Say you invest £20,000 into a startup and receive equity in return.

What happens next?

Do angel investors normally make their money through dividends, selling their shares during a future funding round, an acquisition, IPO or some other route?

I'd be interested to understand what the typical journey from investment to actual return looks like.

The big thing is that you're not really getting “paid” in the normal sense.

You invest for equity, then hopefully that equity becomes worth more and you eventually get a chance to sell it.

This is where angel investing feels very different from putting money somewhere that gives you regular income.
You could be waiting years before there's actually a way to turn that investment into cash.