Three Types Of Startup Advisors You Might Not Have Thought About (But Will Help You Win)
Advisors can be so much more than social proof and tactical advice
“Can we put you as an advisor in our deck? You don’t even need to do anything and we’ll give you equity. It would be a big help for our fundraise.” This was the proposition offered to me surprisingly frequently during my pre-Homebrew days. You see, the demand for “startup advisors” were going through a little bit of a boomlet.
AngelList had just started and their company profile page had a bunch of “Advisor” slots to populate that were displayed in the same visual design as investors and team members. This subtly started to create social proof pressure to fill out those available spaces in the most impressive way possible. Never underestimate the power of defaults!
Anyhow, fast-forward to 2021 and it almost feels like startup advisor roles have fallen a bit out of fashion as everyone scrambles to be an angel investor, a scout or solo capitalist. Many of the people who previously might not have had access to capital are now able to invest their own dollars, or someone else’s, and this has much greater social proof for both the company and the individual. Most of the companies we back figure out how to use advisors in compelling ways…
