I didn't go to an Ivy League school, so breaking into VC felt impossible.

Instead, I found my way through the side door. I started at Lyft during the pink mustache days, co-founded their employee syndicate, and helped 300+ employees deploy $30M into startups.

That led me to help other tech companies (Airbnb, Square, Pinterest, Stripe) build their own alumni investing communities.

Eventually, I realized my real passion was making angel investing accessible to people who aren't in the traditional VC club.

That's how Angel Squad was born.

Today, I run Angel Squad at Hustle Fund. It's a community of 2,000+ professionals learning how to angel invest. TechCrunch called us the "YC of Angel Investing."

We've deployed $30M+ together, and our members include everyone from Google PMs to airline pilots to physical therapists. Basically, anyone who wants to learn how to write $1k checks into startups.

I also write Small Bets, a weekly newsletter where I share lessons on startups and angel investing - the wins, the losses, and everything in between.

If you're curious about angel investing or just want to learn more about the startup world, let's connect.

If you invested $5k in Webflow when Hustle Fund did, do you know how much it'd be worth today?

$2.3M.

Getting access to a deal like that and learning why we said yes is something you don't learn from blog posts or Twitter threads.

You learn it by:
👉 Getting the reps in evaluating actual deals in a fund's pipeline
👉 Discussing products and markets with other investors
👉 Sitting in on live pitch meetings with tier 1 founders and investors

VC is an opaque industry, but there's a shift happening. Leaders in this space are putting in serious groundwork to democratize access.

- Peter Walker consistently shares data and insights that have proved crucial for emerging fund managers

- Nicole DeTommaso produces incredible resources on breaking into VC

- And Haley Bryant went from operator to Partner at Hustle Fund - proving there's a legit path there

You'll work directly with our GPs - Elizabeth Yin, Eric Bahn, and Shiyan K. - learning how they evaluate startups by digging into real companies from our pipeline. These are Stanford classmates who've been investing together for years.

The outcomes from past venture fellows speak for themselves. We've helped MBA students go full-time into VC, operators build track records with $1k-$5k angel checks, and aspiring fund managers take the first step toward raising from LPs.

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Apply: https://lnkd.in/gPxkC5iM

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Shoutout to some of the Squad Members that have graduated from previous cohorts: Aaisha Bhuiyan |  Alfred Y. Bentley III, PhD | Alice Qinhua Zhou | Ansel Chew |  Bart Hofkin | Bima Bimanywaruhanga | Dee Zheng | Dimple Kochikar | Francisco Guerrero | Gana N. | Jonathan Kennell |  Kartik Agarwal | Leon Jon | Nalina Murthy | Parul Benien | Peter L. | Phill Sohn | Raechele Smalls | Rishi Solanki | Ryan Stoner | Sal Arif, MSc/MMAI | Sandy Naidu | Shankarsun Sahu | Tony Cueva Bravo |

+ Many more!

Brian Nichols

Founder of Angel Squad | I write about startups, investing, and hard-earned lessons | Small Bets newsletter

I talked to a founder last week who was frustrated that his investors "never help with anything."

Then I asked when he last sent an update.

Eight months ago.

Here's the problem. Your investors aren't thinking about your company. They're juggling 30, 40, 50 portfolio companies. They've got relevant connections walking past them constantly - potential customers, candidates, partners who'd be perfect for you. 

But they don't make the connection because they have no idea what you actually need right now.

The founders who extract real value from their cap table treat updates like a product. 

One founder I know includes LinkedIn search links in every update. Takes two minutes to add. Makes it effortless for someone to scan their network and fire off an intro. 

Another founder religiously calls out specific help in a gratitude section - "Thanks to Sarah whose Stripe intro turned into our largest contract." That does two things: makes Sarah feel great, and signals to everyone else that helping actually leads to outcomes.

The bar isn't high. Share your wins, be honest about what's not working, make your asks specific enough that someone can actually act on them. "Help with sales" is useless. "Intros to VP Marketing at mid-market CPG companies" gives people something to work with.

I've watched investors go from completely checked out to actively selling on a founder's behalf after one good update.

Your support is only as good as your most recent investor update. If you haven't sent one in months, don't be surprised when nobody's helping.

(PS - I attached a template that you can use based on the best investor updates I see).

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Thank you for commenting. Here's the link to our Deal Assessment Workshop:

https://www.hustlefund.vc/deal-framework

Cohort 11

As a reminder, application deadlines are quickly approaching for our Angel Squad Cohort 11, where you'll learn from these three amazing investors too.

Sign up here: hustlefund.vc/squad

Angel investing starter kit

If you're looking to learn more about angel investing. We collaborated with 🦛 Hustle Fund to create a 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 angel investing starter kit.

𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 👉 https://bit.ly/3OlnQ8E

Live deal review!

If you're looking to learn more about angel investing as a beginner! I recommend checking out our FREE Angel Investing Starter Kit made just for that.

𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 👉 https://bit.ly/3OlnQ8E

1000 webinar

Join us on Wednesday 13th, for a LIVE webinar to learn how to invest in startups with as little as $1000! 

Sign up here: https://hopin.com/events/level-up-how-to-angel-invest-1000-4d523b88-7095-4591-960b-4b3618a07a89?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_campaign=1000%20dollars%20webinar

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