Chris Yeh responds to Arrington's blog: Yes, there is a super-angel conspiracy | Hacker News Reader

Chris Yeh responds to Arrington's blog: Yes, there is a super-angel conspiracy

venturebeat.com

55 pointsganjianwei4 comments

  >Even if we assume that Silicon Valley seed rounds only
  >account for 10 percent of angel investing in the US,

Surely they are way, way less than 10%. I mean tech is less than 10% of the US and the valley isn't the only place for angels. At 1%, which sounds more plausible, we are talking about controlling 50% of deals. That's not an innocuous number.

So, screw the 500,000 angels figure. Anyone with any actual knowledge want to tell us how much of the relevant market the top 10 angel firms control?

The article makes the false assumption that all angels are the same. Super-Angels aren't super angels purely because of the money they control, but rather their expertise and connections that make them the first choice for startups looking for investment.

Exactly. It's the start-ups that make super angels 'super angels', ignore them for a year or so and the situation would change dramatically. Some of them are so well connected that people would consider giving them some equity just to get them and their network on board.

It also serves as validation to some extent, if 'X' is on board that validates your start-up in the eyes of others.

Nice example, plenty of the YC companies would never receive so much as a byline on the major tech / news sites but as soon as YC invests they're headline news.

This title is misleading...

"I’m not saying that angels don’t wish that valuations are lower (I certainly do). But there simply is no way that such a conspiracy could be effective, given the economics of the market."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com