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 don't need to be rich to become an angel investor.

That's the biggest lesson I learned watching friends in Silicon Valley write $1,000 checks into startups. Not $25,000. Not $100,000. One thousand dollars. Most of them were startup founders themselves with high valuations but zero liquidity. Their companies were worth millions on paper, but their bank accounts looked like mine.

Here's what made them valuable: they were founders. They had operational experience. They knew how to build products, acquire customers, and navigate the chaos of early-stage companies. Startups wanted them on the cap table even for tiny checks.

If you're working at a tech company right now, you have something similar to offer. Domain expertise. Networks. Real experience solving problems at scale. That's worth more than money to the right founders.

Starting with What You Have

The mechanics are simpler than you'd think. You need to be an accredited investor, which typically means earning $200,000 annually or having a $1 million net worth excluding your primary residence. If you're a founder whose company raised at a $5 million cap and you own 30% of the equity, you're worth $1.5 million on paper. Accredited.

But having money and being able to invest it are different things. Most angels who write $1,000 to $5,000 checks can't afford to lose that money. They're making calculated bets with limited resources. This means portfolio construction becomes critical.

At Hustle Fund, we tell new investors to think like VCs even at micro scale. Most of your investments will return zero. Some will do okay but never provide liquidity. You need the winners to cover all losses and then some. This means you can't make three investments and hope one hits. You need diversification.

Start with a plan to invest in 10 to 15 companies over two to three years. If you're writing $1,000 checks, that's $10,000 to $15,000 total. If you're writing $5,000 checks, it's $50,000 to $75,000. Pick a number that won't destroy you financially if every single investment goes to zero, because many will.

Building Your Track Record

The real value of angel investing as a tech employee isn't just potential returns. It's building a track record that can open doors.

Nicole Quinn from Lightspeed Venture Partners started her VC career by doing the work before having the job. She made angel investments. She built market maps. She met with founders and provided feedback. She didn't wait for someone to give her a formal role.

Your number one job as an investor is sourcing and investing in the best deals. You prove this by actually doing it with your own capital. If you want to break into VC full-time, there's no better proof than showing a firm your personal portfolio and saying, "Look at my track record. I put my own money to work. These founders want to work with me."

Small checks can lead to big checks too. When we raised Fund III at Hustle Fund, we took some checks as small as a few thousand dollars from strategic angels. These weren't people who could write $100,000 checks, but they were credible champions who opened doors and made introductions. The flywheel effect of having the right people advocating for you matters more than check size.

Where to Find Deals

Deal flow sounds mysterious until you realize it's just meeting founders. If you work in tech, you already know founders. Former colleagues who left to start companies. Friends from college working on side projects. People in your industry Slack groups talking about their startups.

Start by picking one to three areas you're passionate about. Creator economy. AI infrastructure. Developer tools. Whatever aligns with your expertise. Then get to know every founder in that space. Not to immediately invest, but to understand the landscape.

Elizabeth Yin from Hustle Fund talks about how founders who focus on distribution beat founders who only focus on product. The same applies to angel investing. Your distribution is your network. Use LinkedIn. Go to startup events. Join communities like Angel Squad where deal flow is shared and you can learn from experienced investors.

The best deals often come from warm introductions. If you help a founder with their pitch deck or product strategy, they'll remember you when they're raising. If you're known in a specific vertical, founders will reach out. Building reputation takes time, but tech employees have an advantage. You actually understand the problems startups are trying to solve.

Making Fast Decisions

When you're writing small checks, you can't spend six weeks doing due diligence. The deals will close without you. This is where your tech expertise becomes invaluable.

You already know how to evaluate products. You understand go-to-market strategies. You can spot founders who actually know their space versus ones who watched a few YouTube videos. Trust your gut on team and market, then move quickly.

The pitch is simple: "I love what you're building. I'm not rich enough to write a huge check, but I can invest $1,000 and I can help you with [specific value add]. I won't be a pain, and I'll move fast." Most founders will say yes.

At Hustle Fund, we've invested in nearly 600 companies. We see founders face co-founder breakups, visa issues, health crises, embezzlement. Things go wrong that you can't predict in due diligence. The only hedge is portfolio diversification and betting on founders who can navigate chaos.

The Long Game

Angel investing is a 10-year commitment minimum. Your companies won't look great in the beginning. They'll pivot multiple times. They'll almost run out of money. This is normal.

The founders building generational companies often look indistinguishable from the ones who will fail when you first meet them. You won't know for years. This is why working with your portfolio companies matters. Help them hire. Make introductions. Provide honest feedback. You'll learn what separates great founders from mediocre ones.

Over time, you'll develop better pattern recognition. You'll understand which signals matter and which are noise. You'll build relationships with other investors and get access to better deals. But it starts with putting your own capital to work and learning by doing.

The venture ecosystem is changing. More people are making money from high-risk endeavors like startups and crypto. These new angels think with a portfolio mindset and move faster than traditional investors. They're comfortable with risk because they've lived it.

If you're a tech employee interested in angel investing, you're entering at the right time. The infrastructure has never been better. AngelList makes it easy to invest. Communities like Angel Squad provide education and deal flow. You don't need permission. You just need to start.

Want to learn more about angel investing and connect with other tech professionals making the transition? Join Angel Squad for access to vetted deals, mentorship from experienced investors, and a community that understands the journey from tech employee to angel investor.