Angel Insights Blog

Incredible Organizational Change, Growth and Advocacy: a Look at the ACA Success and Goals For 2024

Despite the volatility brought about by the pandemic, economic uncertainty, market fluctuation, bank failures and a myriad of other difficulties, the ACA has powered through to continue to be the voice for the art and science of angel investing. Over the last few years, we have been supported by our dedicated volunteer and professional staff to continue to offer better member experience, expanded our professionalized education programs and continued to be the voice for protections and incentives for angel investors in the public policy arena. Our work could not be done without the tireless efforts of the volunteers and professional staff that serve the entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

Without our members, none of our accomplishments would have been possible and our hope for the future would be unfounded. More importantly, without you, our economy would be weakened and society’s ability to innovate would be stunted.

Highlights from the 2023 Angel Funders Report: Highlights from Angel Activity

What We’ve Accomplished and What’s to Come in 2024: Growth in Member Benefits, Syndication, Education & More

Membership & Engagement - the Cornerstone of the Angel Capital Association:

ACA Members are angel insiders and a part of the industry’s preferred providers of capital. Our members are able to stay on top of trending investment approaches, terms and exit strategies. Identify like-minded investors. ACA membership is available to individual angels, accredited platforms, angel group investors and family offices.

In 2023 we: 

• Saw a successful ACA Summit with more angels, more sessions and fantastic reviews for valuable experiences among attendees.
• Launched the ACA syndication pilot with current ACA peer groups and a new deal-sharing platform.
• Developed more tools for angel groups and grew our resource library with new webinars and content. 
• Relaunched the annual Women Investors Forum in Boston to a huge success with the support of Foley Hoag.

In the coming year, the ACA will be launching a new membership management system which will greatly improve the member experience and allow for more control over communications and membership management. Additionally, we are revamping the website for an ease of use making it more efficient for members to take advantage of benefits. 

Education: 

In 2022, the ACA worked to professionalize and expand our education through the addition of a Director of Education and the availability of Angel University online. 

In 2023: 

• 160+ individuals earned the Basics of Angel Investing certificate.
• 40+ individuals earned the Advanced Angel Investing certificate.
• 500 individuals took at least one Angel University course.
• The National Science Foundation Awarded a major grant to connect early stage capital to DeepTech innovations. This project is designed to better educate the early stage investor community on the benefits of Deep Tech investments with the intention of increasing the amount of private capital available for deployment in the Deep Tech sector.
• Launched the new Boards in Action course, available in March as part of the AU winter term.
• Published the AngelBox Basics Toolkit. This complimentary resource was created courtesy of funding from VentureWell. We are delighted to provide this complimentary resource courtesy to community ecosystem builders to assist you in the planning and implementation of a new community angel fund or network. 

In 2024, the ACA will be building upon our growth in educational opportunities including on-demand Ann & Bill Payne ACA Angel University learning and an expansion of our timely, expert-driven webinar series. 

Angel Investor Foundation: 

In 2023, the Angel Investor Foundation maximized every match possible for a total of $335K unique dollars matched and was made possible by lead donors Ann & Bill Payne, Seed the Future Chair Tony Shipley and Dr. Ron Weissman, Chair, ACA Board of Directors.

We will be closing the Seed the Future Campaign in June 2024 and continuing to execute the investment map - a plan that began in 2022 and has resulted in expanded customer service and member benefits that will continue to grow into 2024 and beyond.

Public Policy: 

ACA believes in the impact and benefits of angel investing to entrepreneurs, job growth and the economy. Deeply active on the federal legislative and regulatory fronts, ACA helps safeguard and galvanize the rights of American angel investors so that we can protect the foundation that fuels the startup economy. ACA represents our members, but we invite investors to lend their efforts - a combined voice matters.

2023 Highlights in Public Policy: 

• The creation of a quarterly newsletter, recapping and highlighting the current hot topics and ways that ACA has supported and protected angels on the hill. Read the first newsletter here.
• In 2023, the ACA Public Policy Committee fought diligently to preserve the 1202 qualified small business stock gain exclusion which fell under attack. 
• Similarly, we fought to keep the accredited investor definition from revisions on Capitol Hill that would serve to exclude more angels from participating in the startup space. 
• Active engagement: 
  • In January, ACA also sent an important letter to the Office of Patent Legal Administration asking for reliability and flexibility in the patent system. This letter emphasized how important patents are to startup companies.
  • In February, ACA took its work to the hill when ACA Board Member Eli Velasquez and ACA Member David Olivencia testified before Congress as part of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets hearing on how the accredited investor definition unfairly limits investment access for the non-wealthy. 
  • In April, I traveled to DC alongside North Coast Ventures Founder and ACA member Clay Rankin to continue discussions about the accredited investor definition and QSBS. ACA leadership met with directors from the SBA, members of the Ways and Means Committee, policy directors at the SEC and several members of Congress. These substantive talks focused on reforms to improve small businesses, the negative consequences of raising the threshold of the accredited investor definition and how to improve access to capital. 
  • Collectively, the Public Policy Coalition sent a formal letter to Congressman David Kustoff's proposed changes to expand and protect the Accredited Investor definition. 
  • In May, ACA Board Chair Marcia Dawood was named to the Small Businesses Capital Formation Advisory Committee. This committee provides advice and recommendations to the Commissions on rules, regulations and policy matters relating to small businesses. 
  • On the Angel Next Door Podcast:
    • SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce joined The Angel Next Door for the episode, "Investments and Capital Markets from the Point of View of SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce" in May to discuss fraud, the misperception of failure in the private investment world, the accredited investor definition and diversity in capital markets. Congressman David Kustoff from Tennessee also joined The Angel Next Door podcast in May for "How Expanded Legislation Can Help Incentivize Small Business Investments with Congressman David Kustoff."

Partnerships: 

Partnerships are critical to the ACA - not only in terms of revenue that supports our work, but also in connecting the right organizations who can support our angel investors.

In 2023 we: 

• Met and exceeded our goals with a total raise of $405,000 and $52,750 deferred to FY24, marking ACA’s most successful partnership year in its history.
• Raised partnership’s average transactional value to $17,625.
• Seven ACA yearlong partners at or above $20,000 annually.

Growing the Voice of Angel Investors: 

In 2023, we grew the readership of ACA publications by more than 20%. This means that more potential angel investors have access to the smart practices and knowledge to join in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and that more angels have the tools to create bigger outcomes and recruit to their established groups. 

Ways You Can Stay Connected in 2024:

• Subscribe to the ACA LinkedIn Newsletter
• Sign up for ACA emails including Raw Data to Actionable Insights to get timely and critical information directly to you inbox
• Get involved! Our work is driven by dedicated volunteers across many areas of our work including instructors for Angel University, the Education Committee, Public Policy Committee, DEI Task Force, Marketing & Membership, Data Analytics, the Angel Investor Foundation & more! 
• Attend the Angel Capital Association Summit in Columbus, Ohio. Led by Rev1 Ventures’ Parker MacDonell and Melinda Gloriosa, this event is a not-to-miss gathering of angel investors, startups and experts is where you can learn, expand your network, develop relationships that could lead to syndication and so much more! We’re on track for this to be the biggest Summit of the last 5 years.

2024 Promises to be an Incredible Year: Get Involved

We want to encourage many of the millions of potential angels to join us. If you are deploying capital to grow early stage companies, you are part of this critical ecosystem and we invite you to engage with us. Help us create a powerful network of entrepreneurs, investors and community resources so that we can continue to support economic growth. Angel investing is a team sport and ACA welcomes you to join us as we strive to make angel investing more accessible and successful for all.

More than ever, we need innovation. We need risk-takers and difference-makers. We need angels.

We need you! Take advantage of ACA’s many opportunities to get involved. Thank you to our growing membership of active investors for actively creating a more innovative world. We can’t wait to increase our support for your growth and investing. For those new to ACA, join the organization and take advantage of valuable member benefits or register for an upcoming event or course. We can’t wait to meet you and connect you to our incredible network of angels, investing ecosystem players and early-stage companies.

Sending my best wishes for a successful 2024 to come! 

Patrick Gouhin, CAE
Chief Executive Officer, Angel Capital Association