Brian Nichols is the co-founder of Angel Squad, a community where you’ll learn how to angel invest and get a chance to invest as little as $1k into Hustle Fund's top performing early-stage startups

The most common reason people don't start angel investing: "I don't know any founders."

They see angel investing as relationship-dependent activity where deal flow comes through personal networks. They assume you need to have gone to Stanford, worked at Facebook, or live in San Francisco to access quality opportunities.

Five years ago, this was largely true. Today, it's mostly false.

How to build angel portfolio when you don't know any founders.

Why Founder Networks Mattered (Past Tense)

The Old Access Model: Historically, deal flow flowed through personal relationships. Founders raised from people they knew, former colleagues, classmates, friends of friends. Investors shared opportunities with other investors they knew personally. If you weren't in these networks, you couldn't access quality deals.

This created self-reinforcing cycle. Successful founders became angel investors and shared deals with other former founders. Tech company employees invested in colleagues' startups. Alumni networks circulated opportunities among graduates. Outsiders couldn't break in without spending years building relationships.

Geographic Network Concentration: Networks concentrated geographically in major tech hubs. Silicon Valley founders knew Silicon Valley angels. New York founders raised from New York investors. Living elsewhere meant being excluded from networks where deals circulated.

Even within hubs, networks were tribal. Stanford founders raised from Stanford angels. Y Combinator alumni invested in other YC companies. Google employees funded each other's startups. These tribal networks created barriers even for people living in right geography.

What Changed to Make Networks Optional

Professional Curation at Scale: Institutional investors like Hustle Fund now curate deal flow professionally and make it available through communities. They review 1,000+ applications monthly, screen for quality, and surface best opportunities to community members.

As Elizabeth Yin, co-founder and GP of Hustle Fund, explains: "Getting deal flow & education have been the bigger blockers to date" for new investors. Professional curation solved the deal flow blocker for anyone who joins communities, regardless of personal networks.

You're seeing companies that passed institutional screening by experienced investors. This professional filter often produces better deal quality than personal network referrals, which are unscreened and may include obligation investments in friends' mediocre companies.

Virtual-First Infrastructure: Communities operate globally through virtual platforms. Geographic location is irrelevant. Founder networks matter much less when deal flow distributes digitally to thousands of investors simultaneously.

Angel Squad's 2,000+ members across 40+ countries access same opportunities regardless of where they live or who they know. The playing field leveled dramatically through virtual infrastructure.

Aggregated Capital Through SPVs: SPV structures mean your $1,000 investment aggregates with many others into meaningful check size for founders. You're participating in $20,000-50,000 investments to companies even though you individually contribute small amount.

Founders take these aggregated investments seriously because total capital matters, not whether they know every individual investor personally. This removes relationship requirement from equation.

Building Your First Portfolio Without Founder Networks

Month 1: Join Right Community: Your first action is joining community that provides professionally curated deal flow. Don't waste time trying to network your way into deals independently. Join infrastructure that solves the access problem immediately.

Research communities based on deal volume (100+ opportunities reviewed monthly), deal quality (institutional backing and professional screening), educational structure (weekly programming from experienced investors), and cost transparency (clear membership and carry fees).

Months 2-3: Systematic Learning: Spend 6-8 weeks observing opportunities and attending educational programming without investing. Review 20-30 companies. Attend every educational session. Watch how experienced investors evaluate opportunities. You're building pattern recognition from volume of exposure, not from personal founder relationships.

This compressed learning through professional channels is more efficient than spending years trying to meet founders organically. You see more companies in two months through curated pipeline than you'd meet independently in two years.

Month 3-4: First Investments: Make first 2-3 investments in companies where you understand market, believe in team, and think business model makes sense. You're not investing in companies where you know founders personally, you're investing based on evaluation frameworks you've developed through systematic learning.

As Eric Bahn, co-founder and GP of Hustle Fund, emphasizes: "For beginners, a bigger startup portfolio is better. It helps with diversification and helps you learn and get reps in. Investing requires practice like everything else." You get those reps through community deal flow, not personal founder networks.

Creating Value Without Pre-Existing Networks

Domain Expertise as Alternative to Networks: You don't need founder networks if you have valuable domain expertise. Deep knowledge in healthcare, finance, logistics, manufacturing, or any industry provides value to startups building in those spaces.

Position yourself as helpful based on what you know professionally, not who you know socially. Founders building healthcare software value experienced healthcare operator's insights regardless of whether that operator knows other founders or investors.

Building Networks Forward: Starting without networks doesn't mean staying unconnected. Each investment begins relationship with founders. Helping portfolio companies creates reputation. Other founders hear about helpful investors and seek them out.

By year two or three, you'll have networks built through demonstrated value rather than inherited through school or work relationships. These forward-built networks are often stronger than inherited ones because they're based on actual helpfulness rather than social proximity.

Community as Distributed Network: Community membership provides distributed network effects. You're connected to 2,000+ other investors who collectively have extensive networks, even though you individually don't. Other members make introductions, share insights, and provide access to opportunities because you're part of shared community.

Angel Squad members help each other's portfolio companies through community connections despite individual members having varied network strengths. The collective network compensates for individual limitations.

Advantages of Being Unconnected

No Social Obligation Investments: Unconnected investors avoid pressure to invest in friends' companies out of social obligation. You evaluate opportunities purely on merit rather than mixing friendship with investing.

Connected angels frequently make bad investments in friends' startups because they can't separate professional judgment from personal relationships. You avoid this expensive mistake entirely by being unconnected initially.

Fresh Perspective Uncontaminated by Groupthink: Not being embedded in specific networks means you're not subject to hype cycles or groupthink that sweep through connected communities. You evaluate opportunities based on fundamentals rather than social proof of which other investors are participating.

Connected investors sometimes chase deals because their network peers are investing, not because opportunities are genuinely attractive. You make more independent judgments without this social pressure.

Broader Exposure Through Communities: Communities expose you to deals from multiple geographies, industries, and networks. Connected angels typically see deals within their specific circles. You see much broader opportunity set, which aids diversification and learning.

Specific Tactics for the Unconnected

Maximize Community Deal Flow: Since you can't source independently initially, extract maximum value from community-sourced opportunities. Review every deal presented. Attend every pitch call. Participate actively in discussions. You're substituting volume of exposure for relationship-based filtering.

Develop Frameworks Systematically: Without networks providing shortcuts ("I trust this founder because we worked together"), you need robust evaluation frameworks. Invest time in learning how to assess teams, markets, and business models objectively.

This discipline often produces better outcomes than network-based shortcuts. You're making decisions based on fundamentals rather than relying on relationship trust that may be misplaced.

Focus on Helping Portfolio Companies: Once you've invested, focus on providing real value to those companies. Make relevant introductions from your professional network. Share industry insights. Provide feedback on product or go-to-market strategy.

This builds your reputation as helpful investor. Founders remember and refer other founders to you. Your deal flow improves over time through performance, not through pre-existing relationships.

Document Everything for Learning: Connected angels learn through osmosis from their networks, casual conversations with other investors reveal insights about what matters. You need more deliberate learning approach.

Document your investment theses. Track outcomes carefully. Review decisions systematically. This structured learning replaces informal knowledge transfer that happens in connected networks.

The Two-to-Three-Year Timeline

Year 1: Pure Community Deal Flow: First year, make 6-10 investments entirely through community deal flow. Learn evaluation frameworks systematically. Help portfolio companies where you can. Build track record of making thoughtful decisions and being helpful investor.

Year 2: Developing Reputation: Second year, make 8-12 more investments mixing community deal flow with emerging opportunities from portfolio founders referring their peers. You're developing reputation in specific domains (industry, geography, business model type) where founders start seeking you out.

Year 3: Independent Deal Flow Emerges: Third year, make 10-15 investments with increasing portion from independently sourced opportunities. Portfolio founders refer other founders. Your reputation for being helpful in specific areas spreads organically. You have developed networks through demonstrated value.

By year three, you've built legitimate angel portfolio and professional networks through performance rather than starting with connections. This forward-built network is often stronger than inherited relationships because it's based on actual value provided.

Why This Path Works Now

Infrastructure That Didn't Exist: Five years ago, professional curation and virtual communities weren't mature enough to replace personal networks. Today, the infrastructure is proven at scale with thousands of successful participants.

Lower Capital Requirements: $1,000 minimums mean you can build proper portfolio without having accumulated wealth through decades in high-paying roles that typically correlate with strong networks. The democratization of minimums separated capital requirements from network requirements.

Demonstrated Success Stories: Thousands of investors have now built portfolios starting without founder networks. The model works, it's not theoretical. Communities like Angel Squad prove unconnected investors can succeed through systematic approaches.

As Shiyan Koh, co-founder and GP of Hustle Fund, notes: "Great founders can look like anyone and come from anywhere." The same applies to angel investors, you don't need to come from traditional networks to succeed.

The Honest Assessment

Will you see every amazing deal? No. Some of the best opportunities still flow through tight networks and never reach broader communities. Connected angels at the highest levels have access advantages you can't match.

But can you build legitimate angel portfolio, learn systematically, help great founders, and potentially achieve decent returns without founder networks? Absolutely. The infrastructure exists and works at scale.

Not knowing founders is starting point, not permanent condition. You build networks through being helpful investor rather than requiring networks as prerequisite for participation.

Angel Squad enables this path specifically for unconnected investors: curated deal flow from Hustle Fund's professional pipeline of 1,000+ monthly applications provides quality opportunities without requiring personal founder networks, virtual-first structure means your location doesn't limit access, $1,000 minimums enable participation without massive capital accumulated through decades in networked industries, and community of 2,000+ investors across 40+ countries demonstrates model works regardless of starting connections.

The question isn't whether you know founders currently. It's whether you're willing to join infrastructure that solves the access problem, learn systematically through that infrastructure, and build networks through demonstrated value over time.

Not knowing any founders is obstacle, not disqualification. Modern angel investing infrastructure provides alternative paths that work if you're willing to engage systematically rather than waiting for perfect network access that may never come.