Angel Squad

Angel Squad is the investor community run by Hustle Fund, a pre-seed venture firm founded by Elizabeth Yin and Eric Bahn. It launched in 2021 as an attempt to widen access to angel investing, and gives members curated access to deals Hustle Fund is already backing, alongside a structured education programme. Hustle Fund says it reviews more than a thousand opportunities a month and shares two to three with the Squad. Members can invest as little as $1,000 per deal, through special-purpose vehicles the firm administers, which makes it one of the lowest cheque-size entry points among organised investor networks. The community reports more than 2,500 members across more than 40 countries, with online workshops and courses, live pitches from portfolio companies, one-to-one member matching and quarterly in-person events in cities including San Francisco, New York, London, Singapore and Toronto. Membership itself does not require accredited-investor status; accreditation is required only when a member writes a cheque. Admission runs through a short application or an introductory call, followed by a two-week free trial.

Cách thức hoạt động

Applicants fill in a short application or book a 15-minute call, then get a complimentary two-week trial. Members see two to three curated deals a month from Hustle Fund's pipeline and can invest from $1,000 through SPVs that Hustle Fund sets up and documents. Alongside deals, members get weekly educational programming from the fund's general partners, live portfolio-company pitches, peer matching and quarterly local events. TechCrunch reported in 2023 that the community admitted around 250 members per quarterly cohort.

Thành viên điển hình

Members are described as leaders from companies including OpenAI, Stripe and Google. Accreditation is required to invest but not to join for community and education; TechCrunch reported in 2023 that Hustle Fund covered the cost of the Series 65 exam for members pursuing that route to accredited status.

Angel Squad is the clearest example in this batch of a venture firm turning its deal flow into a membership product, and the economics deserve scrutiny. Members get access to companies the fund has already chosen, which is genuine diligence leverage but also means the selection is the manager's, not the member's. Hustle Fund's own marketing posts describe lifetime rather than time-bounded access; TechCrunch reported quarterly or annual fees in 2023, so the pricing model appears to have changed, and the current fee is not published anywhere on the site. Third-party summaries cite $3,500 for lifetime membership, but that figure appears on no page that could be verified. The $1,000 minimum is real and unusually low. The offer suits people who want a diversified spread of small positions and structured education; it does not suit investors who want to source and lead their own deals.

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