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

You've finally found a startup deal you're excited about. The founder seems sharp, the market looks massive, and you're ready to write a check. Then reality hits: you have no idea who else is investing, and you're not sure you want to go in alone.

So you do what everyone does in 2025. You open LinkedIn.

You start messaging people who list "angel investor" in their headline. Most don't respond. A few send polite declines. One person says they're interested but ghosts after you send the deck. After two weeks of this, you're exhausted and the round is closing without you.

Why LinkedIn Fails for Deal Co-Investment

LinkedIn optimizes for professional broadcasting, not deal collaboration. When you cold message someone about an investment opportunity, you're asking them to trust your judgment on a high-risk bet without any shared context or relationship history.

The math doesn't work. If I'm evaluating 50 deals per year and random people send me 100 more through LinkedIn, I'm ignoring 98% of them just to maintain sanity. That's not personal, that's survival.

The successful co-investments I see happen through warm networks where people have worked together, shared diligence on previous deals, or spent time building trust. That doesn't happen in LinkedIn DMs.

How Angel Communities Actually Work

Communities flip the co-investment dynamic. Instead of cold outreach to strangers, you're building relationships with people who are evaluating the same deals you're seeing.

At Angel Squad, members show up to weekly pitch events where founders present to the community. After the pitch, people discuss the opportunity openly. You hear someone articulate exactly why the unit economics concern them. Another person shares domain expertise that changes your perspective.

This creates natural co-investment groups. When five people get excited about the same deal, they exchange contacts after the session. They set up a group chat to share additional diligence. By the time they're ready to invest, they've already built trust through shared work.

The conversion rate is wildly different. Instead of messaging 50 strangers and getting 2 responses, you're having substantive conversations with 10 people and 6 of them become co-investors.

The Economics of Community Co-Investment

Angel Squad members have collectively invested over $30 million across 70+ companies. That capital didn't come from LinkedIn networking. It came from structured community engagement where trust compounds over time.

Here's how it works. Hustle Fund reviews 1,000+ companies monthly and shares the top 2-3 opportunities. Those deals already have institutional validation because Hustle Fund is writing checks alongside you.

When you invest $1,000 through an Angel Squad SPV, you're automatically co-investing with other community members. No awkward outreach required. You're in a vehicle with other investors who went through the same evaluation process.

The SPV structure solves another problem. It reduces legal complexity. Instead of negotiating individual investment agreements, everyone invests through a single entity. The founder deals with one line on their cap table instead of managing 50 small angel investors.

Building Your Co-Investor Network

The best angel investors I know didn't build their networks through LinkedIn. They built them by showing up consistently to community events, contributing valuable insights, and proving they're not jerks.

Angel Squad runs this playbook at scale. Members get matched 1:1 with other investors based on shared interests. They meet at quarterly gatherings in cities like San Francisco, Miami, Singapore, and London. They gather annually at Camp Hustle for a weekend of workshops and relationship building.

This matters because co-investment relationships are long-term. The person you invest with on Deal 1 might introduce you to Deal 15 three years later. They might become a co-founder on your next startup.

These relationships don't form through transactional LinkedIn messages. They form through repeated interactions where you demonstrate judgment, integrity, and the ability to add value beyond capital.

What Makes Communities Actually Work

Not all angel communities deliver on finding co-investors. The difference comes down to a few specific factors.

Curation matters. Angel Squad has a "no jerks" policy that's rigorously enforced. When you know everyone passed some basic bar for being decent, you're more willing to collaborate.

Shared evaluation creates bonds. When you and another investor both spent time analyzing the same company, you have common context. You can have a 5-minute conversation that would take an hour to explain to someone starting from scratch.

Regular touchpoints build familiarity. Seeing the same people every week at pitch events means you actually get to know them. You learn who asks the smartest questions, who has specific domain expertise, and whose judgment you trust.

Geography doesn't matter anymore. Angel Squad has 2,000+ members across 40+ countries. Members in Singapore co-invest with members in New York on deals happening in San Francisco.

Making Your First Co-Investment

If you're ready to move beyond LinkedIn cold outreach, here's what actually works. Join a community where members are actively evaluating deals together, not just consuming content. Show up to events consistently so people recognize you.

When you see a deal you like, say so publicly. Explain your thinking. Ask questions. Other investors who are interested will naturally gravitate toward the conversation. After the session, follow up with the 2-3 people whose analysis resonated with you.

Don't overthink it. The goal isn't to find 10 co-investors for every deal. The goal is to find 2-3 thoughtful people who can pressure-test your thinking and help you avoid obvious mistakes. Those relationships will compound over time as you invest in more companies together.

For founders and operators looking to break into angel investing without the awkward LinkedIn hustle, communities like Angel Squad provide the infrastructure to build real co-investor relationships. You get access to vetted deals, structured evaluation processes, and a network of 2,000+ investors who are all solving the same problem you are: how to invest in startups without going it alone.