For Founders

No. We accept startup applications from companies across North America, including Canada and the USA.

Ideally, the company should be registered as a Delaware C Corporation, but other types of registrations are acceptable.

No. There is zero cost to submit your application to the Allied Venture Partners angel syndicate.

No. We do not believe in charging founders to pitch. There is zero cost to pitch in front of our investor group.

If your company successfully meets our 6-Factor Investment Thesis and we believe it constitutes a great fit for our syndicate, you may be invited to a 1-hour virtual event attended by our members.

If so, you will have approximately 15 minutes to present, followed by 45 minutes of Q&A.

No. Startups do not pay for syndicated/venture capital investments on AngelList. As investors, we pay all of the legal and setup fees, pro-rated across each participating investor, including legal expenses, regulatory fees, payment processing, and accountants.

Allied uses SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicles) to invest in portfolio companies. This allows for a single entry on your cap table and a single point of contact (although networking with our diverse investor community is encouraged).

Allied follows the industry-standard practice of not signing NDAs when entering diligence (unless it is part of a later-stage M&A).

Simply, due to the volume of opportunities we review, it would be too difficult to keep track of all the NDAs we would have to sign, coupled with the additional time and legal costs.

Additional insights on why it is industry-standard practice for VCs not to sign NDAs can be found here.

Yes. Allied Venture Partners is a private investor group, with each member under strict NDA and having gone through KYC and AML approval. Founders have the ability to control the distribution of sensitive or confidential information among participating investors. As highlighted on the AngelList website:

“Deals are only visible to individuals invited by the syndicate lead or the founder. Founders and leads work together to decide what level of distribution is appropriate.”

No, Allied does not currently lead rounds. We aim to co-invest alongside VCs and other investors to help founders quickly fill their remaining allocation.

For existing portfolio companies, we will proactively invest in a growing company that is achieving its milestones, in an attempt to offer additional runway so the founder(s) can stay focused on building their business.

If the company is not growing or achieving its milestones, we will still offer syndicate members the opportunity to exercise their pro-rata and invest in a bridge round. However, we generally do not participate in bridge rounds, and prefer to follow-on only once a new investor prices the round.

If the company is not an existing portfolio company, we generally will not invest in a bridge round unless a new investor leads and/or prices the round.

No. Since Allied does not lead rounds, we do not require a board seat. However, we may act as a board observer, and we do ask for (at minimum) quarterly company updates.

Before choosing to invest, Allied will consult with its LPs to assess interest and determine an allocation size. Typically, Allied’s allocation size ranges from $100,000 to $350,000 USD.

If investor demand is high and the allocation quickly fills, we may ask to increase our allocation (with the permission of the founder).

Unlike traditional VC funds, Allied does not have strict ownership mandates with each investment. Rather, we aim to work with founders and build our ownership position over time, targeting between 50 and 300 basis points per investment (depending on the company’s stage).

We aspire to invest twice or three times in a company (typically at Seed, Series A, and sometimes Series B), growing to an eventual ownership position of 5% to 10%.

No. As is standard practice within venture capital, Allied will only invest as preferred shares (or as a SAFE or convertible note, convertible into preferred shares upon the company’s next qualified equity financing).

Additional insights on why it is the industry-standard practice to invest as preference shares can be found here.

As an angel syndicate, we have the ability to move fast and with greater flexibility than traditional angel groups or VC firms. From term sheet to close, our process time is typically 4 weeks or less.

We aim to close deals as efficiently as possible so founders can get back to what matters most: building your company.

Once a deal successfully closes, AngelList will wire the funds to your bank account within 3 business days.

As Seed-stage investors, we have a long-term time horizon. We understand it can take 5, 7 or even 10+ years to realize an exit on our investment, and as such, are committed to supporting founders for the long haul.

Built by experienced entrepreneurs and angels, Allied provides more than just a check.

We leverage our diverse network of 1,500+ entrepreneurs/operators, angel investors, and venture capitalists to help provide the knowledge, mentorship, and guidance you need to build and scale a successful technology company.

For example, instead of taking money from a handful of non-value-adding pension funds, when you invest with Allied, you’ll have the benefit of leveraging our global network of LPs with a diverse range of expertise. Our members have founded companies, led teams, and built products at some of the largest technology companies in the world, including Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Dropbox, and Coinbase (among many others).

In addition, by operating exclusively on the AngelList platform, AlliedVP has access to the AngelList Private Capital Network (PCN) and AngelList Access Fund.

In short, PCN is an exclusive network of ultra-high-net-worth individuals who choose to invest on a deal-by-deal basis, while the Access Fund may also choose to invest, thus significantly expanding the pool of potential capital for entrepreneurs.

By U.S. standards, our definition of “venture scale” means we specifically look to invest in founders with the potential to reach $50M-$100M in annual revenue and a subsequent valuation of $1B or more within 7-to-10 years.

In less-developed venture capital markets (i.e. outside of the U.S.), our definition of “venture scale” focuses more on growth multiples, such as month-over-month (MoM) and year-over-year (YoY) revenue and customer growth.

Ideally, a company should be growing 10%–30% MoM and/or tripling revenue YoY during the first three years, then doubling revenue YoY for the next two years. In VC, this “venture scale” growth velocity within the first five years of a company is referred to as: triple, triple, triple, double, double.

One of the best exercises to determine whether your company is venture scalable is to answer the question: how do we get to $100M in annual revenue? Then work backwards to determine a growth timeline and whether it is feasible and realistic.

Yes. We ask each founder to share monthly or quarterly investor updates.

In our experience, the most successful founders are those who send regular updates. Additionally, we encourage founders to include any “asks” or areas of help so that we can leverage the collective knowledge of our syndicate to help the company succeed.

Our members include senior execs at Apple, Amazon, and founders of multi-billion dollar unicorns, so please utilize them.

Investor updates can be as simple as a few quick bullet points. They should (at minimum) include the following five key components:

1) Monthly revenue & burn, included in a table or chart for the past 6-12 months.

2) Quarterly performance for the past 2-6 quarters.

3) Your current target for the quarter (i.e. # of customers, product developed, revenue, etc.) and how you are tracking towards it.

4) Your current headcount (i.e. # of full-time & part-time employees).

5) Your current cash balance in the bank and your subsequent months of runway.