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

Here's what angels won't tell you: at the pre-seed stage, they're betting on you more than your idea.

Your idea will change. Your product will pivot. Your target market might shift completely. The only constant is your team.

So when angels evaluate your pitch, they're asking one fundamental question: can this team actually pull this off?

Most founders focus on product, traction, and market size. Those things matter. But if angels don't believe in your team, nothing else counts.

Here's what actually impresses investors when it comes to team building.

Start With Why You're the Right Founders

The first question angels are asking isn't about your product. It's about you.

Why are you the right people to build this company? What makes you uniquely positioned to solve this problem?

The strongest teams have a compelling origin story. You've experienced the problem firsthand. You've spent years in the industry. You have technical expertise that's rare. You've built and sold a company in this space before.

When Hustle Fund evaluates teams, they're looking for founders who have unfair advantages. Not just smart people with a good idea. But people who have something special that gives them an edge.

If you're building tools for property managers, have you been a property manager? If you're creating software for dentists, do you have deep connections in that world? If you're solving a problem in logistics, have you worked in supply chain?

This doesn't mean you need a PhD or 20 years of experience. But you need something that makes angels think, "These specific people have a real shot at cracking this."

Show Complementary Skills, Not Overlapping Ones

The most common team composition mistake? Founding teams where everyone has the same skillset.

Three engineers. Or two business people with no technical co-founder. Or two designers who can't code.

Angels hate this. Because it signals you'll have major gaps in capabilities. You'll need to hire for critical roles immediately. Or worse, you'll be weak in areas that matter.

The best teams have complementary skills. One technical founder who can build. One business-focused founder who can sell and raise money. Sometimes a third founder who handles operations or product.

At Hustle Fund, Eric Bahn looks for balanced teams where it's obvious each founder brings something different to the table. When he can't figure out why you need three co-founders who all do the same thing, that's a red flag.

If you're a solo founder, you need to acknowledge the gaps and have a plan. "I'm technical and have built the MVP, but I know I need to bring on a strong business co-founder. I've already started conversations with three candidates." That's credible.

Your Co-Founder Relationship Matters

Angels care about co-founder dynamics more than you realize.

They've seen too many companies implode because co-founders couldn't work together. The stress of building a startup will test every relationship. If you don't have a strong foundation, you're cooked.

So how do you demonstrate a strong co-founder relationship?

First, show history. "We've worked together for three years at X company" or "We've been friends since college and have collaborated on four side projects" tells angels you've already proven you can work together.

If you just met your co-founder at a networking event six weeks ago, that's a concern. Not a dealbreaker, but angels will push on it. How well do you actually know each other? Have you worked through any disagreements? What happens when things get hard?

Second, be clear about roles and responsibilities. If both founders claim to be CEO, that's messy. If neither founder wants to be CEO, that's also messy. Angels want to see that you've figured out who owns what.

One test: if an angel asks both founders the same question and they give contradictory answers, that's bad. It suggests you haven't aligned on key decisions or strategy.

Demonstrate You Can Recruit

At the pre-seed stage, you probably can't pay market salaries. You're competing against established companies with real budgets. So how do you build a team?

Angels want to see that despite these constraints, you can still attract talent.

Have you brought on advisors who are respected in your industry? Have you convinced a senior engineer to join as an early employee? Have you recruited interns or part-time contributors who believe in your vision?

Each of these signals that people want to work with you. That you can sell a vision. That you're building something that attracts others.

Elizabeth Yin has funded companies where the founding team was small but had already recruited impressive advisors or early employees. That shows the founders can build relationships and get people excited about what they're doing.

If you can't convince anyone to work with you, why should angels believe you can convince customers to buy from you?

Be Honest About Weaknesses

Every team has gaps. The question is whether you're aware of them.

Angels don't expect you to be perfect. But they do expect you to know what you don't know.

If you're a technical founder with no sales experience, say so. "I've built the product but I know go-to-market is our biggest challenge. I've been reading everything I can on early-stage sales and I've connected with three mentors who are helping me learn."

That's self-aware. That's someone who's actively working to shore up their weaknesses.

What angels hate is false confidence. Founders who claim they're great at everything. Or worse, founders who don't recognize their obvious blind spots.

If you're asked "What's your team's biggest weakness?" and your answer is "We don't have any," angels will immediately write you off. Because either you're lying or you lack self-awareness. Neither is good.

Show Execution Over Credentials

A trap founders fall into is listing impressive credentials that don't actually matter.

"I went to Stanford." "I worked at Google." "I have an MBA."

Those things might open doors. But they don't prove you can execute.

Angels care more about what you've actually built. What have you shipped? What hard problems have you solved? What evidence is there that you can take an idea from zero to one?

A founder who worked at a top tech company but only did one small feature? That's less impressive than a founder who built and launched a side project that got 10,000 users, even if it wasn't venture-scale.

Execution beats pedigree. Every time.

Address the "Why Now" Question for Your Team

Angels are always wondering: why is this team doing this now?

If you've been working in this space for 10 years, why are you only starting this company now? What changed?

Sometimes the answer is simple. "We've wanted to do this for years but we were raising kids and couldn't take the risk. Now we're in a position to go all-in."

Sometimes it's about market timing. "The technology to solve this problem didn't exist five years ago. But now with AI/blockchain/whatever, it's finally possible."

The key is showing that there's a logical reason for this team to be starting this company at this moment. It's not just random. It's intentional.

Prove You Can Work Full-Time

This seems obvious but it trips up a lot of founders, angels want to know you're committed full-time.

If you're still working your day job and treating this as a side project, most angels will pass. Because building a startup requires full commitment. You can't do it part-time.

There are exceptions. Deep tech companies where founders need to stay in their research roles. Or founders who need to maintain insurance for health reasons. But these need to be explicitly addressed.

The default assumption angels make is that you're all-in. If you're not, you need a very good reason why, and you need to convince them it won't hurt your ability to execute.

Show Culture and Values

Culture feels squishy. But angels care about it.

How do you make decisions as a team? How do you handle disagreements? What are your values?

You don't need a formal culture doc at the pre-seed stage. But you should be able to articulate what kind of company you're building.

"We believe in radical transparency. We share everything with the team, including financials and tough decisions." That's a culture statement.

"We prioritize speed over perfection. We'd rather ship something imperfect and iterate than spend months trying to get it perfect." That's also culture.

Angels are looking for teams that have clarity on how they operate. Because culture is what holds teams together when things get hard.

Acknowledge What Comes Next

Smart founders don't just talk about their current team. They talk about what the team needs to become.

"Right now it's just the two of us. But our first hire will be a senior designer because design is critical to our product vision and neither of us has that expertise. We've already identified two candidates who are interested."

This shows you're thinking ahead. That you understand where the gaps are and have a plan to fill them.

Angels want to see that you're not just focused on today. You're already thinking about what the team needs to look like in 6 months, 12 months, 18 months.

Use Your Team as a Differentiator

Most pitch decks have a team slide. But it's often an afterthought. Pictures of the founders, their names, their titles. Done.

That's wasted space. Your team slide should sell why your team is special.

If your CTO was the lead engineer on a major project at a top company, highlight that. If your co-founder has 10 years of domain expertise, make that obvious. If you've recruited advisors who are well-known in your industry, show them off.

Your team can be a major competitive advantage. Use it as one.

Put It Together

Angels invest in teams they believe in. Teams that have complementary skills. Teams that can execute. Teams that are self-aware about their weaknesses and actively working to address them.

Show that you're the right founders for this problem. Prove you can recruit and build a team. Be honest about gaps. Demonstrate strong co-founder dynamics.

Do this well, and angels will see what they're looking for, a team that can actually pull this off.

And if you want feedback on how to position your team from investors who've evaluated thousands of founding teams, Angel Squad connects you directly with angels who can tell you what's working and what's not. You'll learn how to present your team in a way that builds confidence, and you'll get insights from people who are actively writing checks to early-stage founders.