Using LinkedIn and AngelList for investors?

Hello, everyone! The long-awaited (to the SBF veterans @harold) 18th birthday of mine is coming up in only a couple months and it's time to start looking for some startup money for my startup. I've been working on this company for about 5 months now developing plans, a prototype, etc. and I'd like to take this thing full time with my business partner, who is a 21-year-old banker. Point is, my wealthy awesome business partner has covered the cost of hiring the accountant, and we're in the process of registering an S-Corp in Delaware and operating in New Hampshire (most likely).

Here's the tricky part: we need to start developing. The product is incredibly complicated and is going to require a pretty smart Javascript developer with extensive knowledge in Node.js and other APIs and frameworks. Obviously, this person would be expensive and we need some financial help in getting this off the ground. My partner and I made the decision to stay away from banks for the time being as we both don't have a ton of collateral to back the investment and no one will give us an unsecured investment. I do own a car (2004 Honda Civic) and he leases a Volkswagon, but obviously, that's not enough to collateral to back up a loan.

We are looking for some sort of angel investment (as venture capitalists won't touch us yet) and I am stuck. I was thinking about looking via LinkedIn by messaging some investors and AngelList by doing the same and then maybe getting some sort of meeting with one of them. My family isn't going to invest. I'm putting $5k into the startup, however, the problem is I'm also doing a lot of the work in developing the company and would most likely take a higher position as I know a lot more about the industry than my partner does. He's putting about $10k in. Is this a good idea to use LinkedIn or AngelList for this? For a minute I was thinking I'd message a couple people here but I honestly don't know anyone that would listen to my pitch to invest... but you know how to private message me ;)

You need to approach this from the position of not being able to get financing. Get some Javascript and Node.js for dummies books and start teaching yourself how to code. Welcome to the world of owning a business where you get to wear all the hats (some of which don't exist yet) and often at the same time.

$15K should get you someone for 3-4 months (45-60K/year). Work your 9-5 and throw as much of your earnings into the startup and as much of your free as you can (sleep is overrated anyhow). Go on a cash preservation kick (do you really need an accountant or a corporate body at this time?).

Funding is always a challenge for Startup. Yes , you can try to reach funding source directly via linkedin , Angelist or Angel Capital Association directory. This directory has a large list of angel groups and accredited platforms that fund new ventures.

Do you know how much money you'll need? Are you looking for loans or equity investors? If you are looking for equity investors, you may not want to be an s-corp since investors usually don't want the flow-through income/loss and it limits the types of investors to some degree (s-corp owners can't be non-resident alients for example). And why incorporate in DE if you're doing business in NH? But that's another subject.

What about something like kickstarter? How about going to some meetup groups (meetup.com) that focus on developors, IT, startups, etc. Do some networking and find someone that way. Or, could you hire college interns? I know a guy who has built on online business entirely using college interns at little to no cost. there are some damn smart kids in college looking for side projects or interships.

Try messaging directly to investors with your elevator pitch. Chances are small but if you don't do it how will you know that it didn't work. Also you can ask your network for referrals to investors they might have connections to. all the best

I agree with Fulcrum. Everyone is young with time on their hands. Someone needs to start learning how to code. Hoping to magically find money, and hire someone with all the skills, to me, is a bad move and wasting time. If you don't know at least a little something about how to build and run your sole product, your fledgling start up could bleed money like a stuck pig as you bounce from developer to developer and still never get it finished.

The more time you spend trying NOT to learn how to code, the more time you're wasting never getting it started.
I know it's hard, and it will take time. It's supposed to.

JMO of course.

I think LinkedIn is a good platform to use, many people network through the site so I think there is a good chance an investor would see it and reach out!

I've not used them, but AngelList should work better as it i's intended for funds raising. While LinkedIn is a social network where you need to make mass messages directly to your contacts, which is a kind of spam.