
The Social Subsidy of Angel Investing - got-any-grapes
https://danco.substack.com/p/the-social-subsidy-of-angel-investing
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skrebbel
I run a Netherlands-based startup. I'm pretty sure that all except one our
angel investors did it so they tell people about it at barbecues.

Some of them even proudly use "we" when talking about the company (that they
have no influence over). As in "we just hired a new head of sales". I'm pretty
sure that's a different vibe than what SF angels do, but seems to me that
there's plenty places where angels invest primarily for the social signalling.

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danielzak
As a Swedish founder who spent some time in San Francisco I think this is a
really good article that founders both in, and outside the Bay Area should
read. The mechanics around fundraising are different in most cities and
founders should really try learn as much as they can about their local
ecosystem and act accordingly. Don’t read stuff on the internet about running
a startup in The Bay Area and think it will automatically apply to you.

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rdlecler1
This article frames it nicely why small, early stage, helpful and active is
how you build your reputation as a VC. You may not have a lot of financial
capital, but because VC is a reputation market, you will still generate a lot
of social capital by investing in great companies, that then allows you to
build a bigger fund because you now have the reputation to systematically get
better deals and into big deals with a big checks. Too often I see managers
who have no brand go and raise a $150m fund, but they don’t have the network
to get pulled into great deals.

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motohagiography
What a relief this article was to read. It articulated and confirmed so many
things.

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CPLX
Top shelf analysis that comes to the shocking conclusion that rich people make
financial decisions to feed their own vanity and ego.

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edmundsauto
To be clear, everyone does this. Rich people often have more opportunity.

What's really concerning is that people change how they interpret facts in
order to rationalize the same decisions.

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switzer
I have equal amounts of friends (in NYC) talking about their early stage
startup investments (Doubleclick! Pinterest!) or their successful stock
investments - e.g. the Facebook IPO or buying into Amazon in 2003.

