Founder Lesson
As a group of investors, angel investors fall into a tricky middle ground that founders should understand and appreciate. Angels are typically individuals who are able to invest $10,000 to $100,000 personally. Most angels that I encounter act like friends & family investors - they focus on the people and idea. Like your friends & family, they are investing to support your efforts and be involved - that relationship matters more to them than a financial return. They do not look at the same metrics as more professional, experienced investors. The second group of angels - and the focus of this lesson - act more like institutional investors (like VCs) and tend to focus on the key drivers of the business to get a sense for customer engagement and scalability.

In this podcast/video, experienced angel investors describe what they need to see to invest in early stage startups. This list is as diverse as the angels on this panel.

Here’s what five leading angel investors look for...

Joanne Wilson (@thegothamgal) - Revenue. How are you going to make money? “I don’t invest in ideas because I’m not smart enough (to know what's going to work)."

Adeo Ressi (@adeoressi) - Team. “Nothing that we invest in is live, but they have an unbelievable team."

Gil Penchina (@gilpenchina) - Month-over-month growth (in core metrics).

Naval Ravikant (@naval) - Do customers want this? “Everything (that you can measure) is just a proxy for what customers want."

Jason Calacanis (@jason) - Design and UX.

Get Right to the Lesson
I’d recommend listening to the entire thing, but to get right to the point go to minute 41:46 of this podcast/video

Thanks to these folks for helping us all learn faster
Joanne Wilson (@thegothamgal)
Adeo Ressi (@adeoressi)
Gil Penchina (@gilpenchina)
Naval Ravikant (@naval)
This Week In Startups (@TWistartups )
Jason Calacanis (@jason)
Jacqui Deegan (@jacqKD)
Jacob Beemer (@jacobbeemer)

Please let me and others know what you think about this topic
Email me privately at dave@switchyards.com or let's discuss publicly at @davempayne.