> if a VC investor is doing their job well, they will make sure to keep investing in your company until they have a good amount of ownership. This means it is against their incentives to introduce you to other investors or do anything else that interferes with their ability to buy more shares in your company for a good price.
this is only true for larger multi-stage funds who compete with each other, not for Seed or Series A-only funds
Yes, it's completely backwards really. In most successful companies, a VC's holdings are likely to decrease over time, not increase, as the company raises more money and existing investors are diluted. And investors are (in general) motivated to introduce you to new later stage investors because it increases the value of their holdings, even when diluted.
I like this in general but I think it’s sad the friends and family who helped you don’t get any financial upside.
I also take issue with calling this angel investing:
> I angel invest primarily through my scouting relationship with the VC firm Andreesson Horowitz. They give me a budget for investing in each fund and I get a fraction of the carry.
Full agree. This is... just being a VC. If it's not your own money and you're aligning with someone else's thesis, you're just a vc with crappier terms
Unrelated to article, but I had a call with Jean when she was running Akita pre-acquisition, and she was so thorough and thoughtful. We didn't end up buying Akita for various reasons, but I remember walking away thinking, this person can not fail.
He's a retired pro basketball player. He's since made early investments in companies like Hugging Face[1], Coinbase, and Robinhood.[2] If you earn millions in your 20s, didn't spend it, and have a killer work ethic, you can flip careers to professional investor.
In the spirit of finding the right person through serendipity:
I’m actively looking for intros to angels who are interested in B2B lending. The tariffs have completely disrupted the US SMB lending ecosystem and automation is going to have to ramp up rapidly to close the gap.
Myself and my team have a AI automation tool, we are revenue generating, technical founding team with 2x maths PhDs
Please email me (email in profile) if relevant to someone you know
I see the crux of this post is that they gave a lot of valuable advice to someone who was, at the time, inexperienced. Surely you can acquire sage advice without giving up equity by just hiring someone with experience. And they'd be onboard full-time instead of 15 minutes a quarter. It seems to me the biggest value is the obvious one. That they give you money.
And sorry for opening a political can of worms, but I wouldn't touch anything that touches Andreesen with a 10 foot pole at this point. He's taken a serious heel turn and is openly endorsing Fascism.
> if a VC investor is doing their job well, they will make sure to keep investing in your company until they have a good amount of ownership. This means it is against their incentives to introduce you to other investors or do anything else that interferes with their ability to buy more shares in your company for a good price.
this is only true for larger multi-stage funds who compete with each other, not for Seed or Series A-only funds
Yes, it's completely backwards really. In most successful companies, a VC's holdings are likely to decrease over time, not increase, as the company raises more money and existing investors are diluted. And investors are (in general) motivated to introduce you to new later stage investors because it increases the value of their holdings, even when diluted.
I like this in general but I think it’s sad the friends and family who helped you don’t get any financial upside.
I also take issue with calling this angel investing:
> I angel invest primarily through my scouting relationship with the VC firm Andreesson Horowitz. They give me a budget for investing in each fund and I get a fraction of the carry.
Full agree. This is... just being a VC. If it's not your own money and you're aligning with someone else's thesis, you're just a vc with crappier terms
Yeh this is more like being a salesman selling funding contracts for a VC firm to startups, a weird dynamic.
Unrelated to article, but I had a call with Jean when she was running Akita pre-acquisition, and she was so thorough and thoughtful. We didn't end up buying Akita for various reasons, but I remember walking away thinking, this person can not fail.
> Martin and Mike both advised strategic angels instead of friends and family to fill out the round, so that’s what we did.
How is Kevin Durant (pro basketball player) a strategic angel for a monitoring/observability company?
He's a retired pro basketball player. He's since made early investments in companies like Hugging Face[1], Coinbase, and Robinhood.[2] If you earn millions in your 20s, didn't spend it, and have a killer work ethic, you can flip careers to professional investor.
Idk why nobody's done a good feature on him.
[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kevin-durant-investment-portf...
[2] https://parlemag.com/2025/04/kevin-durant-business-ventures/
I'm not questioning his investment abilities, just curious what he offers that is strategic (advice, dealmaking, etc).
Aside: Saquon Barkley's (pro football player) portfolio is insane https://www.readtheprofile.com/p/saquon-barkley-investment-p...
Not retired (plays for Houston) but doesn’t lessen your point one bit.
lol that's egg on my face. I just assumed he wouldn't be working two full time jobs at once.
That's wild.
A good feature wouldn't call KD a retired NBA player yet :)
Low time burden, low emotional burden, unlikely to interfere or micromanage?
Good guide.
In the spirit of finding the right person through serendipity:
I’m actively looking for intros to angels who are interested in B2B lending. The tariffs have completely disrupted the US SMB lending ecosystem and automation is going to have to ramp up rapidly to close the gap.
Myself and my team have a AI automation tool, we are revenue generating, technical founding team with 2x maths PhDs
Please email me (email in profile) if relevant to someone you know
Kevin Hartz is the most desirable angel in the valley IMO. His advice and generosity with his time is unparalleled.
I see the crux of this post is that they gave a lot of valuable advice to someone who was, at the time, inexperienced. Surely you can acquire sage advice without giving up equity by just hiring someone with experience. And they'd be onboard full-time instead of 15 minutes a quarter. It seems to me the biggest value is the obvious one. That they give you money.
And sorry for opening a political can of worms, but I wouldn't touch anything that touches Andreesen with a 10 foot pole at this point. He's taken a serious heel turn and is openly endorsing Fascism.