Angel investors use their personal funds to invest in startups in exchange for equity, typically after the business has some validation but before it's ready for venture capital.

Angel investors often have experience in high-growth startups and can provide flexible terms and quick investment decisions, but they take equity and may have strong opinions about the business.

Angel investors used to form consortiums to write large checks for Series A financings, but this practice has changed, with individual checks becoming more common.

Angel investors can have a substantive impact on the companies they invest in, but often their impact is marginal, meeting with a company only once or twice a year.

Angels are typically wealthy individuals investing their own money, while VCs invest other people's money and have a different decision-making process.

AngelList is the world's largest platform for online fundraising and recruiting for startups, bringing venture capital online.

Venture Capitalists (VCs) invest small amounts of money to acquire equity in startups, hoping that a few will grow large enough to cover the losses from unsuccessful investments.

The course aims to create thoughtful angel investors who make informed decisions and build better relationships with the companies they invest in, and I invest when I get excited about a company, believing I can always help because I've seen so many companies over my thirteen years of angel investing.

AngelList helps founders fund other founders and recruit great talent, standing for underdogs in the startup ecosystem.