Sand Hill Angels

Sand Hill Angels is a Silicon Valley angel group founded in 2000, with roughly 140 to 145 accredited members drawn largely from technology operating backgrounds. It invests from seed through Series B, with investments into portfolio companies reported at $50,000 to more than $2 million, and it does not run a traditional fund: member money is aggregated into multi-class LLCs so that Sand Hill Angels appears as a single line on a company's cap table, and the organisation takes no share of member profits. It is funded by membership fees and partnership agreements and is governed by a board elected from the membership. Membership is limited to accredited investors and carries an initiation fee, annual dues and a requirement to make annual investments above a stated minimum, though none of those three amounts is published. Admission runs through a membership-committee liaison, one-on-one interviews and nomination to the board for approval. The group runs sector special-interest groups for consumer, enterprise and life sciences, and a pitch-practice programme called RAW.

Como funciona

Companies apply through Dealum and are screened monthly by sector special-interest groups. Selected companies give a ten-minute first pitch with five minutes of questions; those that advance give a longer 35-minute second pitch with diligence questions. Members then run diligence and invest through a multi-class LLC that consolidates their positions. Portfolio companies provide quarterly updates.

Membro típico

Members are accredited investors described as high-technology founders and executives interested in mentoring as well as investing. The group explicitly excludes applicants whose overriding interest is selling services to presenting companies.

The LLC-aggregation structure is the distinguishing feature: it keeps a company's cap table clean and gives the group a single negotiating position, but it means individual members do not hold shares directly, unlike CTAN. The group is candid that it takes no carry on member investments, which is unusual and worth verifying against groups that do. Sand Hill Angels is one of the few angel organisations to state openly that members must invest above a minimum each year, but it publishes neither that minimum nor its dues or initiation fee, so the real annual cost cannot be assessed without going through the membership committee. Admission is interview-based and requires board approval, so it is slower than groups that admit on payment of dues. It suits Bay Area operators who want to be hands-on; it does not suit passive investors or service providers looking for clients.

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