Congratulations! You’ve taken the step from nebulous startup idea to MVP and are ready to start a funding round so that you can raise your baby up into a full-grown business. The guy next to you at your coworking space says, “Yeah man, you should totally make sure you’re on AngelList.”
You nod like, “Totally, bro,” but in your head you’re more like, “Angel what now?”
Before you hyperventilate over this one more goddamn thing you have to figure out, take a deep breath and keep reading. This week I’m going to outline what AngelList is, next week we’ll focus on how to fill out your profile for maximum results, and the following week is how to work the network to your best advantage.
First things first:
You need to make sure you have a few things together before you launch on AngelList, so I want you to pause and assess whether you have:
- A solid pitch deck.
- A solid elevator pitch.
- A list of investors you would kill to have on your team.
- A business model.
- How much money you’re seeking.
Each of those things can (and have been) entire books in their own right, so I’m not going to get into each one here. Click on the links above, though, for great resources that can help you out with each of those steps.
So, back to AngelList.
AngelList is a social network, but it’s more on the LinkedIn end of the spectrum than the Facebook end. Everyone on AL is here to connect with other people in the startup world, whether it’s for funding or jobs or “just” networking.
Like LinkedIn, the website isn’t totally user friendly and it’s not especially intuitive. The site has five major tabs across the top, but we’re going to ignore them for now because they’re not really relevant to you raising funds. (They’re really more for people looking for jobs or looking to hire.)
So for now, go on over to the top right hand corner and click on “Join.” That will bring you to a page that asks you to choose one of three other networks to start setting up your profile.
Go ahead, type in your info. I promise I won’t look.
I’m going to stop you here, mainly because I know that leaving you on a cliffhanger means you’re more likely to come back next week and I just like the look of your face. While you’re waiting for next week’s installment on how to build out your profile, I want you to memorize these simple things:
- AngelList is a professional network for entrepreneurs.
- It is a great way to connect with investors in your space.
- This is going to take a lot of work.
Photo Credits
KillerStartups composite, original images by Josh McGinn and Great Beyond | AngelList
