

Can the YC/Ron Conway investment strategy work for smaller angels? - epi0Bauqu
http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2010/02/can-the-ycron-conway-angel-strategy-work-for-me.html

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aditya
Perhaps if you invest with other angels, you can increase the odds. You and
joshu you should start the Hacker News SUPER MEGA ANGEL Fund. :-)

I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping potential exits in mind,
however it seems that most startups change the idea they're building over
time, so betting on the team (pg style, and from what I know Ron does this
too) rather than the idea or potential market/future acquisition might still
work out better.

All that being said, I'm not sure how you would maximize returns, especially
because of all the unpredictability.

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epi0Bauqu
Angels do often invest with each other, if only because they don't want to put
in enough money individually to fill out a round. And there are a lot of angel
funds where that co-investing process is more formalized (shared due diligence
funds, etc.).

I don't think, however, that co-investing by itself really increases the odds.
Maybe if I co-invested with someone who picks better or gets better deal flow
:). But without increasing the actual # of deals, I don't see how you get
closer to those big hits.

As for ideas changing, the argument is not to bet against that fact, which
would be silly, but instead to bet that the second or third idea will be
similar to the bigness potential of the first. That is, if the founder can't
come up with an initial idea that doesn't seem like it can realistically
result in any kind of decent exit, the probability that they will random walk
to one in the future drops. It's of course not zero, but I'm just saying you
can increase the odds.

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apower
Is investing <25K from you a bit too little? I know YC invests very little but
at least they have whole bunch 'intangibles' come with it. That makes the
small investment a bit easier to swallow. What do you bring to the table
beside 25K?

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epi0Bauqu
25 seems pretty standard for angels, or even less if you get funding from an
angel fund. That is the round may be 200K, but people may put in 10-25K.

I personally think I bring a lot. Check out my Web site for more info (in my
profile). I'm willing to be very hands-on and bring all my experience (both
business and technical) to help the startup become a success.

