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

[leolin]

Hi,

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.

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.

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.

I've tried:

- Email VCs

- YC winter funding

- http://gobignetwork.com

- Also considering taking a loan.

Thank you,

Leo Lin

[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/

[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.

[kf]

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

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

[nailer → kf]

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

[leolin → kf]

Amazing. I'm checking it now.

[carpal]

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

My suggestion: Learn to code.

[edw519 → carpal]

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Jaggu]

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

[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

[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 → DarrenStuart]

Anyone can code.

Anyone.

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

[DarrenStuart → carpal]

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.

[AVC]

http://www.antiventurecapital.com/vc_approach.html