Let Startup Employees Invest in Other Startups

For about 18 months, between mid-2021 and early 2023, I may have been one of Silicon Valley’s youngest—and poorest—angel investors.

How? By passing the test to become a licensed investment adviser, then registering my own advisory firm. This allowed me to bypass the longstanding rule that only the wealthy—people with a net worth of at least $1 million or an annual income of more than $200,000—could invest in startups. Through this process, I became a startup investor at age 21, while interning at a startup, before finishing college.