This long post got comments from both Nivi and Naval (the founders of AngelList). Is there anyone here with a success story from AngelList that would like to comment on it?
We've raised $40k from Angel List so far. It's been the only source of successful investments we have received outside of YC Demo Day connections.
Why bother hacking AngelList? Isn't just as easy to email my pitch deck to people I know. Probably more effective too, since a reference from people I know is better than jumping in to a noisy group of startups, hoping someone will hear my pitch.
Not everyone has a bunch of connections, and even those who do don't have as many as you can find on Angel List. Intros are still your best bet, but there's no reason not to leverage an asset as useful as Angel List.