.com/> have a monthly pitch event (here an introduction
probably helps)

<http://www.sandhillangels.com/> have a monthly event (again an introduction
helps)

All of these are either free or a nominal charge. I wouldn't pay any
"introduction fees or percentages" and I would not pay any "beauty contest
fees" (e.g. Kieretsu forum charge $3-5,000 to present).

Our firm does not help with fund raising, our focus is on early customers and
early revenue, but please feel free to contact me if you have additional
questions.

Sean Murphy <http://www.skmurphy.com/>

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ALee
15-20k could be mustered with friends and family, I think. Meebo maxed out
credit cards before their A round.

If the angel route is where you want to go, then referral is best. VCs and
anges love recommendations from professors, especially if you have a new tech.
Try also contacting people you know in startups.

If that doesn't work, go through an angel network to see their process and a
screening. A lot of angels are becoming more open to small YC type
investments.

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rms
This post got gscott the money he was asking for... you could try doing the
same.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=73346>

~~~
nailer
Alas the attached .doc no longer exists at that URL - anyone got a copy?

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carpal
>He does all the development and thus our progress was stalled.

My suggestion: Learn to code.

~~~
edw519
We joke about this, but it is deadly serious. My theory on 2 founders:

\- 2 hackers: Work your butts off, keep design simple and do it yourself until
you have something functional. Then worry about finding a designer.

\- 1 hacker & 1 designer: One of you will be doing most of the (important)
work. Guess which one? Frankly, I don't know how people pull this off. If you
can, more power to you.

\- 2 designers: What are you doing here? Go get 2 jobs.

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jmtame
The _best_ way to meet an angel investor is to know someone and have them
introduce you. That's the _best_ way, although probably not the easiest or
most convenient.

I know of several angel investors, but it all depends on what your product is,
and who your ideal investor would be. Why don't you send me a message and
we'll chat? I'm one of the 3 guest bloggers at Go BIG Network.

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ALee
15-20k could be mustered with friends and family, I think. Meebo maxed out
credit cards before their A round.

If the angel route is where you want to go, then referral is best. VCs and
anges love recommendations from professors, especially if you have a new tech.
Try also contacting people you know in startups.

If that doesn't work, go through an angel network to see their process and a
screening. A lot of angels are becoming more open to small YC type
investments.

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joeguilmette
i've heard people having decent luck with the angel forum.

from what i've heard and found myself, the best way is to be introduced to
one. if that were going to happen in your case, it probably would have already
happened.

a loan is really your only option. get it live, get some people using it, and
then angel's will be much easier to come by.

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icky
1) Don't take out a loan, especially not one where either of you are
personally guaranteeing it. Creditors will drive your company into ruin faster
than investors, and you'll be left paying for it.

2) Talk to an accountant to see if there's any extra money you need (e.g.
income tax withholding, etc.) to keep things legal.

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Jaggu
Best is to learn coding. Today or tomorrow you will need to do that to keep
your bills in low range.

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leolin
Hi, thanks for the advises. I wish I could code and help my partner. That
would be great but I doubt I can become a good coder in a few months. I'm more
of a design guy.

@Sean Murphy. Thanks for all the links. It helps a lot.

@jmtame I've sent you a message through GoBigNetwork.

@rakuten How do you contact another member here? Can't find your email on your
profile page.

My email is

sayaww@gmail.com

and our project page is

<http://bookvair.com>

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DarrenStuart
I love the people saying learn to code. Not everyone is a programmer, Ok us
coders might find it easy but not everyone else does. also not everyone is
using ruby and this might have been written in C++ so learning coding ain't
going to help anytime soon :p

good luck with it. maybe look for another coder to helpout would be cheaper.

~~~
carpal
Anyone can code.

Anyone.

It is a question of motivation and effort, not intelligence.

~~~
DarrenStuart
Did I say that? No I did not and my point still stands and is not me being
elitist. To become a good programmer takes time and for this guy to taking
over the coding from a programmer when he has no knowledge is gonna take a
long time. first he has to learn how to program, then get expereince with the
lanuage and then hack someone elses code.

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AVC
<http://www.antiventurecapital.com/vc_approach.html>

