[Frocer]

Absolutely right -- when we were fund raising we experienced the exact same thing. I am convinced these angel groups are the biggest scam to first-time entrepreneurs.

When we first moved out to the valley to fund raise, we didn't know the difference between angels vs. angel groups. So we thought, oh, what a great way to pitch to a bunch of angels all at once. When they started asking us to to fill out a 500-page online application (AngelSoft makes me want to puke), and asking for $5,000 per presentation, we immediately wrote them all off.

The idea of me having to pay to pitch disgusts me. I even ask one of the groups outright -- doesn't it make more sense to charge the angels rather than the entrepreneurs? I mean... they are the ones who have money while we are the ones starving right?

For all you first-time entrepreneurs out there, please do not waste your time talking to angel groups like we did. If you network well enough you can pitch to any angel / VC in the Valley without much problem - and most importantly, for free.

[rrikhy]

Thanks for the advice. Does it cover all groups? I really don't have that much experience with interacting directly with angels yet (haven't needed to dive into that level of funding) , so I thought when we received a "You've been invited to pitch, just give us $1500!" e-mail, it was a good sign.

[gabrielroth]

Serious question: Why would a scam group require a 500-page application? Wouldn't they want to maximize the number of suckers prepared to pay the $5,000?

[Frocer]

Ok, may be "scam" is too harsh. Keep in mind these angel groups are usually group of rich people who made their fortune from big corporations such as Cisco, IBM, etc. They are not the type of angels you read about on TechCrunch (Ron Conway, Ariel Poler, etc).

And typical corporate mindset is "processes". And an long application that no one ever reads is just part of that process. This is very similar to job applications -- no recruiters care about your cover letter, but you have to write one because it's the "way" it is.

[radu_floricica]

I don't know about corporate recruiting but I find the cover letter much more informative then the CV.

[DrJokepu]

On the other hand, I find the CV much more informative than the cover letter due to it's fixed format; you have much less liberty when writing your CV so any ever so little deviation from a textbook CV can tell a lot of good or bad things about the candidate. I totally ignore cover letters, I'm not even bothered to read them.

[profquail]

People might think it's more "official" if it's a really involved application, and thus more likely to sucker people into paying the fee.

[cakesy]

That is some nice fancy logic you have going there. Are you a mormon by any chance?