Here are the responses to the question, “If you could change one thing about the Seattle angel ecosystem, what would it be?”
Not competitive with Bay Area angels. Seem to be shopping for average startups.”
Be more open to higher risk/variance investments.
more external VC funds investing in Seattle
More consumer-focused super angels
Visibility of who’s who
Send them to SF or NY to shadow other investors. Most dont have a good idea of what early stage funding means, that's why 90% of our funding I strategically went out of state
Actually have engaging, visionary angels instead of the current predatory landscape.
More angels. There are tons of highly paid executives who don't invest in young companies. They invest in property it seems.
Stop overanalyzing deals and make faster decisions.
More diverse, more risk tolerant, expectations aligned with investment
The Seattle Angel ecosystem is awesome. It’s the VC level that sucks. Maybe large angel groups could partner with out of town VCs?
We need more angels!
Grow it. Seattle could be Silicon Sound, but accredited investors don't seem to be engaged at the level as they are in the bay area.
Bigger checks
Better industry connections
This is a tough question - what's the highest leverage way to make angels here great? I'd like more super angels who make interesting bets and have ex-founders who follow / feed into the super angels? I feel like there are little networks of angels, but they are largely looking for "deals" rather than home runs.
Be open to more risk, take more bets
more outwardly supportive of the ecosystem and all in it even if they are not personally invested in that company.
It's no secret that angel/early-stage capital is becoming harder to get and requiring more milestones for less capital than generations prior. This, combined with the fact that (almost ALL) Seattle Angel investors are (incredibly) risk-averse, contributes to my thesis: because there's an ample (and growing) supply of founders while the demand of investors is remaining consistent, investors are overrun with deal-flow and increasingly becoming more hesitant when pulling the trigger. If I could change one thing, it would be for the integration of other angels from other locales into Seattle's angel pool: specifically the bay. There are a great many followers within the angel community but few leaders with deep pockets who understand the founder experience. Getting more money here from more experienced angels who can make decisions fast is a no brainer and the best shot of invigorating the Startup community as a whole.
Making it more vibrant, more filled with angels. Successful Seattle startup people don't tend to become angles at the same rate as successful SF startup people. We need more recycling of those funds and know-how into the startups here.
Lean more toward risk taking
Please be more supportive of founders who are people of color, immigrants.
More risk tolerant, less sheep like, need more lead angels who can organize a round, too many small checks
Do not charge for any event or service that is related to fundraising.. if a young company is seeking investment, they likely can't afford it.
That it was more visible! If I want to find angels in Seattle, I'm not entirely sure where to look (outside of AoA)
More focus on help and execution vs preaching from years of experience as a lawyer / manager at Microsoft / etc
More people with wealth from big companies like Microsoft and Amazon need to just do it. Stop over-analyzing and acting like it's the World Poker Tournament, and also stop the it's-slightly-inconvenient-to-my-own-horses-Hawaii-2nd-home liftestyle. Show up.
Many seem to be terms/traction before team/product during preseed/seed
Take more risks!
Solution Orientation versus Risk Avoidance Orientation. For example, how it could work, versus why it won't work. Lots of amateurs looking for low hanging fruit. Few pros looking to improve things.
They would take risks. Too many are midwest conservative, but expect silicon valley returns. I'm not a native, but have been in Seattle for 5+ years. I've quit trying to raise $$$ here. It's the land of anti-risk and vision mediocrity. No time for chickenshits parading as angels.
Lower expectations
Nothing.
more consumer
More Angels with actual Start-up experience
more support of co-founders who arent the CEO. All anyone cares about is the CEO
Spend 10 mins when the companies ask you to. Think for 5 mins about who you can intro and write those 3 emails in the next 5 mins
More angels willing to invest in company's early - eg first 100k check SF style
more consumer experience. Seattle tends to be more comfortable with B2B models.
Take more bets without proven model
Easier to get to angels not necessarily affiliated with an angel group.
IMO - the proper angel organizations are extremely conservative and risk averse. The individual investors are where it’s at in the Seattle angel community. The angel organizations acts like VCs - they are very intensive from an information gathering perspective, they don’t respect the time and effort required by the entrepreneur - they also project a “superior” attitude but often times is belittling to the entrepreneur. Contrasting with this, the individual angel community, although difficult to access, is filled with a number of great individuals, who strive to be both helpful and encouraging. It can just be hard to reach these people.
Many of the angels we've met (and didn't work with) think too much like VC's, especially the groups of angels. They emphasize TAM, CAC-LTV, and top-line growth, but don't necessarily take the time to understand the fundamentals of the business, or care about them. And everything looks like (or is measured against the the standard of) a SAAS business. All of that said, the individual angels we HAVE worked with have been amazing, and really do add a ton of value.
More opportunities to access and dialogue with them.
going to groups sign of desperation.
More angels is the easy one (though there are more than many think). Bigger than that is more visibility in the angel/startup ecosystem. We have great angels, but we don't hear enough about them. The result is a lingering perception that Seattle is a laggard in angel investing, which can become self fulfilling at some point. Today there are more checks than stories, so Seattle has a vibrant but hidden community of investors.
We just need more of them. More diversity of operator experience, more network, more points of view and more money.
Should be more willing to take risks
Simply more of them (which in turn drives more funders with a wider range of interest areas and risk tolerance/conviction levels for different business profiles). More with operating experience a big plus, too. Drives the whole virtuous cycle.
No more angel groups where you pitch through committee. Angel investors are the earliest ones to believe in a founder. I believe Angel groups like Seachange, AOA, OVF are really hurting the relationship aspect of angel investment with their process and risk averse attitudes. Some of my most disengaged angels came through pitches at those funds. Some of my most engaged and best angels came from personal, 1 on 1 conversations and relationships that developed because of it.