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Ask HN: How Do You Meet Angel Investors in Silicon Valley?

by Killah911 on 5/10/16, 12:10 AM with 5 comments

I just spoke with a friend who is a VC and he said we're too early for VC fundraising and should be meeting Angel Investors. The problem is, we've been here in Silicon Valley for almost a year and have yet to find a way to connect with VCs & Angel investors.

We know tons of people at Google (being in mountain view) & other local companies. But all we keep running into are company men. I actually ran into more VCs at a conference in LA (including Silicon Valley VCs). I subsequently followed up with the VCs locally (they said we're raising too little for them to be interested) which is great, but not much luck with Angels.

We've hung out at Red Rock Cafe where everyone intently stares at their MacBook Pros (which is cool if you want to see that kind of thing), but not a ton of networking going on there... What am I missing?

  • by alain94040 on 5/10/16, 1:22 AM

    AngelList and LinkedIn are your primary tools. The problem with angels is that they don't go around with an angel hat, unlike VCs. But they are everywhere in Silicon Valley. Go find a list of 100+ angels in your space from AngelList, then look them up on LinkedIn and find out who you know who can connect you. Then, pitch your network upward. You seem to know people at Google. Surely a few of them know more senior ex-Googler, who in turn may be doing some angel investing on the side.

    Like everything else, this will only work if, when you demo your product, people love it and want to help you. If they want nothing to do with you, then of course all your networking efforts will be in vain.

  • by brudgers on 5/10/16, 1:35 AM

    Looked at the HN profile page. It doesn't have contact information, doesn't indicate the Bay area, and there's tangential narrative that is more likely to provide an excuse than a reason to an investor.

    Curious about the number of current users and their engagement, retention and growth.

    Good luck.

  • by fathertine on 5/18/16, 8:01 PM

    Son is barista at high-end coffee place in Silicon Valley. Regularly serves coffee to extremely well-known VC. Chats with VC over a period of months. VC invites son to dinner with him and wife. VC introduces son to CEO of several companies he has invested in. Son now interviewing for management position (includes equity)

  • by Killah911 on 5/10/16, 9:05 PM

    Maybe getting a little more traction. Just spoke with a few VCs who seem super excited about what we're building. Funny thing is that I met these SV VCs & PE folks in LA & subsequently over here. They promised to line up intros to Google Ventures and other in the Bay Area.

    That, combined with targeting angels via AngelList seems like a good combo. But it's still weird that there isn't a more obvious path. (Of course there's the YC lottery)

  • by edwcar13 on 5/10/16, 1:19 AM

    Look for venture cafes in your area. Wework usually hosts one. They have some days where they interview potential companies to put them in front of VCs and Angel investors.