To inspire and inform new angel investors--and connect them with the right educational resources, co-investors, and vetted high-traction early-stage startups.
We'll also help early-stage startup founders, but our main focus is on working with angel investors.
Our mission is divided into five broad goals:
We aim to inspire people with ample disposable income to invest in early-stage startups by offering them
Profiles of vetted early-stage startups and their founders.
Profiles of other angel investors, angel groups, and startup accelerators/incubators.
Success stories and lessons learned from early-stage investing.
We aim to inform angel investors by offering them
Resources on where to go for investor education (such as the Seattle Angel Conference, the District Angels, and the Startup Investor Accelerator).
Research into angel investing in general.
Research into specific early-stage startups.
We aim to connect angel investors to
Great angel investor groups, for education from other angels and co-investing opportunities (locally, and/or within a given industry).
Great local startup incubators and educators, for getting to know trusted partners in your local startup community.
Great startup founders looking for angel funding.
We support startup founders early in the development of their first product, when assistance has the most impact. If you're one of these founders, we'll help you
Prepare for getting outside investment.
Learn how to find the right angel investors for your startup.
Connect you to some of the right angel investors and angel investor groups.
If you run a startup accelerator/incubator or an angel group, you're an important part of your local startup community. We want to help you grow! No matter where you are in the US / Canada, we want to help you grow by connecting you to new and existing angel investors, whether locally or nationally.
Our goals are incorporated into five actionable initiatives:
We develop regionally rooted ecosystems that bring together local
Early-stage startups
Early-stage investors
Accelerators / incubators, preferably rooted in a local university
Each ecosystem will enable multiple opportunities through accessible, high impact local events and programs that increase access and participation, while also connecting with ecosystems in other regions for broader collaboration and idea-sharing. The first regional ecosystem we're piloting is in the Puget Sound region (Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, WA).
We're doing research on early-stage startups to best support them and connect them with the right investors. Some of what we're researching:
Basic demographics: What startups are in a given segment of geography, industry, or type of founder?
Startup investibility: How "investible" is a given startup? What are the factors that best determine if a startup is ready for capital to make substantial growth?
ROI expectations: What ROI can we expect from a given startup? (Low ROI isn't necessarily a bad thing. Many startups worthwhile to society have a lower ROI, and some lower-ROI startups also have low risk, setting the stage for a good risk-reward balance in a startup portfolio)
By using a matching algorithm to pair up our startup research with preferences and expectations of angel investors, we intend to connect angel investors with the best early-stage startups seeking funding.
Women, Black, Latino, Indigenous, veteran, LGBTQ+, and other historically marginalized founders typically have the most difficulties getting early-stage funding. We intend to partner them with appropriate angel investors to find ample funding.
We provide internships for students from underserved communities–for ourselves and among our member startups–by leveraging partnerships with universities in our regional ecosystems. These internships open doors to high-growth careers.