This playbook will help you to find and raise from Angel Investors. Angel investors will be among your most important backers at the earliest stage and if you can get your strategy right with Angels you will supercharge your progress. By the end of the Carbon13 programme, you are still to early for most VCs, so your first focus should be on Angels.
Contents
The sections of this playbook are designed to be read chronologically, building from the very beginning of the process.
- VUnderstanding the Angel Mindset
- VAre You Angel-Ready?
- VWhere to Find Angels?
- VBuilding Trust Before You Raise
- VHow do Angels Evaluate You?
- VOutreach & Meetings: Best Practices
- VSpeed, Timelines, & Closing
- VBeyond Money - Making the Most of Your Angels
- VBuilding Long-Term Trust
Understanding the Angel Mindset
Angels are not mini-VCs. They invest for financial upside and emotional return.
Your pitch must combine:
- A credible financial upside.
- Mission, vision, and personal motivation.
- A role for the angel beyond capital.
Expect fewer spreadsheets than with a VC but more sharp questions.
I have worked in my space for decades and am a deep domain expert. Some great people helped me along my journey and now I want to give back. I want to share my knowledge to help improve this space, stay close to innovation, make some money and have fun doing it.
Are you Angel-Ready?
I want to invest in a founder who loves my space as much as I do. Take me on a new journey.
Essential:
Complete founding team (vision, product/tech, commercial)
Solving a real, painful problem
Scalable business model
Nice to have:
MVP / prototype / proof of concept (angel money may help you get here)
Early traction (revenue, pilots, LOIs, beta users)
Clear milestones for the next 12–18 months
Real, Smart money is worth it. Dilution alone is not the enemy.
Remember: Angels back teams, not products. They want to know you as founders.
Founders should aim to have >50% ownership when they reach Series A. You should aim for 10-30% dilution per round to achieve this.
Where to find Angels
- VAngel communities & Networks (e.g local clubs, national & regional networks).
- VAngel Syndicates (e.g Green Angel Syndicate, HERmesa, The Table)
- VAccelerator & Company Alumni Networks.
- VUniversity Alumni.
- VStartup Pitch Events & Mixers.
- VFounder-to-Founder Referrals.
- VLinkedin. (many Angels will have this in their profile. Search your industry and reach out with a personalised message)
- VDigital Platforms (e.g AngelList, Angels Den). These are starting points, not magic bullets.
Warm intros are great if you can get them but I’m open to cold outreach. Don’t wait around to see if I hear about you from somewhere else. Reach out! Just make sure you know what motivates me and you’re making it relevant to my interests.
Finding Angel Investors involves lots of hard work. The most successful teams do not rely on warm intros. They actively reach out to hundreds and thousands of potential investors using tools to help them automate and semi-personalise their messages to increase their response rates – you need both volume and relevance to be successful. It’s work that takes time and effort, but you simply need to do it to be successful.
Turn cold outreach into warm leads
- Find angel lists online.
- Review every angel in LI before reaching out – what motivates them?
- Personalise your outreach – your business has different angles. Use them to interest angels with different backgrounds.
- Connect on LI and use a tool like RocketReach to find email addresses and reach out via email as well. One message on one platform is not enough.
- Follow up (politely) more than feels comfortable. Don’t give up on a lead too soon – send at least 3 emails before you decide a lead is not interested.
- Have a system – track who you have reached out to, where you did, when you followed up, what responses you got.
- Iterate on your messages – Do some A/B testing and find out what message works best!
- When you get into a call, ALWAYS ask if there is anybody else they know that you should speak to. It is much more effective to ask in-person than on an email.
Remember: You might send 100 messages and get 5 responses. This is fine. Just keep going and they stack up!
Build trust before you fundraise
Become visible and credible
Before you ask for money:
- Curate your online presence.
- Share insights publicly.
- Speak at events.
- Be visible in your niche.
Before you ask for money:
- Ask for advice, not money.
- Engage angels on topics where they have expertise.
- Offer value first (market insight, intros, learnings).
- Add potential angels to your update newsletter early.
- Be patient – multiple touchpoints matter.
Remember: It can be too early to fundraise but it’s NEVER too early to build relationships.
I have knowledge and insight developed over years, not to mention my network. There are so many doors I can open if you bring me on board. Get me excited and involved and money can follow later.
How Angels Evaluate you
Outreach & meetings: Best Practices
Outreach
- VPersonalised.
- VReferenced.
- VClearly relevant to their background.
- VShort & respectful of time.
- VCombines outreach over LI with follow up via email. One platform is rarely enough.
Remember: You need to balance personalised/targeted outreach and quantity. You should expect to be sending several hundred messages.
Meetings
- VLead with vision & why.
- VBe transparent & coachable.
- VExplain capital deployment clearly.
- VFocus on realistic milestones.
- VAsk about their investment style.
- VShow you did your homework.
- VAlways ask if there is anyone else in their network you should speak to.
Process expectations
- V2-3 meetings with serious Angels.
- VSyndicate Angels may need fewer meetings.
- VActive Angels may want to meet the full team.
- VLight due diligence (financials, cap table, roadmap).
Speed, Timelines & Closing
I’m not as tied down by process as VCs are. If we have a good relationship, then I can move fast with capital.
- VAngels move faster than VCs.
- VTypical timeline: 4-8 weeks (often 4-5).
- VMomentum matters - social proof accelerates closes.
- VLead angel first, then fill the round.
Making the most of your Angels (after the money)
Angels are not just capital. Tap their networks!
Build long-term trust (this decides your future rounds)
Investor Updates
- Send regularly (monthly or quarterly)
- Simple structure:
- Wins
- What’s next
- Specific asks
- Share challenges openly
- Celebrate milestones
I want to stay in the loop. If you don’t update me, then I can’t invest in you in the future.