Why we created AngelRoot

Because only 1 in 400 startups find the capital they need, we set out to help the other 399 learn why they’re being overlooked.

Funding portals can help cool startups become hot deals.

We aim to help startups become cool.

What is AngelRoot

An ecosystem for those who create, fund and help grow startup businesses.

The idea is simple.

Investor feedback can help you take off the training wheels

AngelRoot™ was designed to become a global repository, complete with sophisticated tools for investors to discover, source, quantitatively screen, collaborate, refer and curate deals.

Startups, if you're seeking to be discovered and gauge investor interest, you can subscribe to the AngelRoot networks that are aligned with your business.

Then, you can listen in as investors collaborate by anonymously rating and making comments.

You'll know what's being said about you, but you won't know who's saying it.

We're a portal for portals. Here's where we fit in the landscape.

AngelRoot is where startups and investors first connect. After you hook up, well that’s up to you.

What happens on AngelRoot

doesn't stay on AngelRoot.

We’re not a funding portal.

Instead, we are a portal for funding portals and the startups and investors that use them. Investors get to use heretofore unavailable tools to discover, source, screen, analyze, collaborate and refer.

The platform also facilitates credentialed collaboration through affinity networks.

We've also elevated the process used to curate deals for our member’s firms, funds, syndicates, clubs, groups and so on.

We call these organizations Ambassadors.

Our social mission

AngelRoot is a philanthropically based New York State benefit corporation. Our business model is simple: PAY IT SIDEWAYS.

If you went to Stanford you’re welcome to publish your startup profile and subscribe to our Stanford network for free and then hear what your investor-classmates think about your business.

But, excuse the suggestion, if you also want feedback from U.C. Berkeley alumni-investors, you’ll need to pay a small guest fee to subscribe to our UCal network. Don’t be upset, but we’re sharing those fees with nonprofits that the members of our University of California network vote for. It's our idea of paying it sideways.

Not to worry. It gets paid the other way also. Guest fees collected from startup teams that went to school in Alameda County will certainly be finding their way to Palo Alto. That’s because, network by network, we share the guest fees we collect with universities and nonprofits that empower entrepreneurs.

So, it seems it’s all getting paid forward

The organizations that AngelRoot supports

Startups will need to cross a number of bridges as they drive from idea to success.

We support organizations that support entrepreneurs.

  • There are many types of organizations that can support a startup's the journey along the way. Organizations such as incubators, social networks, universities, investment banks, VCs, angel groups, law firms, alumni clubs, accounting firms, funding portals, syndicates, professional and trade associations. The list goes on.. . . more >

    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.

New to angel investing?

Finally, individual angel investors can participate in the process of picking winning companies.

So, why go to the effort of picking your own apples if you’re simply having a snack?

Because picking apples is lots of fun. So is picking tomorrow’s winning companies. Actually, that's what most angel investors enjoy most about angel investing.

So naturally, we seeded AngelRoot with tools to help individual investors more intelligently choose the best apples to pick.

And, by joining an Ambassador's circle, your opinion is taken into account before ambassadors like syndicates and funding portals choose which startups to feature. The idea is to take social proof to a new level.

So, how do you like them apples.

We set out to standardize the fund raising process

It surprised us when we learned that there are more startup companies looking for capital than U.S. high school seniors applying to college.

One size fits all.

However, whilst the application students submit and the metrics colleges utilize to curate have all been standardized, the process associated with raising early-stage capital has not. That is until now.

We set out to systematize how startups and investors connect in much the same way the Common Application® connects college bound high school seniors with university admissions departments.

The AngelRoot startup profile is a comprehensive on-line form designed to be universally accepted for deal screening. And, the analytic back-end tools we provide are designed to meaningfully enhance the way investors analyze deals and curate. Startups can complete as much or as little of the form as they want, upload documents, videos, screen shots, images and more.

No matter what, we designed the form to fit, even without laces.

Who founded AngelRoot

AngelRoot was founded by Wharton Angel Network volunteers and conceived out of necessity."

Wharton Angel Network (WAN) Chairman, Steve Shindler, addresses the 2011 Alumni Business showcase held at Christies, New York.
  •      Recognizing that the Wharton Angel Network (WAN) needed a on-line platform, a group of us undertook to independently design and build one. That is to say, a platform that provided:  . . more >

    • 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.

TOP

Funding portals can help cool startups become hot deals.

We aim to help startups become cool.

Are you sure you're ready for a funding portal, or angel group, or seed accelerator? Or for that matter, your relatives?

AngelRoot is where you can test-pitch investors. We set it up so that you can be a fly on the wall while investors tell each other what they think about your business.

You'll know what's being said, but not who's saying it.

The idea is simple. Investor feedback can help you make your business more investment worthy.

After all, AngelRoot is "where startups start up"™.

  • There are many types of organizations that can support a startup's the journey along the way. Organizations such as incubators, social networks, universities, investment banks, VCs, angel groups, law firms, alumni clubs, accounting firms, funding portals, syndicates, professional and trade associations. The list goes on.. . . more >

    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.

Wharton Angel Network (WAN) Chairman, Steve Shindler, addresses the 2011 Alumni Business showcase held at Christies, New York.
  •      Recognizing that the Wharton Angel Network (WAN) needed a on-line platform, a group of us undertook to independently design and build one. That is to say, a platform that provided:

     . . more >

    • 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.

  • There are many types of organizations that can support a startup's the journey along the way. Organizations such as incubators, social networks, universities, investment banks, VCs, angel groups, law firms, alumni clubs, accounting firms, funding portals, syndicates, professional and trade associations. The list goes on.. . . more >

    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.

Wharton Angel Network (WAN) Chairman, Steve Shindler, addresses the 2011 Alumni Business showcase held at Christies, New York.
  •      Recognizing that the Wharton Angel Network (WAN) needed a on-line platform, a group of us undertook to independently design and build one. That is to say, a platform that provided:

     . . more >

    • 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.

  • There are many types of organizations that can support a startup's the journey along the way. Organizations such as incubators, social networks, universities, investment banks, VCs, angel groups, law firms, alumni clubs, accounting firms, funding portals, syndicates, professional and trade associations. The list goes on.. . . more >

    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.

Wharton Angel Network (WAN) Chairman, Steve Shindler, addresses the 2011 Alumni Business showcase held at Christies, New York.
  •      Recognizing that the Wharton Angel Network (WAN) needed a on-line platform, a group of us undertook to independently design and build one. That is to say, a platform that provided:

     . . more >

    • 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.