Sometimes as an angel, there's a firehose of metrics that a founder throws at you. It can be hard to know what good looks like.

For example: How can you tell if the SaaS company you’re evaluating has a good customer churn rate?

My friend Lenny Rachitsky has a newsletter (Lenny's

Angel Squad #14 officially joins us tomorrow, and I am stoked.

Here’s a sneak preview of what our group looks like 👇

The network effects are growing and it’s apparent.

Nearly anywhere you go around the world today, you’re never too far from a Squad Member.

We’re slowly and

Excerpt from an Angel Squad memo that we invested in recently:

“[Company] is led by a team of scientists and engineers with PhD-level expertise in Machine Learning, Engineering Simulations, and Computational Materials Science. The team is headed by CEO, [Name], who previously

If you’ve ever read a term sheet and were scratching your head wondering what all the jargon means, you’re not alone.

Here are a few terms that are helpful to understand:

1. Simple agreement for future equity (SAFE): A form of financing that allows investors to convert their

I spoke to a founder recently that we decided to invest in (great founder with exceptional experience).

They had just crossed $1M ARR and were raising their first round of outside capital.

I sent the founder over some questions on their SaaS product and his answers surprised

Puzzles are a lot like startups.

You can’t just stare at scattered puzzle pieces and strategize about how they’ll all fit together.

As a founder (or a puzzler), you just have to START.

Once you get some pieces to snap together, you start building momentum.

You can turn that

I can’t believe I’m saying this but we’re ONE WEEK away from our Squad 14 kickoff 🤩

I didn’t think another Squad class could come close to the caliber of Members we welcomed last quarter, but boy was I wrong...

Next Wednesday, Hustle Fund and Angel Squad will host our welcome

The fundraising market is heating up at the pre-seed stage 🔥

Companies are coming out of “fundraising hibernation”

Seems like 2023 was a year where tough lessons were learned, companies leaned out and some of the ones that survived are starting to put some real points on the

We’ve seen some insane deals recently.

$600k ARR after just three months since product launch.

85% CAGR on very minimal VC dollars.

Experienced founders tackling huge regulated industries (many using AI to disrupt incumbents)

And this is just over the past couple of weeks.

Building a brand in the private markets space allows other people to understand your investment thesis, trends that you care about, diligence criteria, and more.

It also has led to new LPs, inbound deal flow, co-investment opportunities, and portfolio company support.

I think

There are a few core competencies required to be a successful angel investor.

One that we can all agree on: sourcing companies.

It’s pretty hard to invest in a company if you don’t know it exists.

Most people think angel investing is too risky for them

I don’t think this is true if you approach the asset class correctly.

For the vast majority of people, investing in early-stage private companies should only make up a very small percentage of your overall portfolio

How do you invest $1K in a startup?

The easiest way to do this is to join a syndicate that offers this option.

Our check sizes in Hustle Fund’s Angel Squad syndicate make it accessible for smaller investors to take part in the upside.

But another way you can do this is if you

Hot take: if you’re a new or aspiring fund manager, avoid the temptation to “buy a logo.”

When your fund is still in its early days and you're trying to prove your value to LPs, it may be tempting to “buy a logo.”

What does it mean to buy a logo?

This is when you invest

Raising a first time fund?

You’ll need to understand the concept of “capital calls.”

A capital call is how a fund manager (also known as a “general partner” or “GP”) collects money from their investors (also known as “limited partners” or “LPs”) when the fund is ready to make

Is early-stage investing the easiest it’s ever been?

Solely from an administrative standpoint…I’d say yes.

Software has made it extremely easy to spin up investment vehicles, collect investor checks, and sign deal docs (shoutout AngelList ).

But that alone won’t bring you