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Comment by alexwolfe | Hacker News Reader

I actually emailed them explaining my frustation on how the site was really for people who already had connections. It didn't work very well for connecting people that had very little influence or existing connections with investors. They were very honest and admitted:

"Right now, we don't do a great job addressing your situation. That forces some users to make initial contact with investors off-site (LinkedIn is common); we're working on new ways for you to make those initial contacts within AngelList."

If they can solve this problem then I think the platform will really gain mainstream appeal. Otherwise I think it will remain a tool that works well for a small niche of startups.

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Couldn't agree with you more. I'm thoroughly frustrated with AngelList.

Tried to introduce my startup/self to people but you can't do anything until you have an investor/advisor on board. It's the classic can't get a job without experience–can't get experience without a job scenario.

I know it's probably not the case, but from the outside AngelList just seems like an online good ole boys club for all these angels that already share deals with each other.

I've even emailed a few advisor/investor types that I met at conferences. It basically comes down to "I only advise and refer people that I already know well"

We built references to help solve this problem. You can get references from anyone and their followers will be notified. You should only ask for references from people you already know well. We ban people who spam investors (or anyone), asking for references. We're also working on other tools to help the disconnected get connected.

Yes. Here's a little bit about our experience with AngelList. We are quite profitable and are doing well growing from our existing cash flow. We are not seeking capital at this time.

We have had profiles on AngelList for a while now, with the expectation that we would "age" the accounts and gradually accumulate interested parties, such that if the day came when we would like to seek additional growth capital, we could then reach out to these people.

Result: Zero followers. Most likely zero views. AngelList is very much a walled garden, useful only to those with preexisting angel connections.

So kinda like the real world?

Did you do anything to drive people to your profile, even initially?

Even on the web, where search is more relevant than on discovery driven social networks, it's very hard to capture even small amounts of interest just by creating a site.

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