Phil Nadel. He’s the co-founder and managing director of Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners, one of the largest and most active AngelList syndicates where investors can invest alongside him and Barbara on the same terms in promising high growth startups.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – The Lean Startup
What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
Favorite online tool? — Laughly
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 7.5
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “Savor the moment, be in the moment”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:55 – Nathan introduces Phil to the show
01:24 – Barbara and Phil believe in the syndicate model
- 01:32 – It is a great opportunity for investors who would like to invest but don’t have a lot of money to put into each deal
01:49 – Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners on AngelList
02:08 – The syndicate was launched 3 years ago
- 02:16 – They have syndicated 38 deals
02:34 – Barn and Willow is a company they’ve recently syndicated
02:51 – Barn and Willow deal with window treatments
- 03:18 – They have a direct manufacturing supply chain
- 03:24 – It’s an innovative company
03:45 – The companies that Barbara invests on Shark Tank are separate from the companies in the syndicate
04:05 – The value of doing the syndicate is the deal flow that Barbara gets from her exposure in Shark Tank
04:20 – Each of the syndicate backers have the option to opt in or opt out of any investments
04:33 – The most likely exit scenario is an acquisition and that’s how an investor makes money
- 04:47 – IPO is also another route
04:53 – There was no exit yet from the syndicate portfolio
05:38 – There is paperwork in backing a syndicate
05:45 – The AngelList platform is handling all the investor details
05:51 – The structure of the deal can have a few different formats
06:04 – It’s either a convertible note that converts into equity or straight equity
06:30 – All backers are combined into 1 entity
06:56 – The LLC is managed by an independent third party company called Assure Fund Management
- 07:05 – Assure will consult the syndicate if there will be a major decision
07:40 – The AngelList is managing the risks for the syndicate
08:00 – The syndicate has put in $7.5M
08:28 – The syndicate is very true to Barbara’s mission
08:44 – Barbara wants people to invest with her, share their ideas with her, and bring their knowledge
08:56 – “Our backers are fantastic in terms of their networks”
09:38 – With a VC, what you have is strictly financial investors
10:40 – People love Barbara
11:15 – The deals are only available to accredited investors
- 11:23 – To be an accredited investor, you need to meet some of the criteria including net worth or income
- 12:00 – The syndicate is very clear that there is a chance of losing money for each investment
12:06 – The idea is to build a portfolio
12:37 – Phil has been to different platforms like FundersClub and OurCrowd
12:53 – The reason why Phil and Barbara chose AngelList
13:35 – The picture behind Phil was a picture frame from one of their portfolio companies called Meural
- 13:54 – They have thousands of art pieces from different museums around the world
- 14:32 – It retails from $600
15:27 – The syndicate does equity and note and only invests in post-revenue companies
- 15:43 – At least $15-20K a month in revenue
- 15:52 – “We are focused on companies that are capital efficient”
17:50 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Syndicates is a great option for small investors and it will help them get into the investing game.
Investors need to be responsible with their investments—meaning research the deal and own their decisions and the consequences of saying yea or nay.
Savor the moments in life and be IN the moment.

Resources Mentioned:

The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you’re doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
Audible– Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

689: Barbara Corcoran from Sharktank is Looking For These Deals with Partner Phil Nadel

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders