Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money and Having Fun Investing in Startups

16

Building Your Angelic Reputation

Getting the Best Deals to Come to You

IN CHAPTER 5, I discussed the critical first part of angel investing: seeking exciting potential companies in which to invest, and building your top-of-the-funnel deal flow. We went through a host of places you could visit proactively to find investment targets, from personal connections and meetups to angel groups and Demo Days. But while the world's best VCs and “super angels” spend serious time prospecting for deals, they have an even easier way to find cool companies: they sit back and wait for the companies to find them.

How (and why) will companies come looking for you as an angel if the ecosystem—as we saw in Chapter 15—is so big and has so many things going on? Precisely because you will jump right in and take an active part in that same ecosystem! In an age of online communication, 24-hour news sources, and social networks that tie together a majority of the planet's population, there are myriad opportunities for you to establish such a presence for yourself that companies will seek you out. Here are some ways that you can build your reputation as an angel investor.

Create Your Profile

If you want to be found, start by raising your hand! Companies looking for funding are searching for potential investors as least as actively (and usually more) than you are searching for them. Make yourself easy to find by writing up your background, your investing thesis, and your contact information and disseminating ...