Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups—Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000

by Jason Calacanis

How? It’s simple. I would get back ten times my $20,000 investment for $200,000, as well as a 20 percent carry on the $2.7 million gain from the syndicate’s return—for an additional $540,000! Now, syndicate members love syndicates because they can invest in startups that more established angels have (hopefully) vetted. It is possible you can invest alongside a lazy angel who doesn’t do a lot of thinking before they invest, but even in that case you would have had, at the very least, the ability to make bets alongside someone with some sort of track record. Plus you don’t have to say yes to every deal. You can always opt out. The only thing you give up by being in a syndicate is 20 percent of the return, which seems like a fair trade of services. At the time of this writing, platforms for doing angel syndicates were still very new. The jury is out on exactly what the levels of returns will be, but the fact remains that they are an efficient and low-risk way to get some experience in angel investing.