Any organization that funds, educates, services or otherwise supports a startup’s journey is encouraged to become an ambassador. There is no charge to become an ambassador and sponsor up to five AngelRoot networks.

Ambassadors can also build circles. Larger circles mean larger networks. Larger networks mean that more investor feedback will be generated and hence, more startups will likely subscribe. If a network is aligned with the startup's business when they first publish their profile, there is no fee to subscribe to it. But, if the startup adds a non-aligned network at a later date, a small monthly guest fee will be charged.

We’re committed to sharing these guest fees, network by network, with organizations determined by how the members of each network vote. Ambassadors get to nominate the organizations that will be put on the ballot.

Ambassadors will also be able to nominate themselves as long as they are an entity (as compared to an individual). Nominees do not have to be a nonprofit. However, in the event that network members vote to disburse more than 50% of their pool to entities that are not schools, bona fide public charities or private charitable foundations, we will pro-rate the vote so that no less than 50% of the pool is disbursed to serve a philanthropic purpose. Needless to say, we'll operate the pool with 100% transparency.

It is our hope that if an ambassador does not nominate itself it will nominate an entity that supports the startup landscape in one or more of the following ways:

• Is a university with a department, concentration or curriculum that advances entrepreneurship;
• Is a nonprofit that advances the development of technologies that can not only serve the public good but can also be commercialized by entrepreneurs;
• Is a nonprofit that provides educational, scholarship and/or vocational support to encourage entrepreneurship;
• Is a nonprofit that advances best practices about ethical early-stage investing and/or mentoring startup companies.

If your organization supports entrepreneurs, let us support you.

• A global repository of deals logically organized for all types of early-stage investors;
• A system to present sweat-equity opportunities to mentors;
• An opportunity to help members who were investment intermediaries, facilitators, fiduciaries and professional service providers feature their firms;
• Elegant tools to help classmates collaborate;
• A standardized methodology for judges (screening committee members) to confidentially rate and comment;
• Analytics for committee members to then pick meritorious companies to be showcased;
• Box office capabilities to host showcase events;
• And perhaps most importantly, an integrated feedback mechanism in which investor reviews, ratings and comments could anonymously be shared with entrepreneurs. After all, our ultimate mission was to help startups advance their businesses.

   We believed that an ecosystem could evolve. It became evident that in addition to investment capital, almost every startup applying would benefit from having access to human capital – ostensibly, a way for entrepreneurs to tap into Wharton DNA. Accordingly, mentors were invited to become members. There were also a number of entrepreneurs that wanted to apply but had not yet formed an entity. In fact some of them were incubating their ideas as students participating in one or more of Wharton’s Entrepreneurship programs. So we set it up to accept applications from them as well. We called them “pre-companies”. And, by allowing pre-companies to apply, exciting technologies emerging from Penn’s Center for Technology Transfer could also be featured. In as much as having a Wharton MBA was not the sole criterion of becoming part of a startup team, we advocated opening membership up to alumni from all Penn schools (i.e. medical, communications, engineering, etc.). Penn’s Career Services department embraced the idea of broadly engaging the entire university community and inspired us to also include students, especially budding entrepreneurs.

     We envisioned creating a network where the ideas, technologies, human capital and investment capital belonging to the members of the entire University of Pennsylvania community could all coalesce. Even though we all had Penn red and blue flowing through our veins, we clearly recognized that for such an ecosystem to truly thrive, the platform that we were building for the Penn community to use, needed to also include networks for many other university communities as well as networks for industry communities and career communities – essentially, a configuration in which both classmates and colleagues could connect and collaborate.

     We founded AngelRoot to contribute to rather than profit from the network communities it served. AngelRoot, Inc. is a New York State Benefit corporation founded on that premise. Our benefit purpose is: To empower entrepreneurs to cultivate big ideas and advance significant technologies. We choose a philanthropically based business model to support that purpose.

     AngelRoot is employee and founder owned and operated. Even though only a handful of us had the time to contribute to building the AngelRoot platform, we decided we would grant founder equity to everyone that volunteered their time to the WAN / Alumni Business Showcase committee between December 2010 and May 2013. So, if every committee member accepts their free AngelRoot shares, we'll end up having about 100 Penn/Wharton-alumni shareholders. We thought it was a pretty cool way of maintaining great corporate governance.

     However, in as much as AngelRoot was principally founded and owned by Penn alumni, we didn’t want our affinity for the school to prejudice the charities chosen. So, we removed ourselves from the equation by allowing all of our Ambassadors (the organizations where our investors and mentors work or belong) to nominate the charities that will be put to a vote by the members of the networks they sponsor. Presumably, the more AngelRoot users an Ambassador attracts, the greater the likelihood that their nomination will be voted for.

     AngelRoot will operate its shared revenue pool on a 100% transparent basis. It’s really pretty simple when you think about it. Networks grow as Ambassadors attract users and build their circles. As networks become larger, more and more startups will want to pay guest fees to receive feedback from its members. Logically, as guest fees add up, each network’s shared revenue pool will grow. Then, as frequently as quarterly, based on Ambassador’s nominees, network community members will vote on how their pool will be distributed. In the event that network community members elect to disburse more than 50% of their pool to entities that are not schools, bona fide public charities or private charitable foundations, we will pro-rate the vote so that no less than 50% of the pool is disbursed to serve a philanthropic purpose.

Any organization that funds, educates, services or otherwise supports a startup’s journey is encouraged to become an ambassador. There is no charge to become an ambassador and sponsor up to five AngelRoot networks.

Ambassadors can also build circles. Larger circles mean larger networks. Larger networks mean that more investor feedback will be generated and hence, more startups will likely subscribe. If a network is aligned with the startup's business when they first publish their profile, there is no fee to subscribe to it. But, if the startup adds a non-aligned network at a later date, a small monthly guest fee will be charged.

We’re committed to sharing these guest fees, network by network, with organizations determined by how the members of each network vote. Ambassadors get to nominate the organizations that will be put on the ballot.

Ambassadors will also be able to nominate themselves as long as they are an entity (as compared to an individual). Nominees do not have to be a nonprofit. However, in the event that network members vote to disburse more than 50% of their pool to entities that are not schools, bona fide public charities or private charitable foundations, we will pro-rate the vote so that no less than 50% of the pool is disbursed to serve a philanthropic purpose. Needless to say, we'll operate the pool with 100% transparency.

It is our hope that if an ambassador does not nominate itself it will nominate an entity that supports the startup landscape in one or more of the following ways:

• Is a university with a department, concentration or curriculum that advances entrepreneurship;
• Is a nonprofit that advances the development of technologies that can not only serve the public good but can also be commercialized by entrepreneurs;
• Is a nonprofit that provides educational, scholarship and/or vocational support to encourage entrepreneurship;
• Is a nonprofit that advances best practices about ethical early-stage investing and/or mentoring startup companies.

If your organization supports entrepreneurs, let us support you.

• A global repository of deals logically organized for all types of early-stage investors;
• A system to present sweat-equity opportunities to mentors;
• An opportunity to help members who were investment intermediaries, facilitators, fiduciaries and professional service providers feature their firms;
• Elegant tools to help classmates collaborate;
• A standardized methodology for judges (screening committee members) to confidentially rate and comment;
• Analytics for committee members to then pick meritorious companies to be showcased;
• Box office capabilities to host showcase events;
• And perhaps most importantly, an integrated feedback mechanism in which investor reviews, ratings and comments could anonymously be shared with entrepreneurs. After all, our ultimate mission was to help startups advance their businesses.

   We believed that an ecosystem could evolve. It became evident that in addition to investment capital, almost every startup applying would benefit from having access to human capital – ostensibly, a way for entrepreneurs to tap into Wharton DNA. Accordingly, mentors were invited to become members. There were also a number of entrepreneurs that wanted to apply but had not yet formed an entity. In fact some of them were incubating their ideas as students participating in one or more of Wharton’s Entrepreneurship programs. So we set it up to accept applications from them as well. We called them “pre-companies”. And, by allowing pre-companies to apply, exciting technologies emerging from Penn’s Center for Technology Transfer could also be featured. In as much as having a Wharton MBA was not the sole criterion of becoming part of a startup team, we advocated opening membership up to alumni from all Penn schools (i.e. medical, communications, engineering, etc.). Penn’s Career Services department embraced the idea of broadly engaging the entire university community and inspired us to also include students, especially budding entrepreneurs.

     We envisioned creating a network where the ideas, technologies, human capital and investment capital belonging to the members of the entire University of Pennsylvania community could all coalesce. Even though we all had Penn red and blue flowing through our veins, we clearly recognized that for such an ecosystem to truly thrive, the platform that we were building for the Penn community to use, needed to also include networks for many other university communities as well as networks for industry communities and career communities – essentially, a configuration in which both classmates and colleagues could connect and collaborate.

     We founded AngelRoot to contribute to rather than profit from the network communities it served. AngelRoot, Inc. is a New York State Benefit corporation founded on that premise. Our benefit purpose is: To empower entrepreneurs to cultivate big ideas and advance significant technologies. We choose a philanthropically based business model to support that purpose.

     AngelRoot is employee and founder owned and operated. Even though only a handful of us had the time to contribute to building the AngelRoot platform, we decided we would grant founder equity to everyone that volunteered their time to the WAN / Alumni Business Showcase committee between December 2010 and May 2013. So, if every committee member accepts their free AngelRoot shares, we'll end up having about 100 Penn/Wharton-alumni shareholders. We thought it was a pretty cool way of maintaining great corporate governance.

     However, in as much as AngelRoot was principally founded and owned by Penn alumni, we didn’t want our affinity for the school to prejudice the charities chosen. So, we removed ourselves from the equation by allowing all of our Ambassadors (the organizations where our investors and mentors work or belong) to nominate the charities that will be put to a vote by the members of the networks they sponsor. Presumably, the more AngelRoot users an Ambassador attracts, the greater the likelihood that their nomination will be voted for.

     AngelRoot will operate its shared revenue pool on a 100% transparent basis. It’s really pretty simple when you think about it. Networks grow as Ambassadors attract users and build their circles. As networks become larger, more and more startups will want to pay guest fees to receive feedback from its members. Logically, as guest fees add up, each network’s shared revenue pool will grow. Then, as frequently as quarterly, based on Ambassador’s nominees, network community members will vote on how their pool will be distributed. In the event that network community members elect to disburse more than 50% of their pool to entities that are not schools, bona fide public charities or private charitable foundations, we will pro-rate the vote so that no less than 50% of the pool is disbursed to serve a philanthropic purpose.

Any organization that funds, educates, services or otherwise supports a startup’s journey is encouraged to become an ambassador. There is no charge to become an ambassador and sponsor up to five AngelRoot networks.

Ambassadors can also build circles. Larger circles mean larger networks. Larger networks mean that more investor feedback will be generated and hence, more startups will likely subscribe. If a network is aligned with the startup's business when they first publish their profile, there is no fee to subscribe to it. But, if the startup adds a non-aligned network at a later date, a small monthly guest fee will be charged.

We’re committed to sharing these guest fees, network by network, with organizations determined by how the members of each network vote. Ambassadors get to nominate the organizations that will be put on the ballot.

Ambassadors will also be able to nominate themselves as long as they are an entity (as compared to an individual). Nominees do not have to be a nonprofit. However, in the event that network members vote to disburse more than 50% of their pool to entities that are not schools, bona fide public charities or private charitable foundations, we will pro-rate the vote so that no less than 50% of the pool is disbursed to serve a philanthropic purpose. Needless to say, we'll operate the pool with 100% transparency.

It is our hope that if an ambassador does not nominate itself it will nominate an entity that supports the startup landscape in one or more of the following ways:

• Is a university with a department, concentration or curriculum that advances entrepreneurship;
• Is a nonprofit that advances the development of technologies that can not only serve the public good but can also be commercialized by entrepreneurs;
• Is a nonprofit that provides educational, scholarship and/or vocational support to encourage entrepreneurship;
• Is a nonprofit that advances best practices about ethical early-stage investing and/or mentoring startup companies.

If your organization supports entrepreneurs, let us support you.

• A global repository of deals logically organized for all types of early-stage investors;
• A system to present sweat-equity opportunities to mentors;
• An opportunity to help members who were investment intermediaries, facilitators, fiduciaries and professional service providers feature their firms;
• Elegant tools to help classmates collaborate;
• A standardized methodology for judges (screening committee members) to confidentially rate and comment;
• Analytics for committee members to then pick meritorious companies to be showcased;
• Box office capabilities to host showcase events;
• And perhaps most importantly, an integrated feedback mechanism in which investor reviews, ratings and comments could anonymously be shared with entrepreneurs. After all, our ultimate mission was to help startups advance their businesses.

   We believed that an ecosystem could evolve. It became evident that in addition to investment capital, almost every startup applying would benefit from having access to human capital – ostensibly, a way for entrepreneurs to tap into Wharton DNA. Accordingly, mentors were invited to become members. There were also a number of entrepreneurs that wanted to apply but had not yet formed an entity. In fact some of them were incubating their ideas as students participating in one or more of Wharton’s Entrepreneurship programs. So we set it up to accept applications from them as well. We called them “pre-companies”. And, by allowing pre-companies to apply, exciting technologies emerging from Penn’s Center for Technology Transfer could also be featured. In as much as having a Wharton MBA was not the sole criterion of becoming part of a startup team, we advocated opening membership up to alumni from all Penn schools (i.e. medical, communications, engineering, etc.). Penn’s Career Services department embraced the idea of broadly engaging the entire university community and inspired us to also include students, especially budding entrepreneurs.

     We envisioned creating a network where the ideas, technologies, human capital and investment capital belonging to the members of the entire University of Pennsylvania community could all coalesce. Even though we all had Penn red and blue flowing through our veins, we clearly recognized that for such an ecosystem to truly thrive, the platform that we were building for the Penn community to use, needed to also include networks for many other university communities as well as networks for industry communities and career communities – essentially, a configuration in which both classmates and colleagues could connect and collaborate.

     We founded AngelRoot to contribute to rather than profit from the network communities it served. AngelRoot, Inc. is a New York State Benefit corporation founded on that premise. Our benefit purpose is: To empower entrepreneurs to cultivate big ideas and advance significant technologies. We choose a philanthropically based business model to support that purpose.

     AngelRoot is employee and founder owned and operated. Even though only a handful of us had the time to contribute to building the AngelRoot platform, we decided we would grant founder equity to everyone that volunteered their time to the WAN / Alumni Business Showcase committee between December 2010 and May 2013. So, if every committee member accepts their free AngelRoot shares, we'll end up having about 100 Penn/Wharton-alumni shareholders. We thought it was a pretty cool way of maintaining great corporate governance.

     However, in as much as AngelRoot was principally founded and owned by Penn alumni, we didn’t want our affinity for the school to prejudice the charities chosen. So, we removed ourselves from the equation by allowing all of our Ambassadors (the organizations where our investors and mentors work or belong) to nominate the charities that will be put to a vote by the members of the networks they sponsor. Presumably, the more AngelRoot users an Ambassador attracts, the greater the likelihood that their nomination will be voted for.

     AngelRoot will operate its shared revenue pool on a 100% transparent basis. It’s really pretty simple when you think about it. Networks grow as Ambassadors attract users and build their circles. As networks become larger, more and more startups will want to pay guest fees to receive feedback from its members. Logically, as guest fees add up, each network’s shared revenue pool will grow. Then, as frequently as quarterly, based on Ambassador’s nominees, network community members will vote on how their pool will be distributed. In the event that network community members elect to disburse more than 50% of their pool to entities that are not schools, bona fide public charities or private charitable foundations, we will pro-rate the vote so that no less than 50% of the pool is disbursed to serve a philanthropic purpose.