I hate when pre-seed and seed-stage founders trick themselves into thinking that they’re doing real work.

Lots of the “progress” I see in investor updates are what I’ll call “fake work.” Founders spend time and money on something like “nailing our brand identity.”

When in reality, they are avoiding the real work.

Everyone starts somewhere.

Even Don Valentine.

Here’s how he grew his angel investing hobby into the VC empire is today at Sequoia: Before he was known as the grandfather of Silicon Valley venture capital, he was the founding VP of Sales and Marketing at National Semiconductor.

VC terminology is just too confusing.

It's a steep learning curve for founders and angels.

Here are 8 more VC terms you should know: Drag along rights:

An investment term that gives the majority shareholders in a business the power to compel the minority shareholders to participate in an acquisition on equal terms. Drag-along rights prevent minority shareholders from blocking a liquidity event.

There’s a secret to making up to $10M tax-free.

And the best part?

The US government is incentivizing you. It’s called Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS)

What is QSBS?

The financial crisis of 2008/2009 hit SMBs hard. In response, QSBS was expanded to an up to 100% capital gains tax exclusion to incentivize people to start/join/invest in SMBs.

I want to do more podcasts.

If you think I'll be a good fit on any of them please let me know!

Here are the things I can talk about: • How I became an angel investor.
• Angel Squad and the inside story of how it came to be.
• Why I am so passionate about angel investing.
• My experience launching the Lyft alumni syndicate and helping other alumni syndicates.

Angel investing takes a village, and I know I definitely can’t run Angel Squad without one.

It’s not just Hustle Fund’s GPs – Eric, Shiyan, and Elizabeth that participate.

We have a team of 15 people working on Angel Squad to make it the best experience possible. It would not be the same without Dimple & Janel interviewing every single member and making sure we don’t let in any a-holes.

It would not be the same experience without Haley leading deal reviews.

It would not be the same without Kate & Nicole holding it all together.

VC terminology is confusing.

In an effort to make it more accessible.

Here are the 9 VC investment terms all aspiring angel investors should know: Term sheet:

A document issued by investors to founders indicating an interest in making an investment in their business. They contain all the major details of a proposed investment, but are non-binding, meaning neither party is required to follow through on the proposed terms.

Today I celebrated hitting a pretty useless vanity metric -- 2000 LPs have joined the Lyft syndicate on @AngelList.

But what use is a vanity metric if not to celebrate it on twitter?

🧵👀 Ok wait.

First, please join the Lyft syndicate so I can celebrate the 3000 LP mark sooner. #vanity

angel.co/s/team-uplyft/…

Don’t skip this step. Thank you.

1/ I’ve become the go-to guy for anyone starting a “tech mafia syndicate” -- and I’m not mad about it. Tech mafia syndicates are groups pulled together by current/former employees that invest together in startups where we think we can add value (all of us use @angellist). @AngelList 2/ Early leaders from Airbnb, Pinterest, and Square have all asked me how it works. Since then, we’ve spoken at a conference together (shoutout @briannekimmel), done deals together (unannounced, excited to share soon!), and learned best practices from each other over dinners.