Evaluating a startup business.

Most experienced angels will tell you that seed stage investment decisions are based on three factors. Team. Team. Team.

New to Angel Investing?

We'll help you get your feet wet.

  • Before you decide if you want to meet the team, its a good idea to review the opportunity yourself and hear what your fellow investors have to say.

    The Screen/Collaboration section of each startup profile is designed to provide you with an in depth view how your colleagues perceive the strengths and weaknesses of the startup. In addition to providing an overall assessment of the business and investment opportunities, investors and mentors are asked to also individually rate and comment on as many of the the following factors that they feel are relevant.  . . . MORE >

We support over 130 different networks: University networks; Industry networks and Career networks

Our networks are credentialed communities that form the nucleus for investors to collaborate and for startups to receive feedback.

Join networks that are aligned with your career, your industry, and of course, your alma mater.

Networks are where users join, ambassador's sponsor and startups subscribe.

Each network has its own profile pages where you can view the composition and investment/mentoring preferences of its members. You can also view member's names and contact information, provided they elected to not remain private.

We support three network types: Industry, Career and University. Essentially:

     CAREER NETWORKS relate to what you do;

     INDUSTRY NETWORKS are where you do it; and

     UNIVERSITY NETWORKS are presumably where you learned to do what you do.

By the way, you'll need to bring your own flag.

If a startup has subscribed to a network that you’ve joined

It's safe to assume there's a team member who is a classmate or colleague, or that they regard your opinion enough to have paid a guest fee to hear what you think about their business.

We’ll provide the 30,000-foot view if you provide a 30-word comment?

Investors and mentors are welcome to ride AngelRoot for free. All we ask is that you anonymously rate and write constructive comments about the startup profiles you've chosen to read.

You'll also get to vote on where we'll donate the startup guest fees we collect.

And, by voting for nonprofits that empower entrepreneurs you'll be helping to keep the big wheel turning.

By default, comments made about startups by Investors and Mentors are made anonymously

Most experienced investors enjoy kicking the ball around with other experienced investors but are often reticent about passing their opinions to entrepreneurs

Peek a Boo!

You'll only be recognized if you want to be.

That's why we set it up so the ratings and comments made by investors and mentors will always be displayed anonymously. Instead of showing your name we display the credentials that you have provided.

There are two exceptions to anonymity.

     If you join a circle and elect to override the anonymity default in the collaboration section of your dashboard your name and your credentials will displayed (but only to your fellow circle members) alongside your comments;

     If you are invited and elect to join an ambassador's private screening committee (e.g. you become a judge in a business plan competition or serve to evaluate prospective startups on behalf of your VC firm or angel group) that ambassador administrator will be able to associate your name with your ratings and comments.

Investors and Mentors can see each other's credentials

Other users won't know your name, but they will know what you want them to know (typically, why you're using AngelRoot, your qualifications and your deal screening experience, etc).

There's a super angel with 27 successful technology deals beyond that mask.

Your reviews will still remain anonymous, but your credentials wont. They'll be displayed alongside your reviews when investors collaborate and when startups read feedback.

Based upon the information you provide in you dashboard, we'll calculate a real-time experience factor index (EFI) to compare each investor's screening experience to the general population of all AngelRoot investors.

Its pretty straight forward. An EFI of 111 means that the review was written by someone who is 11% more "experienced" than the general population of all AngelRoot investors. 97 means 3% less experienced.

As the Platform grows, the EFI calculation will begin including other factors as well.

Social Proof

We’re pretty sure we've modernized social proof. After all, it wasn't carved in stone.

Now you can follow your syndicate's leader and participate in picking the destination

The good news is, "social proof" as a strategy to source and follow more experienced investors has ignited early-stage investing activity. The bad news, however.  is social proof excludes less experienced investors from participating in the curation process. That is until now.

If you signed up as an investor or mentor, please be sure to open the Screen / Collaborate tab on the startup profiles that you have chosen to read. Write your comments and enter your scores.

Then, provided the startup has subscribed to a network that you have joined, you’ll be able to read the comments and analyze the scores made by other investors who have joined your networks.

Ratings and comments will all be presented alongside your fellow network member's credentials so you can incorporate everything into your decision making process. Moreover, your fellow network members will be able to incorporate your scores, comments and credentials in their decision making process.

That way, deal leaders can lead without having their back to the crowd.

Our take on pack investing

Don’t succumb to pack pressure or fear that you'll miss the boat on a seed stage deal.

You’re not going to miss the boat.

Instead, we suggest that you track its course.

If the boat successfully navigates its first sea trial, it will probably return to port with a more experienced crew looking to take on a new round of fuel.

Even though the cost per gallon will likely be a bit higher, their chances of sinking will probably be a bit lower.

Your investment and mentoring preferences

Almost every e-commerce site offers sort and filter options. We think we've taken it to a new level.

You can try them all, but if you have a preference, we can help narrow the choices.

If you sign up as an investor or mentor, please be sure to visit your dashboard and enter your or your firm's investment or mentoring preferences: (e.g. your predisposition to startups':  industry, business cycle; revenue stage, round, amount being raised, team composition, geography, estimated time to break-even, etc.).

Then, you'll be able sort startups(*) based on the percentage they match your preferences.

Or, if you are a Startup administrator you will be able sort the other way(*); how ambassadors' preferences match the characteristics of your startup. If you've published more than one startup profile, just visit your dashboard and select one as your default.

(*) complete functionality may not be available until after our beta

Collaboration

In as much as "social-proof" as a validation strategy seems to be the trend, we thought we'd push it a bit higher.

Collaborate with classmates and colleagues. They'll likely become your playmates.

In addition to joining the networks where you are aligned, investors and mentors can join any network as a guest and then collaborate with that networks' members.

Networks are like affinity groups (e.g. electrical engineers, medical practitioners, etc.). Each member is asked to include his or her collaboration credentials. We display these credentials alongside each review.

So, if you joined the electrical engineers network and are attempting to corroborate the efficacy of a new modulation technology, wouldn't it be nice to know that your collaborator has a PhD in signal processing.

All reviews still remain anonymous, but the qualifications of the person writing the review wont.

Of course, if you both want to become BFFs, all you both need to do is join the same ambassador's circle and change your collaboration (anonymity is default) settings.

Syndicates

If you are an individual investor using AngelRoot to help pick meritorious companies, you're only taking advantage of 50% of our capabilities

How well do you know your syndicate's leader?

The platform can also be used to help pick meritorious syndicates, funds, clubs, groups, portals and so on. They're all ambassadors with profiles that can be researched.

Many have circles that you can join if you are interested in referring and having deals referred to you. Some even offer private screening committees if you are interested in helping to curate.

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