Earlier this week, we sat down with Naval Ravikant, cofounder of five-year-old AngelList, a popular platform that matches startups with early-stage investors. Three million people, including 50,000 accredited investors, have created profiles on AngelList since its founding, and AngelList now uses that information to pair startups with capital, pair startup employees with employers and, more […]
AngelList
Naval Ravikant on China Money into Silicon Valley: This Trickle Could Become a Tsunami
AngelList, the online platform that matches startups with early-stage investors, has grown by leaps and bounds since its 2010 founding — and so have its ambitions. In fact, the company, which already bills itself as both the biggest seed-stage firm in the world, and the world’s largest hiring platform for startups, also aims to become the biggest venture fund in […]
StrictlyVC: February 20, 2015
It’s Friday! [Does backflips, cartwheels, jumping jacks, lunges.] —– Top News in the A.M. Britain’s electronic spying agency, in cooperation with the NSA, reportedly hacked into the networks of the world’s largest SIM card maker in order to eavesdrop on mobile phones worldwide. The Intercept has a bombshell report about what’s gone on here. —– Naval […]
Naval Ravikant on AngelList’s 2015 Game Plan
Last week, at StrictlyVC’s inaugural event, investor and founder Naval Ravikant joked about the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship. He also gave those gathered a comprehensive look at the near-term future of AngelList, his fast-moving, 22-person, San Francisco-based company that’s perhaps become best-known for its pop-up venture funds called Syndicates that allow angel investors to syndicate investments themselves. Indeed, according […]
The Rolling Close: Here to Stay or Gone Tomorrow?
Venture capital was long a clubby, opaque industry, but AngelList and crowdfunding are two intertwined innovations that have since knocked that model onto its side. Now, another related twist looks poised to roil it again: the rolling close. You’ve probably heard the term in recent years. A rolling close is what happens when a management […]
At Six Months, Syndicates is Maturing, Without Some Big Names
When AngelList launched its “syndicates” program last September, AllThingsD anointed one investor, Kevin Rose, as its “million dollar man.” The reason: within a week of AngelList making it possible for backers to put their money behind one individual, Rose collected more than $1.1 million in commitments. Rose, a Google Ventures partner, told his 245 backers […]
With Little Notice, Seed-Stage Valuations Begin Falling
A widely held belief in Silicon Valley is that valuations are still on a one-way trajectory toward the sky, with founders firmly in the driver’s seat. But the reality for seed-stage companies may be a bit more dire than that — and getting worse by the month. According to the research firm CB Insights, both average […]
AngelList’s Naval Ravikant on His Syndicates Program, Two Months In
Entrepreneurs Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi have already done much to reshape the startup investing landscape with AngelList, their now four-year-old networking site that has largely replaced coffee meetings with Internet-based matchmaking. In September, AngelList introduced another game-changer — its Syndicates program, which allows angel investors to syndicate investments themselves, work for which they receive carry. (An angel […]
The Case for More Transparency on AngelList
Last week, AngelList, the hugely popular platform that connects entrepreneurs with accredited investors, introduced what many have heralded as a game-changing new twist to its business. Called its Syndicate program, AngelList now allows angel investors to syndicate investments themselves, work for which they will receive carry. (An angel who syndicates a deal will earn 15 percent of […]