Joining AngelList

August 21, 2024

Este ensayo también está disponible en español.

Finding a meaningful full-time job after founding a company isn’t easy. After InScope, I wanted to work on something impactful, with a team that shared my interests and values, and which would help me grow as a leader. I took a short break to recharge batteries, then spent a few months consulting on engineering, data, and AI projects advising startups building across fintech, energy, and ecommerce. Eventually, I found¹ the opportunity I was looking for at AngelList.

As I started interviewing, AngelList seemed the perfect blend of my interest in startups, finance, and technology. Their position as an established player in the venture ecosystem didn’t hurt either. AngelList started as a simple fundraising email list in 2010, but they’ve since reinvented themselves, and evolved into a full-fledged financial platform. I remember using their talent solution (now spun out as Wellfound) when I was in college. Later, I also used their products as an angel investor, as an LP, and even considered running a roll up vehicle (RUV) as a founder. However, it wasn’t until I heard Avlok, the CEO, on the Acquired podcast that I realized just how much AngelList had refocused and repositioned itself for growth. As I learned more about the internal narrative in my interviews, I was quickly hooked.

The company’s short term goals align with some of my own hypotheses of where the fintech space is headed. Among other projects, AngelList is doing its part in unbundling the stack by building a dedicated ERP for funds. The long term vision is even more exciting and ambitious.

Another reason I joined AngelList is the team. I’ve learned the hard way that who you work with is just as important as what you work on or how lucrative the market can be. The fact that a quarter of the employees were previous founders, the focus on accountability, and the lean resourcing, were all big draws. It’s truly impressive that with just 35 engineers they’ve built a platform that manages $125B in assets and which is so central to how the ecosystem works. The team is talented, experienced, and every ex-employee and partner I spoke to gave me impeccable feedback.

As for my specific role, I’ll be leading a team focused on scaling infrastructure for funds, doubling down on my fintech experience. This might not sound like the most glamorous problem, but for those of us who care about enabling innovation, it’s as critical as it gets. My team is building the data backbone that allows capital to flow efficiently through the venture ecosystem, making it easier for entrepreneurs to raise funds and for investors to manage their portfolios and partnerships. As I’ve written before, I tend to gravitate towards these kinds of second order effect problems, where the existence of a platform unlocks value for many other players. Having access to the trove of data behind all the internal quant research (not that different from my work on the venture knowledge graph at Vouch) is a nice bonus.

My long-term goal remains the same: I will build my own company, and joining AngelList is a step in that direction. During the interviews, Xinran, the CTO, described the company as a halfway house for founders, emphasizing the hacker culture and the focus on shipping. While I had other offers on the table, some of which seemed like AI rocketships, I knew this was the right place for me.

A week in, I’m just getting started, but I already have merged several PRs that are live in production. Next up, I’ll be going deep on how the pieces come together to build the platform that will support the next generation of startups. If you’re also passionate about solving tough problems and excited to join a team shaping the future, we’re hiring.

Thanks to Hannah Doherty and George Rider for their feedback on drafts of this post.

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Photos: Dyptich, Angel and Urban Palm by me. Previously posted on CDMX.

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