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

New angel investors face three main paths: join a structured community like Angel Squad, invest through AngelList syndicates, or go completely solo. Each approach works for different people.

An honest comparison so you can choose what fits your situation.

Deal Access: How You Find Opportunities

Structured communities provide curated deal flow from consistent sourcing engines. Angel Squad members see opportunities from Hustle Fund's pipeline of 1,000+ monthly applications. The deals have already passed professional screening.

AngelList gives you access to syndicates led by experienced angels. You see whatever deals your chosen syndicate leads happen to be investing in. Volume and quality vary enormously by syndicate.

Solo investing means you source everything yourself through personal networks, founder outreach, or cold inbound. You see whatever happens to come your way.

For beginners, structured communities provide the most reliable access to quality opportunities. Syndicates are hit or miss. Solo sourcing is extremely difficult without established networks.

Education and Learning

Communities typically provide structured educational programming. Weekly sessions on due diligence, portfolio construction, understanding terms, and evaluating different business models.

You're learning from experienced investors and successful founders through curriculum designed to build your skills systematically.

AngelList has some educational content, but it's mostly about the platform mechanics. You learn about investing primarily by following syndicate leads and reading their investment memos.

Solo investing means figuring everything out yourself through reading, trial and error, and learning from mistakes. It works but takes much longer.

As Elizabeth Yin, co-founder and GP of Hustle Fund, explains: "Investing requires practice like everything else. So you have to see a lot and invest a lot to get better." Communities and syndicates both provide more reps than solo investing.

Cost Structures

Structured communities usually charge membership fees (typically a few hundred to a couple thousand annually) plus sometimes carry on successful investments.

AngelList syndicates typically charge 15-20% carry with no upfront membership costs. You only pay if your investments succeed.

Solo investing has no direct costs beyond your actual investment amounts. But you bear all the time and opportunity costs of sourcing, evaluating, and managing investments yourself.

Which is most expensive overall? It depends. Solo appears cheapest but the time costs and learning curve can be massive. Syndicates seem free until you realize 20% carry on successful investments adds up. Communities charge upfront but provide value that potentially more than offsets the cost.

Time Commitment

Structured communities require 3-5 hours weekly for reviewing deals, attending educational sessions, and participating in discussions. This time is structured and predictable.

AngelList syndicates require minimal time. You review syndicate leads' investment memos when new deals come up (maybe 1-2 hours monthly) and decide whether to invest. Very passive.

Solo investing can require 5-10+ hours weekly for sourcing, networking, evaluating opportunities, and managing the administrative burden.

For people with full-time jobs, syndicates require the least time, communities are manageable, and solo investing is extremely difficult without significantly more time commitment.

Portfolio Construction

Communities push you toward proper diversification through low minimums (typically $1,000) and consistent deal flow. You can build a portfolio of 10-15 companies relatively easily.

AngelList enables diversification by letting you invest small amounts across multiple syndicates. But you're limited to whatever deals your chosen syndicate leads happen to source.

Solo investors often struggle with diversification because it's hard to find enough quality opportunities independently. You end up with concentrated portfolios of 3-5 companies instead of proper diversification.

From a portfolio theory perspective, communities enable the best portfolio construction for most new investors.

Angel Squad's structure with $1,000 minimums and consistent deal flow makes building a diversified portfolio straightforward rather than challenging.

Learning Curve

In structured communities, you develop judgment faster because you're seeing high volume of opportunities with educational scaffolding. The learning is systematic and supported.

AngelList syndicates teach you how experienced angels think by reading their investment memos. But the learning is passive. You're not developing your own frameworks as actively.

Solo investing forces you to develop everything yourself. The learning is very slow but potentially very deep if you stick with it.

Most new investors learn fastest in communities, slower with syndicates, and slowest solo.

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." Communities enable this portfolio building more easily than other approaches.

Community and Support

Structured communities provide active peer groups. You discuss deals with other investors at similar experience levels. You ask questions. You learn from others' experiences.

This community support matters tremendously for persistence. Angel investing is hard and most early investments struggle. Having peers who understand this reality helps you stay engaged.

AngelList is mostly a platform, not a community. You might interact with other syndicate members occasionally, but there's no structured community support.

Solo investing is, by definition, solo. You don't have peers to discuss deals with or learn from unless you build those relationships independently.

Quality Control

Structured communities typically have professional investors doing initial screening. You're seeing opportunities that passed some quality bar.

AngelList syndicates vary enormously. Some leads are sophisticated investors with great deal flow. Others are less experienced or have questionable judgment. You need to evaluate syndicate quality carefully.

Solo investing means you're responsible for all quality control. Every opportunity you evaluate is only as good as your own judgment.

For beginners, having professional screening before you even see deals is a significant advantage.

Flexibility and Control

Solo investing provides maximum flexibility. You can invest in anything, negotiate your own terms, and move at your own pace.

Communities provide less flexibility. You're limited to opportunities the community sources and terms the community negotiates. But this structure is actually helpful for beginners.

AngelList syndicates offer zero flexibility on individual deals. You invest on the terms the syndicate lead negotiated or you don't invest. You can't negotiate separately.

Most beginners benefit more from structure than flexibility. Once you're experienced, you might value flexibility more highly.

Success Rates

Data on actual outcomes is limited, but patterns are emerging. Community members seem to invest more frequently, build more diversified portfolios, and persist longer than either syndicate followers or solo investors.

This doesn't necessarily mean better financial returns yet (too early to tell), but the behavioral patterns suggest communities produce more active, engaged investors.

Syndicate followers tend to be more passive and may not develop independent investment judgment as quickly.

Solo investors who succeed do very well, but many give up before building meaningful portfolios.

Which Approach is Best?

For complete beginners, structured communities typically work best. You get education, deal flow, and community support that accelerates learning while enabling proper portfolio construction.

For people who want passive involvement, AngelList syndicates are attractive. Minimal time commitment and learning curve, though you're not developing as actively.

For experienced people with strong networks and time to commit, solo investing provides maximum flexibility and control.

The honest answer is most people should probably start with communities, potentially use syndicates for supplemental deal flow, and only go solo after developing experience and independent deal flow.

The Hybrid Approach

Many successful angels use hybrid approaches. They participate in a community for structured learning and consistent deal flow, follow a few syndicates for exposure to different deal types, and make occasional solo investments when unique opportunities arise.

This combines advantages of all three approaches while mitigating weaknesses.

Making Your Decision

Choose based on your current situation:

Complete beginner → structured community. Want passive involvement → syndicates. Strong network and time → solo investing. Serious about learning → structured community. Just want exposure → syndicates.

As Shiyan Koh, co-founder and GP of Hustle Fund, notes: "Great founders can look like anyone and come from anywhere." Communities help you recognize great founders beyond your immediate network.

Angel Squad represents the structured community approach: curated deal flow from Hustle Fund's pipeline, weekly educational programming from experienced investors, a community of 2,000+ active angels, and $1,000 minimums enabling proper diversification. 

For most new investors, this combination of education, deal access, and community support provides the fastest path to becoming an active, successful angel investor. You can always supplement with syndicates or solo deals later, but starting with structure accelerates your learning dramatically.

There's no single right answer for everyone. But for most people reading this, a structured community provides the best combination of learning, deal access, and support to actually succeed at angel investing rather than just dabbling.