[nivi]

Hey, this is Nivi from AngelList. I am very happy for Stormpulse and I'm glad to answer any of your questions here.

A couple things:

1. We're getting out of the "gatekeeper" business as quickly as possible. Over 70% of the intros on the site are now driven by code and community -- not us. It took a lot longer than we thought it would. We're working on the remaining 30%.

2. We don't think of it as "applying" to AngelList any more. We think of it as creating a startup profile. Applications made sense when we reviewed and distributed every startup. Now startups create profiles and they live on AngelList well before and after they raise money. For example: http://angel.co/42-floors

[wensing]

Thanks Nivi. My post is meant less as a criticism and more as a fundraising how-to for others like us. I think the changes you are making are good.

[nivi]

Totally agreed. And I didn't thank you for writing the post. So, thank you. =)

[diolpah]

This effort to close the remaining 30% will make the primacy of social proof and popularity over team/product/traction/revenue/earnings even more powerful on AngelList.

It sounds like there is a fantastic opening here for other people in the angel/vc community to take on the task of being a gatekeeper or "talent scout" of sorts for excellent businesses who don't already have the requisite social proof.

[naval]

All social proof means in this context is that there is a community of gatekeepers and scouts rather than one or two gatekeepers or scouts.

[diolpah]

I understand the direction you're going in, and in order to scale, it's inevitable. I don't begrudge you that.

But my understanding is that in the past, you guys made something of an implicit guarantee that you would look at all submissions and be the point of introduction for great companies who don't yet already have an introduction. The necessary shift you are now making will eliminate this opening.

You mention that there is a community of gatekeepers and scouts, but I really don't see it this way. One cannot, by policy, contact anyone on the site without already having a "follower" relationship with them.

It would be nice to see a handful of angels/vcs take upon this mantle of being the go-to talent scout for great but unconnected businesses. There's no reason these people couldn't use AngelList as the platform on which to do it, of course.

[naval]

That's the idea. And it doesn't have to be angels / VCs only. It can also be the community of entrepreneurs. Don't worry :-)