Naval Ravikant & AngelList: The Match.com of Funding [Interview]

FTA : "The current method of fundraising is very broken. It’s offline, it’s inefficient, it can takes 12 weeks or longer to raise a round. Why are we in 2011 still raising money offline? You market through Facebook or Twitter, get customer service through Get Satisfaction and host your servers on Amazon, why shouldn’t getting funding for your company be serviced through the web? The whole process has to move online."

I disagree, funding a startup is unlike any other commodity or service you might just buy online. Yes the web makes it more efficient to process and transmit information (startup pitches, prototype products/mockups), but if a VC is going to put in 7/8 figures into your startup, you better believe he's going to want to meet with you and your team.

There's a reason that we have a high degree of local VC's in various parts of the country and the world. They need to be on the ground, close to their startups. Mentor them, advice them and make sure the $$$$ they've invested in is being put to good use.

Its been discussed endlessly here and elsewhere: a good idea is worthless without a solid team behind it. Angels/VC's invest in people first (and then the idea). Doing the whole process online is not going to work for the majority of the cases.

Apart from that, love venturehacks and the work Naval is doing..

A way AngelList could monetize is by allowing establish businesses that offer enterprise or startup tools to advertise and reach out to these entrepreneurs. This includes server providers, analytic tools, shared work spaces, and based on geological location local lawyers/CPAs.

If you like this interview you should check the Mixergy episode with Naval, it is really good.

http://mixergy.com/naval-ravikant-venture-hacks-interview/

(oddly enough, I was listening to it when I saw this story pop up on HN)

Hmm...the picture with the wings reads "Angle List"