Angels

Definition

Wealthy individuals who invest in early-stage startups, either because they see potential or more likely because they're bored and have disposable income.

Example Usage

Our angel investor is a retired tech CEO who gave us $200K and advice we're actively ignoring.

Origin

Theater industry terminology applied to startup funding, referring to wealthy individuals who back productions.

Fun Fact

Angel investors often expect equity returns while providing mentorship worth far less than they believe.

Source: Startup funding terminology

Related Terms

Intermediate

elephant hunting

A sales or fundraising strategy focused exclusively on landing enormous clients or investors rather than building up smaller ones. It's high-risk, high-reward betting where you either feast or starve.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

LTV (Lifetime Value)

The total revenue you expect from one customer during their entire relationship with your company—usually wildly overestimated.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

non-participating preferred

Preferred stock that must choose between taking its liquidation preference OR converting to common and sharing the remaining proceeds—can't do both. The slightly-less-greedy version of investor terms.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

entrepreneur

A glamorized term for someone who decided that working for themselves would be less stressful than having a boss (spoiler: they were wrong). These brave or foolish souls start their own ventures, risking everything from savings to sanity in pursuit of the dream of being their own boss and working only 80 hours a week instead of 40. Every LinkedIn bio now includes this word because 'unemployed but optimistic' doesn't have the same ring to it.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

conversion rights

The privilege granted to preferred shareholders to convert their fancy preferred stock into common stock, typically exercised when they want to sell or when common stock becomes more valuable (rare but delightful). It's a one-way ticket that investors usually only take when they're confident they're not leaving money on the table.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

qualified small business stock

IRS tax designation (Section 1202) that can exclude up to $10 million in gains from federal taxes for early startup investors, assuming you navigate the Byzantine requirements. The tax break that makes angel investing slightly less insane.

🚀 Startup / VC

Translate This Term

See “Angels” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

Try the Translator

Share This Term

Post on X Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn

Discover a Term

Advanced

8246

An abstract numeric expression of extreme boredom—essentially claiming you're so bored you've exhausted all convention...