Palo Alto angels writing checks for early-stage companies in 2026

Palo Alto has more angel capital per square mile than anywhere else. Over $800M came from angels here in 2025 across 300+ deals. Most angels are former founders or early employees at Google, Facebook, and PayPal. You won't find many angels who write checks without taking meetings first.

The average angel check in Palo Alto is $75K. Some angels invest solo, others syndicate through groups like Band of Angels or Keiretsu Forum. Most want to see traction before they invest. Pre-revenue raises happen but they're rare unless you went to Stanford or worked at a FAANG company.

Quick list

Why Palo Alto for angel funding

Palo Alto angels write smaller checks than VCs but they write them faster. Most angels here made their money at Google, Facebook, or sold their own companies. They invest in what they know. Enterprise SaaS, dev tools, and AI infrastructure get funded easily. Consumer apps less so unless you have Stanford pedigree.

The problem with Palo Alto angels is they all know each other. If one passes, others hear about it. The flip side is when one commits, others follow within days. Angel rounds here close in 2-4 weeks once the first check comes in. That's faster than SF or NYC.

Most Palo Alto angels expect $100K-$500K MRR for Series A. They'll write $25K-$100K checks at pre-seed if you've worked together before. Cold outreach works but warm intros work better. Stanford alumni network and ex-FAANG networks matter more than pitch competitions.

Picking the right Palo Alto angel

Local presence: Palo Alto angels invest in San Francisco and Mountain View too, but they prefer founders who work locally. Coffee meetings on University Avenue matter here. Angels want to see you in person quarterly at minimum.

Portfolio companies: Check if they've backed companies in your space. Palo Alto angels often pattern-match to previous winners. If they made money on Dropbox, they'll look at storage companies. If they lost money on hardware, they won't touch it.

Check sizes: Individual angels write $25K-$100K. Angel groups like Band of Angels do $100K-$500K collectively. Know which you're talking to. Don't ask for $500K from someone who writes $50K checks.

Network access: The real value is intros. Palo Alto angels can connect you to Google Cloud executives, Meta product leaders, or other angels for your next round. Ask what they did before investing. If they scaled sales at Salesforce, they can intro you to enterprise buyers.

Communication: Use Ellty to send your deck with trackable links. You'll see which angels actually open your financials versus those who just say they will. Palo Alto angels get 50+ decks a week. Most don't read them.

Follow-on capacity: Most angels here don't have $5M+ for Series A. You'll need to bring in VCs from Sand Hill Road next round. Ask if they co-invest with specific VC funds. Those relationships speed up your next raise.

How to find and approach Palo Alto angels

Research local deals: Check AngelList syndicates filtered by Palo Alto. Look at Crunchbase for recent seed rounds under $2M. Most angels are listed as investors. Cross-reference with LinkedIn to find their contact info.

Leverage Stanford network: If you went to Stanford, use it. If you didn't, find advisors who did. Palo Alto angels heavily favor Stanford founders. GSB alumni events are where deals start. BASES entrepreneurship conference in April brings angels and founders together.

Build relationships first: Don't cold email asking for money. Cold email asking for advice. Palo Alto angels will take 30-minute calls if you're building something interesting. Three good calls lead to investment conversations. Upload your deck to Ellty first. Send trackable links after initial calls. You'll know if they share it with other angels or just ignore it.

Attend local events: University Cafe on weekday mornings has more angel investors than most conferences. CoLab networking events at 156 University Avenue happen monthly. The Rosewood Hotel bar on Thursday nights is where enterprise founders meet angels. Skip the big conferences. Real conversations happen at small dinners.

Connect with portfolio founders: Message founders who raised from specific angels. They'll tell you how the angel actually operates. Some respond in 24 hours. Others take weeks. Some add real value. Others just wire money and disappear.

Organize due diligence: Set up an Ellty data room before angels ask for it. Cap table, financial model, and customer references in one place. Palo Alto angels move fast once they decide. Email becomes unreliable when files grow larger or more frequent. Having clean due diligence materials ready speeds up closing by weeks.

Understand local pace: First meeting to wire transfer takes 2-6 weeks here. That's faster than most markets but slower than Twitter makes it seem. Angels want to see your metrics grow between meetings. Don't schedule follow-ups more than two weeks out or momentum dies.

Palo Alto angel considerations

Palo Alto angels expect you to become a unicorn or fail trying. They don't fund lifestyle businesses. If you want to build a $10M ARR company and sell, raise elsewhere. These angels want 100x returns from portfolio companies that go public or get acquired for $1B+.

Competition for deals is intense. Every Stanford CS grad with an idea gets meetings. Your advantage is execution speed and metric growth. Show month-over-month revenue growth above 15% and angels pay attention. Show user growth without revenue and they pass.

Most angels here led product or engineering at major tech companies. They understand technical complexity. Don't oversimplify your product. They'll ask detailed architecture questions. Come prepared with system design answers.

18 top angel investors in Palo Alto

1. Naval Ravikant

AngelList founder who backs developer tools and consumer products ruthlessly.

• Recent Deals: Notion ($800K angel in 2019), Twitter ($20K in 2006), Uber ($100K in 2010)
• LinkedIn: Naval Ravikant
• Sector Focus: Dev tools, consumer, crypto infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Pre-seed, seed
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: angellist.com

2. Elad Gil

Former Google VP who writes $100K-$500K checks into AI and infrastructure.

• Recent Deals: OpenAI (angel round 2019), Airbnb (Series A 2010), Square (Series B 2011)
• LinkedIn: Elad Gil
• Sector Focus: AI, infrastructure, enterprise SaaS
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: eladgil.com

3. Ron Conway

SV Angel founder who's backed every major company out of Palo Alto since 2000.

• Recent Deals: Google ($100K in 1999), Facebook ($37.5K in 2004), Flexport ($3M seed 2014)
• LinkedIn: Ron Conway
• Sector Focus: Consumer, enterprise, logistics
• Stage Focus: Seed
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: svangel.com

4. Reid Hoffman

LinkedIn founder investing in AI, automation, and future of work companies.

• Recent Deals: Aurora ($92M Series A 2017), Nauto ($159M total), Convoy ($400M+ total)
• LinkedIn: Reid Hoffman
• Sector Focus: AI, future of work, autonomous systems
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: reidhoffman.org

5. Aydin Senkut

Felicis founder who started as angel, now writes $500K+ checks personally.

• Recent Deals: Shopify (Series A 2010), Cruise Automation ($1M seed 2014), Rovio ($42M Series C)
• LinkedIn: Aydin Senkut
• Sector Focus: E-commerce, autonomous vehicles, gaming
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: felicis.com

6. Paul Buchheit

Gmail creator backing productivity and collaboration tools.

• Recent Deals: Faire ($100M Series C 2020), Gusto ($200M+ total), Dropbox (seed 2007)
• LinkedIn: Paul Buchheit
• Sector Focus: Productivity, B2B SaaS, collaboration
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: ycombinator.com/paul

7. Balaji Srinivasan

Former Coinbase CTO writing checks into crypto, health tech, and deep tech.

• Recent Deals: Boom Supersonic ($33M 2017), Soylent ($20M Series A), 21.co (acquired by Coinbase)
• LinkedIn: Balaji Srinivasan
• Sector Focus: Crypto, health tech, transportation
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: balajis.com

8. David Sacks

PayPal mafia member backing enterprise SaaS aggressively.

• Recent Deals: Affinity ($2.7M seed 2014), Bird ($100M Series B 2018), Houzz ($400M+ total)
• LinkedIn: David Sacks
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, fintech, marketplaces
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: craft.co

9. Josh Buckley

Former Product Hunt CEO backing consumer and productivity companies.

• Recent Deals: Retool ($1M angel 2017), Rippling ($1.35M seed 2016), Mercury ($6M seed 2019)
• LinkedIn: Josh Buckley
• Sector Focus: Productivity, fintech, dev tools
• Stage Focus: Pre-seed, seed
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: producthunt.com

10. Cyan Banister

Early Uber investor backing marketplace and logistics companies.

• Recent Deals: Thumbtack ($125M Series E 2018), Postmates ($141M Series D 2018), SpaceX ($1B+ total)
• LinkedIn: Cyan Banister
• Sector Focus: Marketplaces, logistics, space tech
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: cyansearsfund.com

11. Sahil Lavingia

Gumroad founder angel investing in creator economy and SaaS tools.

• Recent Deals: Figma ($3.8M seed 2016), Substack ($15.3M Series A 2019), Lambda School ($30M Series B)
• LinkedIn: Sahil Lavingia
• Sector Focus: Creator tools, SaaS, edtech
• Stage Focus: Pre-seed, seed
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: sahillavingia.com

12. Jason Calacanis

Launch founder writing $25K-$100K checks into 100+ companies.

• Recent Deals: Uber ($25K in 2009), Calm ($27M Series A 2017), Robinhood ($3M seed 2013)
• LinkedIn: Jason Calacanis
• Sector Focus: Consumer, fintech, health tech
• Stage Focus: Seed
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: launch.co

13. Keith Rabois

Former PayPal and Square exec backing fintech and real estate tech.

• Recent Deals: Opendoor ($9.7M seed 2014), Stripe ($2M seed 2010), Faire ($100M+ total)
• LinkedIn: Keith Rabois
• Sector Focus: Fintech, real estate tech, marketplaces
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: khoslaventures.com

14. Chamath Palihapitiya

Former Facebook VP now backing enterprise and infrastructure companies.

• Recent Deals: Slack ($42M Series D 2014), Box ($81M Series D 2011), Yammer ($85M total)
• LinkedIn: Chamath Palihapitiya
• Sector Focus: Enterprise, infrastructure, SaaS
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: socialcapital.com

15. Kevin Hartz

Eventbrite founder backing marketplaces and consumer companies.

• Recent Deals: Airbnb ($600K seed 2009), Pinterest ($10M Series A 2011), Uber ($300K seed 2010)
• LinkedIn: Kevin Hartz
• Sector Focus: Marketplaces, consumer, events
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: a16z.com

16. Ali Partovi

Former Facebook advisor backing enterprise software and dev tools.

• Recent Deals: Superhuman ($33M Series B 2020), Dropbox (seed 2007), Airbnb ($600K seed 2009)
• LinkedIn: Ali Partovi
• Sector Focus: Dev tools, enterprise, productivity
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: neo.com

17. Marc Benioff

Salesforce founder making personal investments in enterprise SaaS.

• Recent Deals: Zoom ($1M seed 2011), DocuSign ($47M Series C 2012), Okta ($229M total)
• LinkedIn: Marc Benioff
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, HR tech, sales tools
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: salesforce.com

18. Marissa Mayer

Former Yahoo CEO backing consumer mobile and AI applications.

• Recent Deals: Snapchat ($80M Series B 2013), Square ($10M Series A 2009), Shine ($5M seed 2016)
• LinkedIn: Marissa Mayer
• Sector Focus: Consumer, mobile, AI applications
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: lumi.com

Start tracking your Palo Alto angel outreach

These 18 angels closed Palo Alto deals in 2025-2026. Before you start reaching out to local angels, set up proper tracking.

Upload your deck to Ellty and create a unique link for each angel. You'll see exactly which slides they view and how long they spend on your traction metrics. Palo Alto angels often skip market size slides but spend minutes on your team background and revenue numbers.

When angels ask for customer references or your cap table, share an Ellty data room instead of scattered Google Drive links. Your financial model, incorporation docs, and customer contracts in one secure place with view analytics. You'll know if they actually reviewed your materials before follow-up meetings.

Common questions

Do I need to be based in Palo Alto to raise from Palo Alto angels?

No, but it helps. Most angels here prefer founders who can meet on University Avenue for coffee. If you're in SF or Mountain View, you're close enough. East Coast or international founders can raise from Palo Alto angels but expect more diligence calls.

How does Palo Alto compare to San Francisco for angel funding?

Palo Alto angels write bigger checks ($50K-$100K average versus $25K-$50K in SF). They're more experienced operators and less likely to be first-time angels. SF has more angels total but Palo Alto angels have better networks into Sand Hill Road VCs.

What's the average angel check size in Palo Alto?

Individual angels write $25K-$100K. Angel groups like Band of Angels or Keiretsu Forum do $100K-$500K collectively. Some former founders write $500K+ checks but they're rare and selective.

Should I raise locally or go straight to SF VCs?

Raise angel money in Palo Alto if you're pre-revenue or under $50K MRR. The angels here will intro you to VCs on Sand Hill Road when you hit $200K+ MRR. Going straight to VCs without traction usually fails.

Do Palo Alto angels expect in-person meetings?

Yes, at least the first meeting. After that, Zoom works fine. Angels here invest in people as much as ideas. They want to see how you communicate in person before writing checks.

What industries get funded most in Palo Alto?

Enterprise SaaS, dev tools, AI infrastructure, and fintech. Consumer apps get funded if you have Stanford connections or previous exits. Hardware and biotech rarely get angel funding here - those need VC money from day one.

How long does it take to close an angel round in Palo Alto?

2-6 weeks from first meeting to wire transfer if you have warm intros. 3-6 months if you're cold emailing. Once one angel commits, others follow within days if you syndicate properly.