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

Ten years ago, becoming an angel investor meant living in San Francisco, New York, or maybe Boston. You needed to attend demo days, grab coffee with founders, and network at industry events. Geography was destiny.

Today, that's completely changed. You can invest in startups from Austin, Lagos, Singapore, or a small town in Iowa. The infrastructure exists to participate fully in angel investing without ever setting foot in Silicon Valley.

This shift matters tremendously. It means the smartest investors aren't limited to people who can afford Bay Area housing. It means founders can access capital from a global network rather than just local investors. And it means you can build a legitimate angel investing practice from wherever you actually live.

Here's how it works.

The Shift to Remote-First Deal Flow

The biggest change enabling geographic flexibility is how deals flow through the ecosystem now. Pre-2020, most deal flow happened through in-person networks. You'd hear about interesting startups from other investors at events, through warm introductions, or by physically being in the same spaces as founders.

That model completely broke during COVID. VCs and angel investors were forced to evaluate deals entirely virtually. Pitch meetings happened on Zoom. Due diligence happened through document reviews and reference calls. Investment decisions happened without ever meeting founders in person.

What everyone discovered: it worked fine. Maybe even better than before.

Virtual evaluation forced investors to focus on substance over style. You couldn't rely on a founder's charisma in a coffee shop meeting. You had to actually read their metrics, understand their market, and evaluate their thinking through structured conversations.

Most professional investors now do their initial evaluations entirely virtually, even if they're in the same city as the founder. The tools and processes developed during COVID became permanent parts of how deals work.

Angel Communities and Virtual Infrastructure

This shift enabled the rise of virtual angel investing communities serving members globally. Programs like Angel Squad have over 2,000 members across 40+ countries who've collectively invested more than $30 million into startups, all without requiring anyone to relocate.

These communities run their programming virtually with accommodations for different time zones. Angel Squad, for example, hosts events at both 10am and 5pm Pacific to cover different global regions. All educational content is recorded so members in Asia or Europe can watch asynchronously.

The deal flow itself comes through digital infrastructure. Instead of hearing about startups through hallway conversations, you see deal memos, pitch recordings, and structured investment opportunities delivered through community platforms.

This levels the playing field in ways people don't fully appreciate. An investor in Mumbai gets access to the same information, at the same time, as an investor in Palo Alto. Geography no longer determines deal access.

Building Networks Without Physical Proximity

The biggest concern people have about remote angel investing is relationship building. How do you develop trust and credibility with founders and other investors if you're not physically present?

The answer is that digital relationships can be just as strong as physical ones if you're intentional about building them. You just need different strategies.

Active participation in community discussions signals that you're engaged and thoughtful. Investors who consistently show up to events, ask good questions, and share learnings build strong reputations within communities even if they never meet anyone in person.

Being helpful to founders matters more than your location. If you make valuable introductions, provide useful feedback on pitch decks, or connect founders with relevant expertise, they remember you. That builds credibility regardless of where you live.

Over time, you develop genuine relationships with other community members through repeated interactions. The investors you see regularly at virtual events, exchange messages with about deals, and learn from become real connections. Many Angel Squad members have never met in person but have invested together in multiple companies and developed strong working relationships.

Eric Bahn, co-founder of Hustle Fund, sees this in their portfolio: "We've invested in founders and worked with investors from dozens of countries. Some of our best relationships are with people we've only met on Zoom."

Time Zone Challenges and Solutions

Time zones are the one legitimate geographic challenge for remote angel investing. If you're in Singapore and the community runs events at 10am Pacific, that's 2am your time. Not ideal.

The best communities solve this through a mix of approaches. They record everything so nothing is lost if you can't attend live. They rotate event times to ensure everyone gets some events during reasonable hours. They create regional sub-groups that can meet independently.

Angel Squad handles this by hosting events at both morning and evening Pacific times, plus recording every session. Members in Asia can catch morning Pacific events during their evening. Members in Europe can join evening Pacific events during their morning. And everyone can watch recordings if neither works.

The educational content actually benefits from being async. You can watch a workshop on cap table mechanics or portfolio construction on your own schedule, pause to take notes, and rewatch sections you didn't understand the first time.

For live founder pitches and Q&A sessions, communities use multiple time slots or written Q&A to ensure everyone can participate regardless of location.

Types of Deals Available Remotely

One question people ask: does remote investing limit the types of deals you can access? Are the best companies only available to local investors?

Not anymore. The best VCs invest remotely in companies all over the world. Hustle Fund has portfolio companies in South America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and small cities across the US. None of these investments required physical proximity.

At the angel stage, remote investing works particularly well for several types of companies. Remote-first startups are naturally comfortable with remote investors. Many founders now build distributed teams from day one and prefer investors who understand that model.

B2B SaaS companies are easy to evaluate remotely because the metrics tell most of the story. You can assess revenue growth, churn, and unit economics through data without needing to physically visit offices or meet customers.

Consumer products with clear traction (downloads, DAU/MAU, retention) work well for remote evaluation. You can understand the product, use it yourself, and assess market fit without geography mattering.

The deals that still benefit from local presence are things like hardware products that you want to physically test, or highly regulated industries where in-person customer visits matter. But those are a small percentage of angel-stage opportunities.

Education and Skill Development

One underrated advantage of remote angel investing communities is the education actually works better virtually than in person.

Traditional angel groups in places like Silicon Valley would hold monthly meetings where 2-3 founders pitched. That's good exposure but limited learning. You only saw deals that happened to be fundraising that month in that geography.

Virtual communities can provide much more structured education. They can bring in expert speakers from anywhere in the world. They can create curriculum that builds progressively. They can share resources that members review on their own time.

Angel Squad's educational programming includes everything from understanding SAFEs and convertible notes to evaluating founding team dynamics to thinking about market timing. This education happens weekly through virtual events, is recorded for review, and brings in speakers who wouldn't be available for in-person events.

You also learn by seeing more deals. In a local angel group, you might evaluate 20-30 companies per year. In a virtual community with global reach, you might see 100-200 opportunities. That accelerated pattern recognition helps you develop judgment faster.

Building a Track Record Remotely

The goal of angel investing isn't just making money. It's building a track record that lets you participate at higher levels later, whether that means larger check sizes, raising your own fund, or transitioning into VC.

Geography matters less for track records than people think. What matters is the quality of your investments, your decision-making process, and the relationships you've built with founders and other investors.

Investors who participate actively in virtual communities, make thoughtful investments, and help their portfolio companies succeed build legitimate track records. When those companies raise Series A or get acquired, those outcomes count just as much as if you'd been local to the company.

In fact, there's an argument that building a track record remotely demonstrates more skill. You can't rely on being in the right place at the right time or knowing founders personally. You have to evaluate deals on their merits and build relationships through value-add rather than proximity.

The Future of Geographic-Agnostic Investing

The trend toward location-independent angel investing will only accelerate. As more successful startups emerge from non-traditional geographies, and as virtual infrastructure improves, the old model of needing to be in Silicon Valley becomes increasingly outdated.

We're already seeing the results. Angel Squad's 2,000+ members across 40+ countries have invested $30+ million collectively. That capital flow simply wouldn't exist if geography still determined participation.

New investors joining today have advantages that people starting five years ago didn't have. The communities are more established. The virtual infrastructure is more robust. The acceptance of remote relationships is normalized.

Getting Started from Wherever You Are

So how do you actually start angel investing from outside traditional tech hubs?

First, join a community that operates virtually and welcomes global members. Angel Squad charges $199 per quarter and provides access to Hustle Fund's deal pipeline, weekly educational programming, and a global community of investors learning together.

Second, participate actively even if you can't attend events live. Watch recordings, ask questions in community channels, and engage with other members asynchronously. Building relationships remotely requires consistency and visibility.

Third, make your first investments in companies you can understand and evaluate remotely. B2B SaaS with clear metrics, consumer products you can use yourself, or founders solving problems you understand from your professional background.

Fourth, focus on being helpful rather than getting perks. You won't have board seats or formal advisory roles with $1,000-2,000 checks. But you can make introductions, provide feedback, and support founders in ways that build your reputation.

As Elizabeth Yin emphasizes: "Getting deal flow and education have been the bigger blockers to date" for new angel investors, not the capital itself. Virtual communities solve both problems regardless of where you live.

The old barriers to angel investing are gone. You don't need to live in San Francisco. You don't need $100,000. You don't need existing relationships with founders. You just need internet access, some capital to invest, and the willingness to participate actively in learning communities.

The future of angel investing is global, virtual, and accessible to anyone willing to do the work of learning while they invest.