Ramtin Naimi

I don't think there's any excuse saying that you can't start a venture capital firm with no money because I was literally flat broke when I started Abstract.

I literally had filed bankruptcy at 24 years old when my previous startup company had failed.

I was literally out of bankruptcy starting a venture capital firm.

It's funny because at the time it was this humiliating experience.

I put everything I had into this one company, turned out to be the wrong category to build a company in.

I pulled the plug.

Thankfully, I got a job after that.

So I was able to get back on my feet somewhat quickly.

But no, I didn't have parents that I could rely on for seed cash to start being a venture capitalist.

I didn't go to an Ivy League school where all of my friends' parents were the guys who ran every single one of these venture capital firms.

So I truly believe that there is no excuse because I think there's enough tools, at least in venture, I can't speak to other asset classes,

that have really democratized access to capital.

And if you prove that you deserve capital, there's people in Silicon Valley who will give that to you.

AngelList is the perfect platform for that.

AngelList has capital on their platform, dedicated capital.

If you find a deal, we'll put the money into it.

I started finding deals and I started bringing it to the platform and the money showed up.

I was like, this is real.

I could bring a deal to the platform.

I could write a summary on the company.