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

Angel investing communities are multiplying fast. Some are worth joining. Most are not.

The Angel Capital Association represents over 15,000 members across 250+ angel groups, and membership is growing 12% annually. That growth means more options, but also more mediocrity. You need a filter.

Here's a 10-point checklist to evaluate whether a community is worth your time and money. Use these criteria before you write any membership checks.

1. Do They Actually Deploy Capital?

This is the first filter. If a community is just educational content with no real capital deployment, you're joining a course, not an investing community.

Ask: How much capital did the community deploy last year? How many deals did members invest in? What's the average check size?

Real communities will have specific numbers. They'll tell you they deployed $5 million across 30 companies, or whatever the actual figures are. Fake communities will give you vague answers about "creating opportunities for members."

Angel Squad members invest alongside Hustle Fund when the fund backs companies. That's actual capital deployment with specific terms and real co-investment opportunities. That's what you're looking for.

Educational content is valuable, but if that's all you're getting, take a cheaper course instead of paying ongoing membership fees.

2. Who Runs It and Do They Have Skin in the Game?

Communities run by active investors who co-invest alongside members are better than communities run by facilitators who just organize events.

Look at the organizers. Are they:

• Writing their own checks into deals?
• Managing a fund that backs portfolio companies?
• Operating as professional investors with track records?

Or are they:

• Just running a platform business?
• Collecting fees without investing personally?
• Teaching investing without doing it themselves?

Elizabeth Yin co-founded LaunchBit (acquired 2014), became a partner at 500 Startups, and now runs Hustle Fund with over 600 portfolio companies. Eric Bahn built and sold Beat the GMAT before joining 500 Startups and Instagram. Shiyan Koh scaled NerdWallet from 10 to 450 employees.

That's operator-to-investor experience. That's skin in the game. That's what credible community leadership looks like.

3. Check Portfolio Quality, Not Just Portfolio Size

Any community can show you a list of companies they've backed. The question is whether those companies are actually performing.

Dig into:

• How many portfolio companies raised follow-on rounds?
• What's the failure rate versus success rate?
• Have any companies exited? At what multiples?
• Are companies growing or just surviving?

Data from 2025 shows startups with high angel interest had 77% survival rates versus 54% for those with low angel interest. Communities with good deal selection processes should beat these benchmarks, not trail them.

Don't be impressed by quantity. Be impressed by quality and momentum. Three companies raising Series A rounds is more impressive than twenty companies that all died quietly.

4. Evaluate Membership Composition

A good angel investing community has a mix of newcomers and experienced investors. If everyone's brand new, there's no one to learn from. If everyone's a veteran, you might struggle to find footing or get attention.

Ask about:

• What percentage of members are first-time angels versus experienced?
• How many members have exited investments successfully?
• What's the retention rate? (If everyone quits after a year, that's a red flag)

You want communities where experienced investors stick around because they still find value, and where newcomers can learn from those veterans.

5. Understand the Time Commitment Versus Flexibility

Some communities require weekly attendance at pitch meetings. Others are more flexible. Figure out what fits your life before you commit.

Be honest with yourself. If you travel constantly for work and can't make weekly 10 AM Pacific calls, don't join a community built around that schedule. If you need flexibility to dip in and out, find communities that accommodate that.

Angel Squad runs events at both 10 AM and 5 PM Pacific to accommodate different time zones and schedules. That's thoughtful community design. Look for that kind of consideration.

Also ask: What happens if you miss events? Can you catch recordings? Are there penalties for not participating enough? Communities should have clear expectations.

6. Look at the Deal Flow Sources

Where do the deals come from? This matters more than most people realize.

The best communities have multiple deal flow sources:

• Direct founder relationships
• Partnerships with accelerators or VCs
• Member-sourced opportunities
• Warm introductions from portfolio companies

Be skeptical of communities where all deals come from founders cold-calling the group. That's often lower quality flow than founders who have relationships with members or leadership.

Ask: What percentage of deals are member-sourced versus inbound? How do you screen companies before presenting them? What's your acceptance rate?

Hustle Fund's deals team reviews 1,000 pitch decks per month. They're selective. That filtering is valuable. If a community accepts every founder who applies to pitch, the quality suffers.

7. Assess the Educational Programming Quality

Education should be tactical, not theoretical. Look for communities that teach:

• How to actually evaluate specific types of companies
• Real due diligence processes with examples
• Term sheet negotiation with real scenarios
• Portfolio construction and strategy

Bad education looks like generic webinars about "what is angel investing" or "how startups work." Good education looks like watching Elizabeth Yin walk through why she passed on a specific deal, what red flags she saw, and what it would have taken for her to invest.

Ask what educational programming happened in the last quarter. If they can't give you specific examples, there probably isn't much happening.

8. Check Co-Investment Mechanics and Terms

If a community offers co-investment opportunities, understand the mechanics:

• Can you invest in every deal or just some?
• What are the minimum investment amounts?
• Are terms the same as lead investors or different?
• Is there a carry or fee on deals?
• How quickly do you need to decide?

Some communities let you invest alongside them on the same terms as institutional investors. That's valuable. Others add carry or fees on top. That might still be worth it if the deal quality is high, but know what you're paying for.

Also ask about allocation. If a deal is hot and oversubscribed, how does the community decide who gets in? First-come-first-served? Pro-rata? Favoritism? Transparent allocation processes are better than opaque ones.

9. Evaluate Network Effects and Community Culture

The value of a community isn't just in formal programming. It's in the informal connections you build with other members.

Good signs:

• Members actively help each other outside structured events
• People share deal flow and invite each other to co-invest
• There's collaboration, not competition
• Experienced members mentor newer ones without being asked

Bad signs:

• Members only show up for pitch events then disappear
• No one talks to each other outside formal sessions
• Cliques form and newcomers feel excluded
• Culture is overly focused on who's backing the best deals

You can usually sense community culture by attending one or two events. Trust your gut. If it feels transactional or unwelcoming, it probably is.

10. Calculate the ROI on Membership Fees

Be ruthless about this. What does membership cost versus what do you get?

Example calculation:

• Annual fee: $2,000
• Access to 40 vetted deals per year
• Education worth maybe $500 if you paid for courses
• Network connections: hard to quantify but real value
• Saved time on deal sourcing: maybe 20 hours worth $5,000 of your time

That math works. But if it's:

• Annual fee: $5,000
• Access to 10 mediocre deals
• Generic education you could get free on YouTube
• No real network or connections forming

That's a bad deal.

Also consider opportunity cost. The time you spend in community events is time you're not spending building your own network or sourcing your own deals. That trade-off should be worth it.

The Gut Check Questions

After you've gone through this checklist, ask yourself:

Would I be excited to tell other smart people I'm part of this community? If yes, that's a good sign. If you'd be embarrassed or defensive about it, walk away.

Do I see people I respect and want to learn from? If the community is full of people who seem less sophisticated than you are, you're not going to learn much.

Am I getting access I couldn't easily build myself? If everything the community offers is stuff you could do solo in six months, it's probably not worth paying for.

Red Flags to Watch For

Beyond the checklist, watch for these warning signs:

• Leadership makes money primarily from membership fees, not from investing
• No clear track record of successful exits
• Overly promotional about "exclusive access" without specifics
• High-pressure sales tactics to get you to join
• No way to attend events as a guest before committing
• Members seem unhappy or frustrated
• Constant turnover in membership or leadership

If you see multiple red flags, move on. There are better options.

What Good Looks Like

When you find a strong community, you'll know. Members stick around for years. People talk enthusiastically about specific value they've gotten. The leadership is transparent about both successes and failures. Deal flow is consistent and quality is evident in follow-on funding and exits.

Most importantly, you'll feel like you're learning and building relationships that compound over time. That's the real test. Not just "is this worth the money today" but "will this be worth 10x the money in three years because of what I learned and who I met."

Angel Squad as a Case Study

Angel Squad checks every box on this checklist, which is why it's worth examining as a model. Capital deployment: members have invested millions alongside Hustle Fund across hundreds of companies. Leadership: all three GPs (Elizabeth Yin, Eric Bahn, Shiyan Koh) are operators-turned-investors with portfolio companies and exits. Portfolio quality: Hustle Fund has backed over 600 companies with transparent performance tracking.

Time commitment: flexible scheduling with 10 AM and 5 PM Pacific events plus recordings for missed sessions. Deal flow: Hustle Fund's deals team reviews 1,000 decks monthly, highly selective about what reaches members. Education: tactical sessions where GPs walk through actual investment decisions, not generic startup content.

Co-investment terms: same terms as the fund, no added carry, minimum checks as low as $1,000. Culture: collaborative rather than competitive, with experienced investors actively helping newcomers.

That's what a well-structured community looks like in practice. Use this as your benchmark when evaluating other options.

Use this checklist, but also trust your instincts. If something feels off, it probably is. If something feels valuable, it probably is.

If you're ready to join a community that meets these standards, learn more about Angel Squad. The right community doesn't just give you deal access. It changes your trajectory as an investor.

The best angel investors aren't the ones with the most capital or the fanciest networks. They're the ones who learned from the right people, built skills systematically, and used community infrastructure to accelerate what would have taken a decade alone. That's the leverage worth paying for.