Brian Nichols

Co-Founder

San Francisco, California, United States12 yrs 9 mos experience

Most Likely To SwitchHighly Stable

Key Highlights

Founded Angel Squad, a leading angel investing community.
Successfully deployed over $30M in startup investments.
Created educational programs for aspiring angel investors.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Fintech and Education expert with a strong focus on community-driven angel investing.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Angel InvestingCommunity BuildingAdvisoryProgram DevelopmentPartnership DevelopmentSponsorship ManagementBusiness DevelopmentFundraisingOperations ManagementTeam BuildingInvestor RelationsCommunity EngagementEntrepreneurshipProduct Development

Other Skills

Community ManagementInvestment StrategySyndicate ManagementInvestmentProgram ManagementPartnership ManagementRecruitmentStartup DevelopmentSocial Media MarketingFacebookSocial MediaSocial NetworkingDigital MediaPublic RelationsPress Releases

About

I didn't go to an Ivy League school, so breaking into VC felt impossible. Instead, I found my way through the side door. I started at Lyft during the pink mustache days, co-founded their employee syndicate, and helped 300+ employees deploy $30M into startups. That led me to help other tech companies (Airbnb, Square, Pinterest, Stripe) build their own alumni investing communities. Eventually, I realized my real passion was making angel investing accessible to people who aren't in the traditional VC club. That's how Angel Squad was born. Today, I run Angel Squad at Hustle Fund. It's a community of 2,000+ professionals learning how to angel invest. TechCrunch called us the "YC of Angel Investing." We've deployed $30M+ together, and our members include everyone from Google PMs to airline pilots to physical therapists. Basically, anyone who wants to learn how to write $1k checks into startups. I also write Small Bets, a weekly newsletter where I share lessons on startups and angel investing - the wins, the losses, and everything in between. If you're curious about angel investing or just want to learn more about the startup world, let's connect.

Experience

2 yrs 7 mos

Lyft

– Present

EntrepreneurshipProduct Development

Hustle fund

Angel Squad Co-Founder

Dec 2020 – Present · 5 yrs 3 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

Angel Squad is an angel investing community run by Hustle Fund that was created to teach how to invest in startups and provide access to invest in the most promising ones. TechCrunch referred to Angel Squad as the "YC of Angel Investing."

Angel InvestingCommunity Building

On deck

2 roles

Program Director, On Deck Angel Fellowship

Promoted

Jun 2020 – Dec 2020 · 6 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

Created, launched, and ran the first two cohorts of the On Deck Angels program. The program pioneered On Deck's expansion into verticals outside of the founder fellowship.
The success of the program led to On Deck developing the org structure to hire Program Directors to lead verticals that were complementary to the founder fellowship.

Program DevelopmentCommunity Building

Head Of Partnerships

Mar 2020 – Jun 2020 · 3 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

Responsible for procuring sponsorships for On Deck Founder and Angel Fellowships.
Built and manage program to introduce our founders to investor partners as founders begin fundraising process.

Partnership DevelopmentSponsorship Management

First round capital

Angel Track

Oct 2019 – Dec 2019 · 2 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

Angel Track is a masterclass and community for angel investors whose full-time jobs are in leadership roles at tech companies.
1 of 16 selected out of 1k+ applicants.

Operations ManagementInvestor Relations

Multiple companies

Angel Investor

Apr 2019 – Present · 6 yrs 11 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

The best place to learn more is @ my personal website: nicholsb.com
I lead an active syndicate with 3.5k members that's deployed $25M+, and have formally Advised 5 companies.

Angel InvestingAdvisory

Blackbird

2 roles

Head Of Business Development

Promoted

Jan 2019 – Feb 2020 · 1 yr 1 mo · San Francisco Bay Area

BlackBird was acquired by Surf Air in February, 2020
Instrumental in Series A fundraise ($10M from NEA)
Focused on strategic partnerships / the future of flight (electric aircraft)

Business DevelopmentFundraising

Head Of Operations

May 2018 – Jan 2019 · 8 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

Grew team from 5 to 40+ full-time employees and contractors.
Recruited and hired leadership from Lyft, Postmates, Uber, Caviar to support the rapid growth of the business.

Operations ManagementTeam Building

Zoox inc.

Operations Manager

Apr 2017 – May 2018 · 1 yr 1 mo · San Francisco Bay Area

Zoox was acquired by Amazon in June, 2020.
Responsible for standing up remote teleoperation unit to support fleet of autonomous vehicles during live operation.
Represented Zoox’s operations organization when meeting potential investors during our Series B fundraise ($500M, $2.7B valuation).

Angel InvestingCommunity Engagement

Rewardtag

Co-founder

Jan 2011 – Oct 2014 · 3 yrs 9 mos

RewardTag was bootstrapped and acquired by STM Goods (https://www.stmgoods.com/).
Main partners included Logitech, Seidio, STM Goods which lead to over 2.5M RewardTag units distributed globally.