How to find angel investors (and spot the ones who actually invest)

What an angel is, and who can invest

Short answer: an angel is a person who invests their own money in a very young company, usually before any fund will. Because it is their own money, one person decides, often quickly, and the reasons are personal: they know the problem, they trust the founders, or they want to stay close to a field they worked in.

In the US, who can invest is set by law. Under the SEC's accredited investor definition, an individual qualifies with a net worth over $1 million not counting their home, or income over $200,000 ($300,000 with a spouse or partner) in each of the past two years, or by holding certain securities licences. Y Combinator's SAFE documents say SAFE investors should be accredited. Outside the US the tests differ, so check your own country's rules before you take anyone's money.

Where angels actually are

Most first angel checks come through people, not websites. Here are the places worth your time, roughly in the order they tend to produce a real conversation:

• Operator angels: people who did the job your product serves, or built and sold a company in your field. Search by the role, not the name: former heads of sales at the companies you sell to, ex-founders in your category. They understand the problem without a deck and often bring first customer introductions too.
• Founders who raised in the last two years: they know which angels write checks in your space, who decides fast and who takes four meetings to say no. Ask them directly, and ask which of their angels they would happily introduce.
• Angel groups: members share the screening, and a group that likes you can bring several checks at once. The Angel Capital Association directory lists member groups, not individual angels, and points you to each group's own site and process. It also tells founders to understand any fees a group charges to present. In Europe, EBAN is the umbrella association for business angel networks.
• Syndicates: one lead angel invests and brings backers in alongside them through a single vehicle (an SPV), so you are really pitching the lead. Syndicates tend to help most once you already have momentum or a first commitment.
• Your own first yes: Paul Graham writes that the best intro is from an investor who has just invested in you. Ask each angel who commits to introduce you to two more.
• Accelerators, demo days and focused events: rooms full of people who came to meet founders. Pick events in your own field over general startup nights.

Four signals that an angel really invests

A long list is easy. The real work is cutting it down to people who will write a check at your stage. Score every name 0, 1 or 2 on four signals, using what you can find in public or learn from someone who knows them.

Anyone at 6 or more goes into your first wave. Anyone under 3 drops off for now. Copy this into a sheet, one block per angel:

• Recent: they invested in at least one company in the last 12 months. Two or more deals scores a 2.
• Check size: their usual check fits your round. A small check is a fine yes early on; someone who only writes large checks may not engage with a small pre-seed.
• Stage and field: they have backed companies at your stage in your field or a close neighbour. Look for direct competitors in their portfolio too.
• Early check: they have been among the first money in before, not only someone who joins once a round is nearly full. Paul Graham's point is that an investor who will not move until others do is worth little at the very start.

Angel: [name], [operator / ex-founder / group / syndicate lead]
Last investment I can find: [company, month]
Usual check: [range, and where I learned it]
Stage and field fit: [their two or three closest deals]
Been an early check before? [yes / no / unknown]
Score: recent _ + check _ + fit _ + early _ = _ of 8
Who can introduce me: [name, how they know each other]
Next step: [ask for intro / short cold note / apply to group] by [date]

Who to approach first

Graham's advice on order is to talk to investors in parallel, but spend your attention by expected value: how likely they are to say yes multiplied by how good that yes would be. An angel who would invest little but wants many meetings first goes to the bottom of the list.

In practice, start with the people most likely to decide quickly, because the first commitment is the hardest one and it makes the next ones easier. Run waves of 5 to 10 names, learn from each wave, and sharpen the story before you reach the names you care about most. Until there is an amount and a yes, treat every answer as a no, and keep going.

Getting in front of them

For each name, write down the best way in. An intro from someone the angel trusts beats everything else, and we have a full guide on asking for warm investor introductions, with a blurb your connector can forward. If there is truly no path, a short, specific note still works more often than founders expect: see how to cold email investors.

Angel groups work differently. Apply the way each group asks on its own site, and read how its process works, and what it costs to present, before you send anything.

A legal note before you post that you are raising

In the US, how you find investors has legal weight. The SEC explains that under Rule 506(b) a company cannot use general solicitation or advertising to market its securities. Rule 506(c) does allow broad advertising, but only if every purchaser is accredited and the company takes reasonable steps to verify that. Either way, a Form D notice is due within 15 days of the first sale.

So telling people you are building and meeting investors is one thing; posting an open invitation to invest is another. Before you announce a raise in public, send a deck to a big list, or take money from someone you met online, talk to a startup lawyer in your country. This is general information, not legal advice.

Build your angel list on Solution

Most of this guide is research: who invests, at what stage, in what, and how to reach them with a reason. That is the job we built Solution for. Investors can state their stage, field, place, check size and thesis on their profile, which fills most of the worksheet from step 03 before you write a word. Smart Connections tells you why each person was picked for you, so your first message opens with a real reason, and replies to your requests land in one place instead of five inboxes. Sections have an end, so a research session finishes with a short list, not an evening lost to a feed. Here is how to run an angel search in the app:

• Create your startup page for free: what you do, your stage, what you are raising and the roles you need. It is the page an angel opens before replying to you.
• Search with the Investor role chip, narrow by field and location, then open each profile and copy the stage, check size and thesis into your worksheet. Search does not filter by stage, so read the stage on the profile.
• Search by what people help with to find operators in your field who could become angels or advisors, and note who could introduce you to the names on your list.
• Turn on Smart Connections: answer the four-tap questionnaire and get people picked for you, each with the reason they fit. Use that reason as your first line when you reach out.
• Post a Partner request and choose the Investor role, saying what you are building, what you are raising and where you are. Every answer comes to you in one place.
• When an angel wants a closer look, share your deck with them and it lands in their Investor Desk as a new deal. After they invest, the updates you post on your startup page show up on their Desk too.
• What is free and what needs Membership: a profile, exploring the network, following people and startups, a startup page and your first three messages are free, and you can see that Smart Connections has picked people for you. Membership lets you message anyone directly, see who was picked and why, post and answer requests, use the Investor Desk, appear in the directory, join events and share posts and articles.

Mistakes that cost founders months

None of these are about the pitch. They are about who you spend your weeks on:

• Buying a list of thousands of angels and emailing all of them. Most are inactive or wrong for your stage, and you burn your story on them.
• Reading 'keep me posted' as interest. It is a polite no until there is an amount and a date.
• Starting with the angel who only joins nearly full rounds. Save them for when you have a commitment to mention.
• Taking money before you know the person can legally invest, or before a lawyer has seen the paperwork.
• Forgetting to ask every yes for two more names. Angels know other angels.
• Paying to pitch a group without asking what you get for it and how decisions are made.