1. 1
What are angels
looking for?
Angel Funding: Thinking Like an Angel

2. About Your Hosts
2
Deepak Gupta
Managing Director
Sirk Roh
Chief Operating Officer

3. What’s an angel?
• High net worth/Very high
net worth
• Live in tech hubs, typically
invest locally
• Well-educated
• Part-time investor
• Sees 50-250 startups/year
• May be member of an angel
group
Well-off, either from tech/finance

4. What kind of companies do
angels invest in?
• Companies who are in
seed or early stage
• Diverse: In technology,
clean tech, fin tech,
healthcare
• Looking for: Solve a
problem, management
team, IP, business
model

5. How do entrepreneurs connect
with angels?
• Full time, 12 hours/day, 4-6 months
• Rely on your network
• Must have persistence and outstanding
communications skills
• Objectives
o Get introductions to 100-250 investors
o Meet 50-100 investors
o Follow up with 25-75 investors
o Conduct diligence process with 25-50 investors
o Get checks from 8-15 investors

6. Questions angels ask
Product What’s your business about? Why will people use your
product?
How do you make money?
Market How big is your market? Who’s your competition?
Distribution?
Have you talked to customers? Product-market fit?
Team How did the founders meet?
Who is on (and not on) your team?
Risks What is the biggest problem you need to solve now?
Technology
and IP
Funding Justification/Use of Funds
Milestones
Financial projections
Think ahead to Series A

7. Questions angels don’t ask
• Do the founders like each
other?
• Do I trust you?
• Can you sell?
• Can you build a team?
• Can we work together?
• Is anyone else going to
invest?
• Why isn’t XYZ going to crush
you?

8. Non-rational criteria
Founders
Do I identify
with you?
Industry
University
Experience
Product
Cool factor
Resolving
personal pain
Market
Personal
experience
Interest

9. Angel decision-making
timeline
Contact
Meeting
#2
Meeting
#5
Meeting
#6
Meeting
#3
Meeting
#1
Meeting
#4
$

10. Decision-making process…
Elevator
pitch
Pitch
deck
Founder
info
Product
Market
Business model
Competition
Domain expertise
Intelligence
Communication
skills
Persistence
Integrity
Relationship
Customer
Market size
Competition
Prob/Solution
Traction
Product-Market fit
Product
overview
Market
Product

11. Decision-making process
Tech Financials Deal Legal
Tech team Use of funds
Milestones
Growth plan
Amount
Terms
Investors
Regulatory
threat
Formation
Stock
IP

12. Funding Pitch Guidelines
• Tell a story
• Problem
• Solution
• Market size
• Business model
• Competition
• IP
• Team
• 10-12 slides maximum
• One key point/slide: Backup data in appendix
• Don’t read it from slides

13. Valuations
What is the valuation of my startup?
• Based on traction
• Based on geographical comps
• Entrepreneur ask vs investor tell?

14. Q&A and Thank You!
14
Deepak Gupta
415 Jackson Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
www.seedchange.com
deepak@seed-change.com
415.908.1016
@Deepaksgupta500
Sirk Roh
www.earlygrowthfinancialservices.com
sroh@earlygrowthfinancialservices.com
415.234.3437
@EarlyGrowthFS