Quick Thoughts on Angel Investing

A gentleman reached out to me to get my advice on angel investing in companies that are pre-revenue and/or pre-product, of which I have very little. He’d heard about Shotput Ventures through the Atlanta community. I told him that I didn’t have much experience other than the eight companies Shotput funded this past summer. Of course, I had to give him something, so here’s what I came up with:

• Don’t expect to make money
• It isn’t for the feint of heart
• Whatever you invest, save 3x that for later rounds
• Look for a strong product/market fit
• Make sure there’s a personality fit with the team (e.g. you should want to see them once a month for lunch indefinitely)
• Valuations are a shot in the dark
• There’s intrinsic value in giving back and helping others

I’ll revisit this post in 10 years and have even better advice to give.

Note: This advice is for pre-revenue companies.