This syndicate invests in both open source, and general software infrastructure deals. These deals can have a tremendous rate of return. Examples of huge open source companies: HortonWorks ($1B IPO), Cloudera, RedHat/JBoss, DataStax, MongoDB, and many more. They typically have recurring revenue and are steady, consistent investments.
The partners of this syndicate have invested in software infrastructure for years. The aggregate valuations from our deals have increased by over one billion dollars, generating an incredible return.
The partners of this syndicate are experts in software infrastructure, and that attracts the best dealflow, since we can truly help these startups. For example:
* Salil Deshpande (advisor) is a Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures, who focuses specifically on open-source and infrastructure software. Examples include SpringSource, Mulesoft, Redis Labs, Typesafe, ZeroTurnaround, Iron.io, DynaTrace, Hazelcast and many more. He is ranked #24 on the Forbes Midas List (a website that ranks the top investors in the world). Salil also has strong operational experience in the developer space, running TheServerSide.com and The Middleware Company. Note: Salil Deshpande is an advisor to this syndicate and does not receive any carried interest from this syndicate due to his affiliation with Bain Capital Ventures.
* Carl Rydbeck was formerly a VC working for Crosslink Capital. He spent 5+ years specifically focused on developer-oriented and software infrastructure investments (including DataStax, a breakaway success), and has deep domain knowledge of both developer and devops.
* Evan Cheng is both an operator as well as an active angel investor, with a focus on developers and software infrastructure. He has held development leadership positions at Apple and Facebook, and so he has deep domain knowledge. He's made dozens of angel investments and has led other angels into deals via AngelList.
* Ed Roman is both an operator and an investor with a focus on developers. He runs the largest programmer conference in history (hacksummit.org), created the world's largest Java developer community (theserverside.com), created a marketplace for programmers to mentor each other (hackhands.com), and has authored a best-selling programming book on Java. He led the angel round for NodeSource, which is an enterprise Node.js company.
The ideal backers for this syndicate would be those who have value to add in open source, software infrastructure, or enterprise sales, so that we can help our startups succeed. However, all backers will be considered.
You can sever your relationship with this syndicate and stop backing at any time, and not invest in any deal for any reason. Backing gives you a higher chance of an allocation so you don't miss out on deals.
Note: Angel investing is risky. Whenever you make an angel investment, you should always do so with money that you don't need, since most investments fail. You should also assume that exits can take 7-10 years. Please read the Angel Investing Guide we wrote at http://bit.ly/1dlMD6a