Search results for: Angellist
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How To Invest in Complex Concepts
I sometimes get invited to participate in deals in areas I don’t understand well — like biotechnology. In almost all these cases, the science is over my head. So I generally don’t invest in startups that are in complex areas (for me). However, there are certain investors who I respect enough that if they’re involved in the deal, then I…
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Investing in Indian Startups
India has a very intriguing startup scene (and overall economy) — lots of innovation, high economic growth, a good and improving education and good demographics. It can be hard to find good investment opportunities unless you live in India. But those opportunities do exist. And I believe they’re worth the effort. I was lucky enough to get one investment in…
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Choosing Between Startups and Tech Stocks
Today we’re going to briefly compare tech stocks with startup investments. We’ve reached a point in the public market where many tech stocks are overvalued by what I would guess is a multiple that ranges from 2x-to-10x. The valuations at this point are simply silly, as I wrote about a few weeks back. Let’s look at a few large tech…
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Don’t Be Tempted by More Liquidity
AngelList is rolling out a new feature called Transfers, which will make it easier to sell private startup equity. This has been in the works for a while now. Multiple platforms are working on similar “secondary platforms” to make it easier to sell your startup equity. However, I urge you to avoid this trap. If you have a startup on…
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The Hottest Sector in Venture Capital
Generally speaking, I don’t believe that online startup investors should have a set-in-stone investment thesis. Since deals come to us, we have to invest in the most attractive ones that come along. If we stick to a certain industry or category, we screen out potentially good investments. However, I do always take a close look at enterprise software and software-as-a-service…
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The Future of Venture Capital
AngelList’s new rolling funds — which we discussed a few weeks back — are likely to change how the platform operates considerably. The current system involves syndicate leads raising money on a deal-by-deal basis. I think that’s likely to stick around for a while. But I see rolling funds as the future of the platform. The current syndicate model is…
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Republic CEO on Four Years of Equity Crowdfunding
Note: Equity crowdfunding and Republic both turned four this year! To mark the occasion, our friends at KingsCrowd reached out to Republic CEO and co-founder Kendrick Nguyen to hear his thoughts on the future of startup investing. We wanted to share their piece with you today. If you want the chance to ask Kendrick questions yourself, there’s still time to…
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Webinar Reminder: Meet Republic’s CEO
Editor’s Note: In case you missed it, we’re hosting a special webinar with Republic founder and CEO Kendrick Nguyen on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT. The invitation is below. We hope you join us. Andy Gordon will be back on Thursday with a new startup recommendation. In the past few weeks, we’ve written extensively about the Republic Note. In…
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Upcoming Webinar: Meet Republic’s CEO
In the past few weeks, we’ve written extensively about the Republic Note. In early July, Andy Gordon first reported on the Note — calling it an opportunity unlike any other. And on Monday, Andy recommended that our First Stage Investor members invest in the Note. The reason we’re so impressed with the Note is it instantly diversifies and derisks startup…
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The Importance of Co-Investors
As online angel investors, there’s an easy metric we can use when judging possible investments. If we pay attention to who else is investing in a startup’s round (also known as co-investors), we can learn a lot about the quality of the deal. For example, if I see a deal where Sequoia or another top-tier VC firm is leading the…
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Accredited Investors Have the Advantage — For Now
Today in America, accredited investors still have a major advantage over non-accredited investors (approximately 92% of America). We can invest in all private startup and company deals, including those on sites like AngelList. These Regulation D deals have no limit on the amount of money the company can raise. And these companies only have to file limited paperwork with the…
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Online Angels Have an Advantage Over VCs Right Now
Traditionally, startup investors (VCs and angels) tended to do deals in person. It’s a slow and inefficient method. But it’s the way things have always been done. During this crisis, everyone has been forced to operate remotely. But from what I’m reading and hearing, many VCs are still not comfortable investing over video calls. Those of us who are used…
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Avoid High-Priced Startup Deals
In the last week, I’ve been invited to invest in two hot deals on AngelList. Both companies are doing well because of changes caused by COVID-19. One is in telehealth. The other is in food delivery. But when I checked the valuation on these deals, I was shocked. They were expensive. Both had extremely high valuations based on their current…
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How to Cope With a Lack of Startup Updates
I was very excited when I first began online angel investing in 2014. I loved the concept. So I invested in 15 deals within just a few months on AngelList and FundersClub. I thought they were high quality picks. And I eagerly waited to see how they would do. But after a few months, I realized the startups weren’t giving…
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Raise Your Personal Investment Bar
As I mentioned last week, there’s been a significant decrease in the number of startup deals coming across my desk lately. On the bright side, though, the quality of deals on accredited sites like AngelList is much higher (on average) than I’ve ever seen. This is a common trend during tough economic times. Mediocre startups that easily raised money a…
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Startup Deal Flow Changing
One of my favorite AngelList syndicate leaders recently wrote a note to all the members of his syndicate. He told us the volume of new deals he’s seeing is down about 90%. Many of the startup deals we’re seeing right now were arranged before the COVID-19 quarantines started. These deals often take three months or longer to come together. So…