<i>Imagine some combination of the crowdfunding website Kickstarter and the social-networking site LinkedIn, only everyone on the site has to be an accredited investor. Early-stage startups show up, hat in hand, and 165 different angel investors, called “leads,” evaluate them.<p>If an investor likes what he sees, he can put in some of his own money, while encouraging other investors, who are part of what is known as his syndicate, to fill out the investment with their own funds. These first investments average around $315,000 per startup.</i><p>Wait, what? We joined a few years ago and put several of our existing investors on there. We&#x27;re not well connected on the west coast and I never heard from anyone major on the site. Was our company evaluated by one of those 165 people who then lead a syndicate? How does it work exactly? How do they discover startups that are on the site?