5 Things Every AngelList Profile Should Include

In preparation for our next MergeLane accelerator class, we’ve been searching high and low to find the most promising startups with at least one woman in leadership.

As of today, I have reviewed over 1100 AngelList profiles. By the 527th profile, this admittedly became a bit tedious, but it was fascinating nonetheless. Among the many things I learned, I figured out that a lot of startups are failing to include a few basic, critical things in their profiles.

Below are five seemingly obvious but commonly missing details that every AngelList profile should include:

• An easy way for investors to contact you. The best investors proactively search for companies. If you want them to contact you, I would highly recommend activating the AngelList “get an intro” button. Having an email that is first name @ your company domain (i.e.: Elizabeth@mergelane.com) is also helpful.  And don’t forget to include the CEO’s contact info on the last slide of your pitch deck.
• A link to your website. This is especially important if your domain is a .co or .is, or anything other than .com. It seems like a no-brainer, but about 30% of the profiles I viewed lacked this important detail.
• Job titles. Investors want to deal directly with the CEO and view the backgrounds of the co-founders in relation to their roles. Make sure to spell this out and make it clear which team members are co-founders versus employees.
• LinkedIn profile links. Since most early-stage investors think the team is the most important ingredient, links to LinkedIn profiles are key. Make sure every co-founders’ LinkedIn profile is up-to-date and lists the startup as their primary and most current position. This is crucial for showing your passion and commitment to your startup.
• A clear, concise and proofread description of your business. I am far more interested in companies that can give a compelling description of their business in 30 seconds or less. It’s an excellent indicator of a startup’s ability to convince other investors, co-founders, employees and customers to jump on board. When that description is free of glaring typos and spelling errors, that’s even better.

These might be the five easiest things you can do to increase your chances of finding startup investors.

And if you happen to be a high-growth startup with at least one female in leadership and your AngelList profile is missing one of these details, we probably tried but failed to contact you. If you would like to hear more about MergeLane, we’d love to hear from you.

Happy AngelListing.