$1M for founders to start angel
investing
01
WHAT IS
WHAT IS
SPEARHEAD?
$1M to start investing
Spearhead backs founders with $1M to start angel investing.
Founders also receive mentorship, including monthly masterclasses from top investors. Founders already help new companies with startup experience and technical advice. Now they can also help with capital.
This lets startups raise money from some of their most helpful advisors. It compensates founders for their time. And it creates more high-quality opportunities for downstream VCs.
CAPITAL
$1M to invest in early-stage startups.
MENTORSHIP
Advice and masterclasses from top investors like Elad Gil, David Sacks, Cyan Banister, Mike Maples and Keith Rabois.
COMMUNITY
A network of top founders in each cohort.
02
WHY WORK
WHY WORK
WITH US?
INVEST IN STARTUPS
Monetize the advice you’re already giving and put new startups into business. The returns may be better than your own company’s.
BECOME A BETTER FOUNDER
Learn more about fundraising and growing successful companies, with a cohort of top founders.
LEARN A LIFELONG SKILL
You may start one or two companies over your life, but you can angel invest forever.
TEAM
JEFF FAGNAN
Founder of Accomplice
Founding investor in AngelList, Carbon Black, and Hopper. Founder of Veracode, Accomplice, and Maiden Lane.
NAVAL RAVIKANT
Founder of AngelList
Angel investor in Uber, Yammer, Twitter, and over 100 other startups.
BRIAN NORGARD
CEO of Spearhead
Previously Chief Product Officer at Tinder.
JAKE ZELLER
Partner at AngelList
Active angel investor. Started Angel Funds at AngelList.
Blog
Don’t Build a Brand in a Narrow Vertical
Nivi: You don’t want to build a brand around a specific market thesis, right?
Naval: You don’t want to build a brand around the transition from X technology to Y technology—because when that transition is complete, so is your brand. You also don’t want too narrow of a brand or a brand in a space that doesn’t materialize. If you have a cleantech brand that’s focused entirely on solar and solar doesn’t arrive on schedule,
Spearhead Opens Applications for $1M Angel Funds
Today, we’re opening applications for the third class of Spearhead—where founders get their own funds, so they can learn the craft of angel investing.
Founders backing founders
We’re getting bigger in this class: Founders now get $1M angel funds and can also apply for a $10M fund at the end of the program.
We’re targeting current or past founders in four locations: Silicon Valley, Los Angeles,
My Original Brand Was in Growth Hacking
Naval: Strangely enough, my brand started out in growth hacking. I co-built a Facebook app that got 20 million installs pretty quickly, and I used that as my calling card with entrepreneurs. This was in the early days before Andrew Chen blew it open for the world.
A friend told me about Twitter. Back then, it was still text-message based and very much a toy. It was the pre-app.
There’s Very Little Innovation in Venture Capital
Naval: Whatever your brand is, it has to be clearly articulated; it has to be messaged. It has to be authentic to who you are. It should be differentiated from what everybody else is offering, and it should resonate with entrepreneurs. The worst strategy is taking a lot of coffee meetings or saying, “I’m a good, passive, hands-off person. I won’t bother you, and I’m always available to help.” It’s too generic.