How big of a deal is to raise money from a few angel investors vs. a single VC? If you get one angel investor, do they pull in a few of their friends that usually invest with them?
YC startups in general are more well suited for angel rounds than Series A. Angel rounds usually mean less dilution and a ton more flexibility. For us, we're getting a lot more valuable advice, connections and help from real engineers/entrepreneurs/founders who have built lasting companies before.
You talk to as many investors as you can, get a lead angel investor to negotiate terms, then build the round out with other angels who want to invest. Your lead angel(s) will help you find more people as well.
I agree with you on the merits; and the connections & advice from many people who have been there, done that -- trumps the other options.
Can you expand a bit more on the flexibility part either here or offline? Did you also consider VC's such as Founders Fund, First Round Capital, Maples, Union Square, etc?
More so you should get more then one angel investor interested and talking to you ...from there others will follow. Same with VCs .. there not interested until you have a few of their friends or other firms interested in your start-up.
Are you guys doing anything to prevent people from forging email headers? It just occurred to me that forging a "from" header is pretty easy, which might allow you to post to someone else's blog...?
There is a section on that in their FAQ. If they see one of the telltale signs of a spoof they send you a confirmation email asking if you really posted. Sounds effective to me.
We support it through autopost right now. Lots of people use it today just for autoposting to that plus Facebook, Flickr and most major blog platforms.
