LearnBoost was referred to us by two-time Power Broker Harper Reed. They used AngelList to contact George Zachary and Jeff Fagnan who invested:

George Zachary (Investor in Twitter)

Jeff Fagnan (Investor in Songbird)

George then introduced LearnBoost to AngelList members Bill Lee, James Hong, and Othman Laraki who also invested:

Bill Lee (Investor in Tesla Motors)

James Hong (Investor in Slide)

Othman Laraki (Founder of Mixer Labs)

Finally, here’s a few of the investors who sourced LearnBoost without AngelList and invested:

RRE (Investor in Venmo)

Bessemer (Investor in Postini)

Update: Read more about LearnBoost’s fundraising experience on the LearnBoost blog.

About LearnBoost

What is LearnBoost? In their own words,

“Our Teacher Gradebook is the best gradebook software on the web.

“Beautiful design and wonderful user experience makes you wonder why you’ve been using other gradebooks. Plus we’re free. Your new found productivity means you can spend more time doing what you do best: teach.”

Update 2: Learn more about LearnBoost in this detailed Xconomy profile: LearnBoost Bets on Better Tools for Teachers.

Startups: Get intros to AngelList here.
Angels: Join AngelList here.
Everyone: Get AngelList updates via Twitter and RSS.

Thumbtack got their first commitments at Open Angel Forum, from Joshua Schachter, Cyan & Scott Banister, and Jason Calacanis. Then they used AngelList to contact Ariel Poler and Auren Hoffman who invested:

Ariel Poler (Investor in AdMob)

Auren Hoffman (Investor in Aardvark)

Thumbtack’s CEO, Marco Zappacosta, sent me this very nice email about his AngelList experience:

“Both Ariel Poler and Auren Hoffman came from AngelList. And Auren introduced me to Scott Fabor and Mark Britto who are also now investing. Joshua Schachter & Jason Calacanis are also on the list but I was first introduced to them through Jason’s Open Angel Forum.

“The value of AngelList goes beyond the money, though — the introductions have been killer, even when they didn’t net a check. I got to meet with Keith Rabois, Bryan Schreier, Floodgate, First Round, Jeremy Levine, and others: relationships that I would not have been able to initiate without you guys.”

Read more about Marco’s fundraising experience on the Thumbtack blog.

About Thumbtack

What is Thumbtack? In their own words,

“Why can you go online right now and buy any product you want but you can’t do the same for tutors, handymen, dog walkers, or other local services? Thumbtack is changing that.

“Thumbtack isn’t like typical local search directories that simply return business listings with ratings and reviews, leaving you no better off than the paper Yellow Pages.

“Instead, Thumbtack gives you the ability to vet, contact and book service professionals the moment you find them.”

Sounds like a service I need to try.

Startups: Get intros to AngelList here.
Angels: Join AngelList here.
Everyone: Get AngelList updates via Twitter and RSS.

“…The old model of angel deals is alive and well. Angels love to share deals with each other. It is how angel rounds come together. But AngelList adds at least two things to the mix. First, it adds a place where the deals can come together online. And second it adds people to the mix that would not be part of the offline deal sharing networks that already exist.

“I am on AngelList. I see all the deals come together. I don’t personally invest in angel deals in the web/tech space because of potential conflict with USV down the road. But even so, I find it immensely useful to see what companies are getting traction in the angel market. It’s part of my radar/early warning system. And it is entirely possible that we will decide that USV needs to participate in an angel round that is coming together on AngelList, although that has not yet happened.

“So if you are putting together an angel round, particularly if you already have it partially raised but need to finish it off, I strongly suggest looking into AngelList. It’s a great service.”

[Emphasis added.]

Fred describes our value proposition better than we do. It’s not just great PR when your users blog and tweet about you — it’s also a form of customer development.

“Take a look at all the innovation happening today — Tesla has produced a beautiful 100% electric car. The cost of mapping the human genome has gone from $3 billion ten years ago to thousands today. Moore’s Law continues unabated and the rate of innovation in smart phones is staggering. The computer has moved from the desktop to the pocket, this trend alone reminds me of the World Wide Web in 1994. Social networking is in its infancy, and Twitter and Facebook are growing explosively. IP traffic is growing so fast that it has stunned the pioneering people who helped create it.

“Ray Kurzweil maps out an optimistic view of the future with a tremendous amount of data supporting his main thesis — that the rate of innovation is increasing on a geometric scale. This means that innovation is happening faster every day. So yes, there are macro-level concerns about the economy, but there is also a staggering amount of data that supports the case for being an optimist. The data supports the fact that we’ll see more innovation in the next ten years than we’ve seen in the last one hundred years.

“If you are an investor or entrepreneur, this is the best time in history to make a fortune and create a better world… So if you’ve run out of ideas, buy gold. But I argue this is the best time to find innovators and invest in the future. Fortune favors the bold.”

[Emphasis added.]

Read the full post. You can reach Thomas via AngelList.

If you’re an experienced investor, you’ve seen it all. How every startup thinks they can take over the world, but usually has to struggle to accomplish even its one core product or task. How three copycat business plans will arrive in the same week, and how each one thinks they’re unique and protectable. How domain knowledge and therefore your ability to help a startup accrue by having multiple investments in the same space.

Both points of view are pretty extreme, and the truths about conflicts of interest are highly contextual. Here’s how to think about it.

1. The idea

Firstly, the idea — it’s no big deal. If it’s any good, someone has had it before and someone will have it again. If you’re still convinced it’s that good, go file a patent first, and then go talk about it. Keep in mind that investors outside of big tech (cleantech, biotech…) automatically have a bias against “patented” ideas, and most brilliance seems obvious in hindsight. Ask an investor to sign an NDA, and you’ve just filtered out all but the most desperate investors.

2. The space

Secondly, the space — it’s tricky, but you have to define it as realistically narrow. There was a time when having an investment in ”web” might have been considered a conflict for another “web” company. There was a time when the term “portal” was a competitive category. Unless it’s head-on competition, Foursquare v. Gowalla, Disqus v. IntenseDebate, Google v. Bing, it’s really, honestly, not competitive. If there’s room for multiple equal-sized players in the space, it’s not as competitive as you might think. Also, theories about where you might zig or zag don’t count — just compare on what you’re doing at this moment.

3. Angels vs. VCs

Thirdly, the type of investor matters — active angels have a lot more deals than active VCs and are more likely to have an investment in an adjacent space. This is not a big problem — angels invest in syndicates and usually only provide help in a contextual, on-demand way. Because VCs are likely to be on your board, have more money into the company, and have more control and information rights, it makes more sense to pay attention to conflicts VCs might have (Disclosure: I consider myself to be an angel investor).

4. Conflict checks

Fourthly, just ask the VC to disclose potential conflicts up front, but don’t be too broad-minded about what constitutes a conflict.

Lastly, beware the “entrepreneur check.” This is where the VC tells you that they like your company, want to do due-diligence, and then just have to check with the entrepreneur in one of their investments about whether this investment would be competitive or not. Since entrepreneurs tend to have an overly-broad view of what’s competitive, this check usually fails. Even in the rare case that it doesn’t, it’s used as an excuse by the investor to pass. Therefore, always insist that they run the “entrepreneur check” early in the process, before you’ve invested too much into this investor.

Your own biggest competition

Our flawed patent system aside, ideas do not have the merit that we were all raised believing. You do have to pick the right space, but after that, execution is everything. Here’s a quick confirmation test — go back to your classmates and pick out the smartest ones, and then the hardest working ones. Now look at who is successful. A certain base level of intellect and idea-formation capability is required, but beyond that are strongly diminishing or even negative returns.

Consequently, the best entrepreneurs display a lot of chutzpah. They aren’t fazed by the competition, nor do they see shadows in every corner. They are their own biggest competition.

“The toughest and most important decisions in technology companies are always about product strategy.” – @bhorowitz, http://vh.co/a3DO7h

“With our stock buyback… we were signaling that we didn’t see much of a future in our business.” – @fredwilson, http://vh.co/9udDmm

You have acquisition interest—now what? http://vh.co/98Yy4n by @davidcohen. The negotiation principle is “reciprocal displays of commitment”.

“You can explain your business in mind numbing detail or you can inspire an investor and let them imagine.” – @fredwilson, http://vh.co/bLdDQm

“Whenever you see a company being built for an exit, you will see short term decision making.” – @BostonVC, http://vh.co/btEkaA

P.S. Instead of showing our avatar next to each tweet, I’ve picked images that are related to the tweet.

P.P.S. It’s easy to find your most popular tweets on the Your Tweets, Retweeted page.

These spaces are good for startups, service providers, lawyers, VCs, and folks in the south bay who want an auxiliary office space in the city. Leases are short, rent is affordable, and they’re perfect for small teams under 5 people.

Kicklabs (top) is a big fun open space. SOMAcentral (bottom) is the opposite: private offices with doors that close and great views. We’re using both. If you’re looking for office space in San Francisco with Zipcar-like simplicity, check them out and tell them we sent you.

Please add your office space suggestions in the comments — keep them restricted to places with leases under 6 months that are good for small teams (~ 5 people).

At the end of the day, the reason to get an office is simple. It is so you can bring people into your office and say, this is where I office.

BlockChalk:

“AngelList [is] a service that sends pre-screened startup pitches to angel investors who sign up to receive them. We wrote up a version of our pitch that matched AngelList’s requested format (an exercise that in itself was very useful) and submitted it. They sent it out to the list and within a day we had received ten quality angel inquiries. In just a few days, we had our first new commitment — Tom McInerney.

“After Battery Ventures signed on to lead our round, Nivi and Naval sent BlockChalk out to AngelList once again. With this new added social proof, the response was even stronger than the first time around. We literally received dozens of new angel inquiries and things began to rapidly come together. In the span of a few days we had a commitment from the legendarily awesome Mitch Kapor. We also met Josh Stylman who signed on and also introduced us to Chris Dixon and Eric Paley of Founder Collective (who themselves signed on).

“AngelList is a remarkable experiment that is redefining the way entrepreneurs connect with angels. It’s something you want to be a part of.”

MightyMeeting:

“We’ve been fortunate to get great advice from a few good people. Let me mention some of them here.

“First, there is Adeo Ressi’s Founder Institute. I did not get a chance to attend the training program, but I did have the pleasure of pitching at the Founder Showcase.

“The outcome of the event has been tremendous, and Adeo’s advice has been invaluable, always blunt and to the point. One of his emails started with: “You are making rookie mistakes and your round will fail”. Got my attention.

“True to the style, Adeo’s thefunded.com offers an honest review of the investment community. Definitely worth a look.

“Second, there is Venture Hacks. The blog is run by Nivi and Naval. I actually discovered their book before I discovered the blog. Both are highly recommended. Good stuff that will educate you and save you tons of time.

“Venture Hacks also runs AngelList. You can apply online. If you got the goods, you will get intros to angels in the list. The intros carry Venture Hacks credibility, which is significant.

“In our case, the intros we got through the Founder Showcase and through Venture Hacks lead to great connections and, ultimately, money in the bank.

“I also had good experience with the Open Angel Forum and the DEMO conference. Both are very selective. Both are also very high quality in terms of the advice and the connections that they offer.

“The exposure and intros we got helped us build the funnel.”

Postling:

“AngelList is a collection of amazing angel investors, all waiting for your brilliant idea. You fill out an application and, if you’re awesome enough, your application will be sent out to everyone on the list. You’ll then be introduced personally over email to anyone who is interested.

“… we sent out our application once, touting our idea of “social media management for businesses”, got 8 fantastic introductions, and were ultimately funded by David Rose and Chris Yeh. The Venture Hacks guys came back to us and said, ‘We want to send your application back out onto AngelList with the added social proof of being invested.’

“To give you some context, over the last 3 months, we followed the Customer Development methodology and went outside of the building. And we found that the social media management tools space was commoditizing quickly, with everyone concentrating on selling to a small sliver at the top (media companies, PR, agency, etc). We also met with VCs, who gave us the same feedback. So it was time to pivot.

“So we pivoted (explained in the GigaOm post, but I’ll say more soon), and sent the new direction to AngelList. And this is where the craziness started.

“My first phone call was with Tom McInerney, 3 hours before I was flying out to SXSW. After about a 30 minute phone call, Tom was in. He then introduced me to his friend Paige Craig, who would also be at SXSW. I met Paige in Austin, and after meeting, he told me he was in. The next day, at a Venture Hacks meetup at the Four Seasons hotel, he pulled over Dave McClure. We went out to the balcony (he wanted a cigarette) and I pitched him. He was in. The following day, I spoke with Thomas Korte, who moved up our scheduled phone call a couple days once he heard Dave was investing, and he was in. I also got an email introduction via my friend Russ (founder of SeatGeek) about his investor Kal Vepuri, who was also at SXSW. Kal and I spoke on the balcony of the Austin Convention Center, and I was blown away by his intelligence and humility. So Kal was in. Finally, my friend Michael Galpert of Aviary connected me with Gary Vaynerchuk, who is a perfect investor for us given what he is passionate about (social media for businesses). David Cohen finished off our round not too long after that.”

Big thanks to the guys from BlockChalk, MightyMeeting, and Postling for sharing their fundraising stories for the benefit of other entrepreneurs.

It’s a pain in the ass for interesting startups to get meetings with good angels. You have to bug your friends, one-by-one, to introduce you to the angels they know.

The global community of angels on AngelList offer an alternative.

Startups apply to AngelList, we pick the ones that we think the angels will like, and we send them to the angels. The angels read these pitches, meet the startups they like, and, perhaps, invest.

We’ve announced 5 startups that have been funded through AngelList but, as Scott Austin reports in The Wall Street Journal,

“Of the 48 companies featured so far on AngelList, about half have received funding.… Marco Zappacosta, founder of Thumbtack Inc., a site that lets people book services like tutors and dog walkers, won three commitments from angels after pitching his company in March at an Open Angel Forum event in San Francisco. He then turned to AngelList and received three more commitments to close a funding round at $1.2 million in June. The service, he says, “is good at getting worthy start-ups into the inbox of investors.”

Read the full article here before it goes behind the WSJ’s pay wall.

By the way, the 5 startups that we’ve announced are Startup 0, Postling, Divvyshot, MightyMeeting, and BlockChalk. Scott “outed” Thumbtack in the WSJ — so that makes it six.

Startups: Get intros to AngelList here.
Angels: Join AngelList here.
Everyone: Get AngelList updates via Twitter and RSS.

Update: Read BlockChalk’s story in their own words: Lessons from raising a seed round.

Update 2: Scott Austin at The Wall Street Journal reports on AngelList: Start-Ups Get Free Chance to Pitch to Angel Investors.

Joshua Schachter introduced us to BlockChalk. He was already committed to the financing and suggested they use AngelList to fill out the round. We sent BlockChalk to AngelList and the following investors asked for intros and invested:

Joshua Schachter (Our source)

Mitch Kapor (Investor in Twilio)

Thomas McInerney (Investor in Klout)

Josh Stylman (Investor in betaworks)

Josh Stylman (one of the AngelList investors above) then introduced BlockChalk to Chris Dixon and Eric Paley who also invested:

Chris Dixon

Eric Paley

So an AngelList intro to Josh Stylman turned into friend-of-a-friend intros to Chris Dixon and Eric Paley. It’s obvious in retrospect, but we didn’t anticipate these second-order intros when we started AngelList. It’s very cool to see this emergent behavior.

Satya Patel, Michael Dearing, and David Liu also invested in BlockChalk (though they didn’t source it with AngelList):

Satya Patel (Battery Ventures)

Michael Dearing (Investor in AdMob)

David Liu (Investor in SimpleGeo)

About BlockChalk

In their own words,

“BlockChalk is an early stage location-based service that helps people connect with their neighbors and mobilize their local communities. Using GPS-enabled smartphones, BlockChalk users can interact with people in their neighborhood to ask, answer, praise, gripe, report, prevent, borrow, trade, and much more. It’s easy and free; you don’t even have to sign up. BlockChalk is currently on iPhone and Palm, as well as on Android via HTML5.”

I think the foundation of BlockChalk’s fund-raising story is the pedigree of their team: Stephen Hood is the former head of product at del.icio.us, Dave Baggeroer is part of Stanford’s d.school faculty, and Josh Whiting is a former senior engineer at craigslist and former head of engineering for del.icio.us.

Mark Suster says that “Everything that happens is a signal.” And it’s a great signal when Joshua Schachter, who worked with two of the co-founders at del.icio.us, is investing.

Startups: Get intros to AngelList here.
Angels: Join AngelList here.
Everyone: Get AngelList updates via Twitter and RSS.