When we first got the opportunity to angel invest in a tech startup, we knew basically nothing. So we did what we always do: we went deep—talked to angels and VCs, watched a ton of content, and pressure-tested our thinking until it felt grounded. In this episode, we answer the questions we keep getting from friends: are we even “good” at angel investing yet, what should you invest in (and what you definitely shouldn’t), and how we actually think about picking companies without getting sucked into hype. We break down the startup stages in plain English—pre-seed, seed, Series A, Series B—and what’s realistically true at each stage (SAFE notes, valuations, dilution, and why the time horizon is 7–10 years). We also talk about what product-market fit actually feels like, using examples like Uber, Airbnb, Superhuman, Mercury, and AngelList. Then we get into what we look for in founders (decision-making, humility, execution, and red flags like getting “too fancy” with salary or secondary too early), plus how dealflow really works for us (spoiler: we’ve never invested from a cold pitch). Finally, we cover what it means to be a value-add investor, why that can be jarring, and when syndicates/SPVs make sense.