We were able to quickly get Angel.co’s Josh Slayton to answer a few questions on his visit to Hong Kong this weekend.
Give us 5 sentences on who Josh Slayton is?
Josh Slayton: I’m CTO and employee #1 at AngelList. I’ve been programming since childhood, studied Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Kentucky, moved to SF six years ago, was an early hire at three startups before I settled at AngelList. Prior to AngelList I was lead developer at SuperRewards, a monetization platform for social games which was acquired for ~$50 million by Adknowledge in July 2009. After taking some time off to travel I met Naval through a mutual connection and joined AngelList in August 2010 (as user #671). At AngelList I lead platform development, server operations, technical infrastructure, our API, etc. AngelList aims to make the startup ecosystem more efficient—we help founders recruit, meet investors, apply to incubators, network with each other and more. We’re a Ruby/Rails shop with eight engineers on the team now.
For those who don’t know, what is AngelList?
JS: AngelList is a platform for the startup universe. We help startups fundraise, recruit, apply to incubators and much more.
Why are you coming to Hong Kong?
JS: I was invited by AngelHack and Cyberport to meet the startup community here. I don’t know much about the startup scene in Asia—it’s a market AngelList hasn’t really penetrated. This is a good chance to learn, and to make connections.
Who should use AngelList?
JS: Everyone. If you’re in any way tangentially related to the startup world, an AngelList profile should be part of your toolbox.
Okay. cool. I’m a startup and I live in Hong Kong. Why should I be putting myself on AngelList instead of something like Crunchbase?
JS: AngelList isn’t just a listing of startups. We have tens of thousands of active users who are discovering new startups and making new connections through the platform.
But isn’t AngelList something for only people in San Francisco. I’m in Asia. Do you guys have a big presence here?
JS: Admittedly we don’t, but we’re working on that. In any case, most roads in tech lead back to San Francisco—an AngelList profile is a good way to make yourself visible in Silicon Valley without actually being there.
What are some success stories on AngelList?
JS: Our most successful alum is Uber. They recently raised $250 million at a valuation over $3 billion. As for recruiting, we’ve helped placed talent in hundreds of startups, including BitTorrent, Yelp, Obvious and many more.
What are some things we can expect in the future on AngelList?
JS: Right now we’re heavily invested in reimagining how startups get funded. Our latest product, Syndicates, lets investors easily get into the deals of other investors with proven track records. It’s taking off like a rocket. Expect to see lots of great work there in the coming months.
What are you most excited about doing in Hong Kong?
JS: I know little about the startup scene in Hong Kong, and Asia in general. I’m looking forward to meeting the entrepreneurs, investors and developers that are making a difference here. And I expect the hackathon this weekend will be fun, as always.
If I wanted to say hi, could I just come to the hackathon and you’ll be there?
JS: Yup! I’m easy to spot—look for the guy with all the blonde hair. I’ll be coding away just like everyone else!
