We're a group of effective altruism minded investors who want to help EA founders with their new ventures. Members include:
Jonathan Harris (Total Portfolio Project)
Simon Newstead (Better Bite Ventures)
Emerson Spartz (Nonlinear)
among others...
EA Angels are:
- Accredited investors
- Meaningfully involved with EA
- Familiar with non-EA funding sources
- Committed to helping EA Entrepreneurs!
Each month, invited founders will get an opportunity to pitch to the EA Angel group your for-profit startup concept and get:
- Feedback & advice on the pitch
- Referrals and introductions
- Answer questions you may have
- Potential investment / interest
To pitch to EA Angels, EA Founders need to be:
- Meaningfully involved with EA
- Plan to sign Founders Pledge or equivalent
- Avoiding obvious harms
- Open to feedback, referrals and investment!
Note - EA Entrepreneurs do not need to be creating high impact startups. The skills, resources and connections you make as entrepreneurs can be used in future for high impact, for example through Charity Entrepreneurship, investing and/or Earn To Give.
Each month, founders are invited to pitch at the meeting based on their submitted pitches.
Simply prepare a pitch deck in any format you prefer and send to effectivealtruismangels@gmail.com
How much does it cost to pitch?
Nothing. There are no fees, it's simply a community initiative to help EA founders in their journey.
Should there be any investment interest to invest in your startup, investors will discuss offer details and terms transparently with you to see if it makes sense.
Do I need to sign any agreement?
No, there are no agreements or commitments to be made to pitch.
Will I get funding from EA angels?
In some cases, some startups may get funding (the individual investors will follow up with you after the meeting to discuss further). In other cases the angels may provide practical advice and referrals to other sources of funding. And in other cases, we may give feedback to help improve your startup idea or pitch for the future.
I'm starting a new charity, is this for me?
Whilst the group members are also active in philanthropy, this initiative is geared to founders of for-profit startups. We are big fans of Charity Entrepreneurship and would recommend you get in touch with them if you are starting a non-profit.
Why for profit startups?
A few reasons. We believe founders will gain experience, networks and potentially funds that can do a lot of good in the world. For example, earn-to-give, future charity entrepreneurship initiatives and more. And angel investors in those founders can support founders who align with their values, and also in a successful case have additional resources to contribute towards EA causes.
Does it have to an impact startup?
No, it's not mandatory, though it is a bonus (eg a company like Wave). We expect many or most of pitch applicants will not be directly impact projects.
What's the selection criteria?
We will look at the pitch and assess viability, size of opportunity, level of preparedness and team match, and any traction to decide which startups to invite to pitch.
What happens if I'm not invited to pitch at the meeting?
We encourage you to apply regardless of stage, all pitch submissions will get feedback even if you're not invited for the meeting, which may help you refine your plans in the future (also - later resubmissions are accepted)
I've never done a pitch before, what's the format?
There are a lot of great templates and example on the web, for example with YCombinator.
Got another question?
Contact us on effectivealtruismangels@gmail.com
