Screenshot of three AngelList search results: “Omaha,” “Kansas City,” and “Des Moines.” From angel.co.
Starting today, we at Silicon Prairie News are putting forth a fairly ambitious challenge:
Get at least 25 new investors from the Silicon Prairie region registered on AngelList.
Launched in February 2009 by Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi, the brilliant minds behind Venture Hacks, AngelList is an online community for connecting investors and startups. AngelList currently serves over 1,300 investors who have each been vetted by Ravikant and Nivi before being admitted. Each day, the site adds roughly 20 new startups, and since its inception, over 200 have been financed because of it.
Thanks to our sponsor
Why is this important? Our goal is simple: raise the awareness of funding sources located within the Silicon Prairie and connect the great startups with these and other investors.
Over the last few months there’s been a growing conversation around angel investing, both in Nebraska and across the Silicon Prairie. Locally, we have the chatter around the Angel Investment Tax Credit Act (LB389) as well as a number of funding announcements, such as Dundee Venture Capital‘s investment in both Tripleseat and MindMixer (the former of which Dusty Davidson is a co-founder). With all the talk of angel investing, and with all the momentum of recent fundings, there’s no better time than now to make this push.
We’ve long talked about one of the main tenets of an entrepreneurial ecosystem being access to capital, which includes a healthy deal flow. On a national level, AngelList is bringing transparency and efficiency to the historically challenging process of connecting startups and potential investors. Our hope is that by further introducing AngelList to our local communities, we can build a better awareness of the existence of capital, and hopefully help to facilitate investments from within and outside of the region.
So, are you up for the challenge?!
If you are an accredited angel investor, all we ask is that you take a few minutes to fill out your profile on AngelList. Additionally, if you know someone who is an investor, send them a link to this story and urge them to sign up. It’s an important stepping stone for our region to have a strong representation, and we know we can do it!
To learn more about the AngelList and the affect it can have on investors and startups in our region, we conducted an email interview with Ravikant last week.
Silicon Prairie News: What is the goal, as well as impetuous, for starting AngelList?
Ravikant: We spent three years educating entrepreneurs on best practices for raising money via Venture Hacks. AngelList is the productization of Venture Hacks. Instead of just talking, we’re building a platform for matching startups to the right investors.
(Left, Ravikant, photo from crunchbase.com)
SPN: What are two or three best practices when using AngelList?
Ravikant:
For startups:
- Fill out a complete pitch
- Try and be launched if you’re web or mobile. Less important for the other sectors.
- Please follow up on all intros that you get.
For angels:
- Fill out a complete bio. Make it clear how active you are. Startups really fixate on this – they don’t want their pitch going to inactive people.
- Please follow up on all intros that you get
SPN: Where do you see AngelList headed in the next five years?
Ravikant: Our mission is to get every worthy startup funded. Any part of the process that is difficult for them, we will make easier.
SPN: Could you share with our readers a couple success stories?
Ravikant: The community tracks them here:
- http://www.quora.com/AngelList/What-do-people-think-of-AngelList
- http://www.quora.com/Which-startups-have-been-funded-via-AngelList
SPN: Can you share a few thoughts that might speak to the importance of investors and entrepreneurs based within the greater Midwest in getting involved with AngelList?
Ravikant: Absolutely. My #1 pet-peeve on AngelList is seeing a great startup but knowing that I don’t have enough coverage within their geography to get them funded. Then, I have to convince them to move to a startup “hub,” which is really unfair to the company long-term. I’d rather just have broad coverage and have location not be an issue.
Also, innovation and creativity are global. There are plenty of great startups and investors in the Midwest. Groupon is just one of the more visible, recent examples. Since we can’t connect them efficiently in person, let’s connect online, especially for the initial introductory step.
You can register today as an investor or a startup looking for funding by visiting AngelList at angel.co.
To learn more about AngelList, visit these blog posts:
- Robert Scoble: “The new Silicon Valley hype machine: AngelList“
- Mark Suster: “What’s the Real Deal with AngelList?“
- The Next Web: “Naval Ravikant and AngelList: The Match.com of Funding [Interview]“
