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There are actually no angel investing ‘journals’ per se, because there simply are not enough active, professional angel investors to make a market. There are, however, quite a few blog posts on the subject, although most are written for an entrepreneurial audience, rather than angels themselves. One good place to start would be with Bill Payne’s book The Definitive Guide to Raising Money from Angels. Good luck with your investing! MORE
All Announcements Diversity Venture Capital Investing 500 Startups 500strong angel investing international founders Investing Investors southeast asia venture capital venture capital venture capital investingIn 2010, 500 Startups started as a new kind of venture capital firm in Silicon Valley with a contrarian belief that talent can come from anywhere in the world. MORE
I tell those stories because angel investment is a hit business too. Statistics notwithstanding (my apologies to Rob Wiltbank, the world expert on angel investment statistics), it’s a business in which the rare big hit pays for all the failures. They know that only 1 of every 10 investments (or so) will be successful, so they need to believe each one has a chance to return 100 times or more the initial investment. MORE
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, angels are telling founders to scrutinize their sales forecasts, hiring plans, costs and every other assumption about their business. MORE
This is a good time to reflect on my experience with locally based angel investment. I just finished with the fourth of our annual angel investment event for my local group based in Eugene and Corvallis, Oregon. I’ve been an investing member since the group — the Willamette Angel Conference , nicknamed (ugh) the WAC — started. . We try to make our investments as convertible debt. MORE
This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on the skills I’ve developed in my career. But while I prefer a certain naive optimism in founders I can’t see the logic that this extends to angel investors. We’re back in the “feel good angel&# phase. MORE
By: Emily Angold, ACA Marketing Manager Three new board members were elected at the ACA Annual Members’ Meeting during ACA 2020 – The Summit of Angel Investing held virtually May 12-14, 2020. The Board of Directors focuses on supporting the success of angel investors through industry voice, professional development and public policy advocacy while maintaining the mission and values of the Angel Capital Association. Linda Smith , Sierra Angels, former ACA Board Chair. MORE
And, conversely, investing. So will there be no investments made in that time? Investing for example, where we have unique perspective. Newton Fund, managed by Propel(x) Advisors (a Propel(x) subsidiary), has made most of its investments on the merits of the opportunity, based on phone calls or video conferences with founders. And, of course, the classic example is investments made by angel investors online on the Propel(x) platform. MORE
I believe the rise in angel investing is here to stay and the professionalization of this class (aka “super angels&# or “micro VC&# ) is a good thing for the VC industry and for entrepreneurs. But I fear that for most angel investors who invest over the long haul angel investing will not be a profitable endeavor. It got me thinking about how in poker and in investing there are usually a few pro’s at the table and many suckers. MORE
I began studying angel investing returns about 10 years ago as a result of a problem I couldn’t resolve: The investing world seemed certain that angel investors were rubes. Conventional wisdom dictated that they made reckless investments in very early-stage ventures mostly doomed to fail. Are angel investors just unwitting philanthropists or legitimate entrepreneurial investors? The best estimate of overall angel investor returns from this data is 2.5 MORE
Competition Angel investing Venture CapitalI advise my portfolio companies to be careful about what information they make searchable publicly. But on the other side, I definitely recommend seeing what information others have made public. MORE
The first approach we recommend for selecting investable companies is to screen each company by examining the Team, Market Opportunity and Product. But for serious angels with more solid prospects than they can possibly invest in, a second filter is needed That’s a great way to sift through hundreds of companies to find the few diamonds in the rough. MORE
Things don’t always go exactly as planned in life or in angel investing. And just as in life, with angel investing, it pays to be prepared. So here are some thoughts on planning for the inevitable, and how to prevent catastrophes by fitting your angel investments into your estate plan from the beginning MORE
It’s amazing how the world economic situation changed seemingly overnight with Covid-19. One moment we were enjoying a healthy economy with a robust outlook on the future. Suddenly, a pandemic crisis sweeps over the globe creating uncertainty in all aspects of our lives. We’ve been through economic downturns before, yet this time it feels different. Being forced to live in a world of “social distancing” has changed people’s psychology because it has altered everything about our day-to-day world MORE
Investor Brian Cohen, a part of the New York Angels and author of What Every Angel Investors Wants You to Know outlines eight questions when looking at potential companies to invest in. Managing IP diligently may take effort and investment, but it can be well worth it. When a company has strong IP, such as patents, in the market and has gone to correct lengths to protect it, it can make your investments potentially much less risky. MORE
Magazine devoted to the topic of de-mystifying angels and the early-stage investing process. My first piece was on the seismic forces which have slowly but profoundly re-shaped the early stage investing landscape. 7 Reasons Why Angel Investing Became Serious Finance. Discover the forces converging to make angel investment a serious source of capital for savvy, high-growth focused entrepreneurs. I’ve been contributing a column at Inc. MORE
? Early stage investing is an inherently risky way to invest. As angel investors, you need to be aware of the key risks you are taking with your investment The list of high level risks is long and includes financing risk, technical risk, and market risk. MORE
It feels like there is more written about angel investing lately than ever before. This form of early-stage investing seems to be having its 15 minutes of fame. As someone who worked with venture capital in the run-up to the first dot.com boom and is presently an active angel and co-head of one of the largest and busiest U.S. angel groups, I've watched and charted these market changes since the early 1990s MORE
It aims to increase the amount of meaningful innovations brought to the investing marketplace. In a culture where new apps are born hourly and crowdsourcing has made entry into the investing space easier, deep technology startups can offer serious investors a means of distinguishing themselves from the herd. Aside from elevating the content of their investment portfolios, there are other reasons why an increasing number of investors are flocking to the deep technology sector. MORE
In this guest Dreamit Dose, Jason Calacanis (@jason), a technology entrepreneur, angel investor, and the host of the popular podcasts This Week in Startups and Angel, answers the top 5 questions he gets about angel investing. First off, most angels want to pay it forward. MORE
This is the fourth article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). The first three skills I espoused were: access to the highest-quality deal-flow, domain knowledge of the topic area in which you’re investing and access to VCs to help fund the next stages of development. Markets like these are very kind to angel investors because you get taken out early and see a nice pop on your investment. MORE
Before Christopher joined the world of angel investing, he spent much of his early career as a corporate lawyer working in-house for a NASDAQ listed enterprise software company. As a prolific angel, he adapts those organizational skills to tame the massive amount of paperwork associated with the large portfolios he manages. MORE
One of the best parts about angel investing is all the great stories you gather over the years. Whether regaling your friends over a drink at the bar, or telling your grandkids about the time you invested in (insert name of very successful company here), angel investing will provide you with a wealth of experiences MORE
? There are as many different approaches to angel investing as there are investors. Some investors will tell you they invest based on their gut. They like to invest in people and that initial meeting guides their decision-making process After a 30 minute meeting with the entrepreneur, they are either in or out. MORE
article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I’m obviously only naming a small fraction of their investments since I don’t feel inclined to research them all and many other great venture firms have this kind of access. It’s hard for me to imagine that angel investing outcomes judged 10 years from now will have a drastically different profile. And as with VCs the same goes with angels. MORE
Spearhead asked me to write a post on angel investing when they first launched. Charlie Munger says investing requires a latticework of mental models. Here are 11 lessons for your angel investing lattice: If you can’t decide, the answer is no. Investing takes years to learn, but improves for a lifetime. Invest only in technology. Incentives make for bad investing advice. If you can’t decide on an investment, the answer is no. MORE
Assume you have the right factors to get angel investment: experienced team, good product-market fit, growth potential, defensibility, and a reasonable shot at a successful exit. This might seem awkward on this site, suggesting that you don’t want angel investment. But angel investment isn’t for everybody. So then, why not angel investment? Having investment makes you visible, in a spotlight. Investment increases risk. MORE
Jeff Fagnan , angel and venture capitalist, first money behind VentureHacks. the blurring of angel and venture. how the fundamental shift in velocity means traditional angel club methods are probably dead or in need of drastic evolution. Angel Investing Panel - Highlights - 201105 by fdestin. . Angel Investing - BoCoupAtlas Panel - 201105 by fdestin MORE
The dinner parties now are filled with self-righteous angel investors bragging about how many deals they are in on. They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. Logic tells me the following: It is hard to make money angel investing. The best angels will do very well just at the best real estate investors did well in good times and bad. It was an investment management class. MORE
By Michael "Luni" Libes In the traditional world of early stage, Angel and VC investing, money is local. Studies show that over 80% of funding at Angel groups and Series A VCs goes to businesses in the same city/region as the funders. Over in the impact investing space, this rule is not true. Instead, we see groups like the Element8 Angels in Seattle funding deals across the country, and syndicating deals with other Angel groups in other cities. MORE
Great ideas are a dime a dozen. Living in the Boston/Cambridge area, we are surrounded by some of the most innovative researchers in the world working at institutions like MIT and Harvard. I’m pretty confident when I say, in Boston, hardly a day goes by when some graduate student or professor doesn’t invent a new product, discover a new molecule or create a cool app. Unfortunately, without a great team behind that new product, it’s doubtful that a great company will result MORE
There are actually no angel investing ‘journals’ per se, because there simply are not enough active, professional angel investors to make a market. There are, however, quite a few blog posts on the subject, although most are written for an entrepreneurial audience, rather than angels themselves. One good place to start would be with Bill Payne’s book The Definitive Guide to Raising Money from Angels. Good luck with your investing! MORE
This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on my background. I should say that I agree that naive optimism in entrepreneurs can produce higher beta (upside or flops) and that’s good from an investment standpoint if you’re looking for big returns. MORE
This is the second article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). And we all know that Ron Conway is considered the savviest of angel investors and yet by definition not all of his investments succeed. I like to invest where I have a personally strong connection with the entrepreneur and/or a strong intuition on the market from prior experience. Who ultimately invested in FourSquare? MORE
angel investing Related Topics Venture Hacks
APRIL 17, 2019
Spearhead asked me to write a post on angel investing when they first launched. Charlie Munger says investing requires a latticework of mental models. Here are 11 lessons for your angel investing lattice: If you can’t decide, the answer is no. Investing takes years to learn, but improves for a lifetime. Invest only in technology. Incentives make for bad investing advice. If you can’t decide on an investment, the answer is no.
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Dream It
DECEMBER 10, 2020
In this guest Dreamit Dose, Jason Calacanis (@jason), a technology entrepreneur, angel investor, and the host of the popular podcasts This Week in Startups and Angel, answers the top 5 questions he gets about angel investing. First off, most angels want to pay it forward.
The Seraf Compass
MARCH 25, 2020
It’s amazing how the world economic situation changed seemingly overnight with Covid-19. One moment we were enjoying a healthy economy with a robust outlook on the future. Suddenly, a pandemic crisis sweeps over the globe creating uncertainty in all aspects of our lives. We’ve been through economic downturns before, yet this time it feels different. Being forced to live in a world of “social distancing” has changed people’s psychology because it has altered everything about our day-to-day world
The Seraf Compass
JULY 17, 2019
? Early stage investing is an inherently risky way to invest. As angel investors, you need to be aware of the key risks you are taking with your investment The list of high level risks is long and includes financing risk, technical risk, and market risk.
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Jia Wertz
NOVEMBER 4, 2020
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, angels are telling founders to scrutinize their sales forecasts, hiring plans, costs and every other assumption about their business.
The Seraf Compass
JULY 24, 2019
One of the best parts about angel investing is all the great stories you gather over the years. Whether regaling your friends over a drink at the bar, or telling your grandkids about the time you invested in (insert name of very successful company here), angel investing will provide you with a wealth of experiences
The Seraf Compass
DECEMBER 18, 2019
The first approach we recommend for selecting investable companies is to screen each company by examining the Team, Market Opportunity and Product. But for serious angels with more solid prospects than they can possibly invest in, a second filter is needed That’s a great way to sift through hundreds of companies to find the few diamonds in the rough.
The Seraf Compass
AUGUST 14, 2019
It feels like there is more written about angel investing lately than ever before. This form of early-stage investing seems to be having its 15 minutes of fame. As someone who worked with venture capital in the run-up to the first dot.com boom and is presently an active angel and co-head of one of the largest and busiest U.S. angel groups, I've watched and charted these market changes since the early 1990s
The Seraf Compass
OCTOBER 30, 2019
Great ideas are a dime a dozen. Living in the Boston/Cambridge area, we are surrounded by some of the most innovative researchers in the world working at institutions like MIT and Harvard. I’m pretty confident when I say, in Boston, hardly a day goes by when some graduate student or professor doesn’t invent a new product, discover a new molecule or create a cool app. Unfortunately, without a great team behind that new product, it’s doubtful that a great company will result
|
|
The Seraf Compass
JUNE 12, 2019
? There are as many different approaches to angel investing as there are investors. Some investors will tell you they invest based on their gut. They like to invest in people and that initial meeting guides their decision-making process After a 30 minute meeting with the entrepreneur, they are either in or out.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 15, 2010
This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on the skills I’ve developed in my career. But while I prefer a certain naive optimism in founders I can’t see the logic that this extends to angel investors. We’re back in the “feel good angel&# phase.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
This is the second article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). And we all know that Ron Conway is considered the savviest of angel investors and yet by definition not all of his investments succeed. I like to invest where I have a personally strong connection with the entrepreneur and/or a strong intuition on the market from prior experience. Who ultimately invested in FourSquare?
The Seraf Compass
JULY 31, 2019
Before Christopher joined the world of angel investing, he spent much of his early career as a corporate lawyer working in-house for a NASDAQ listed enterprise software company. As a prolific angel, he adapts those organizational skills to tame the massive amount of paperwork associated with the large portfolios he manages.
Onevest
APRIL 1, 2015
By Michael "Luni" Libes In the traditional world of early stage, Angel and VC investing, money is local. Studies show that over 80% of funding at Angel groups and Series A VCs goes to businesses in the same city/region as the funders. Over in the impact investing space, this rule is not true. Instead, we see groups like the Element8 Angels in Seattle funding deals across the country, and syndicating deals with other Angel groups in other cities.
Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 14, 2010
The dinner parties now are filled with self-righteous angel investors bragging about how many deals they are in on. They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. Logic tells me the following: It is hard to make money angel investing. The best angels will do very well just at the best real estate investors did well in good times and bad. It was an investment management class.
propel(x)
NOVEMBER 29, 2017
It aims to increase the amount of meaningful innovations brought to the investing marketplace. In a culture where new apps are born hourly and crowdsourcing has made entry into the investing space easier, deep technology startups can offer serious investors a means of distinguishing themselves from the herd. Aside from elevating the content of their investment portfolios, there are other reasons why an increasing number of investors are flocking to the deep technology sector.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 19, 2010
article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I’m obviously only naming a small fraction of their investments since I don’t feel inclined to research them all and many other great venture firms have this kind of access. It’s hard for me to imagine that angel investing outcomes judged 10 years from now will have a drastically different profile. And as with VCs the same goes with angels.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on my background. I should say that I agree that naive optimism in entrepreneurs can produce higher beta (upside or flops) and that’s good from an investment standpoint if you’re looking for big returns.
Gust
OCTOBER 25, 2011
Assume you have the right factors to get angel investment: experienced team, good product-market fit, growth potential, defensibility, and a reasonable shot at a successful exit. This might seem awkward on this site, suggesting that you don’t want angel investment. But angel investment isn’t for everybody. So then, why not angel investment? Having investment makes you visible, in a spotlight. Investment increases risk.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
I believe the rise in angel investing is here to stay and the professionalization of this class (aka “super angels&# or “micro VC&# ) is a good thing for the VC industry and for entrepreneurs. But I fear that for most angel investors who invest over the long haul angel investing will not be a profitable endeavor. It got me thinking about how in poker and in investing there are usually a few pro’s at the table and many suckers.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 16, 2010
This is the fourth article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). The first three skills I espoused were: access to the highest-quality deal-flow, domain knowledge of the topic area in which you’re investing and access to VCs to help fund the next stages of development. Markets like these are very kind to angel investors because you get taken out early and see a nice pop on your investment.
Gust
JANUARY 25, 2014
There are actually no angel investing ‘journals’ per se, because there simply are not enough active, professional angel investors to make a market. There are, however, quite a few blog posts on the subject, although most are written for an entrepreneurial audience, rather than angels themselves. One good place to start would be with Bill Payne’s book The Definitive Guide to Raising Money from Angels. Good luck with your investing!
500
DECEMBER 10, 2019
All Announcements Diversity Venture Capital Investing 500 Startups 500strong angel investing international founders Investing Investors southeast asia venture capital venture capital venture capital investingIn 2010, 500 Startups started as a new kind of venture capital firm in Silicon Valley with a contrarian belief that talent can come from anywhere in the world.
Angel Capital Association
JUNE 22, 2020
By: Emily Angold, ACA Marketing Manager Three new board members were elected at the ACA Annual Members’ Meeting during ACA 2020 – The Summit of Angel Investing held virtually May 12-14, 2020. The Board of Directors focuses on supporting the success of angel investors through industry voice, professional development and public policy advocacy while maintaining the mission and values of the Angel Capital Association. Linda Smith , Sierra Angels, former ACA Board Chair.
Scratch Paper
OCTOBER 12, 2014
Magazine devoted to the topic of de-mystifying angels and the early-stage investing process. My first piece was on the seismic forces which have slowly but profoundly re-shaped the early stage investing landscape. 7 Reasons Why Angel Investing Became Serious Finance. Discover the forces converging to make angel investment a serious source of capital for savvy, high-growth focused entrepreneurs. I’ve been contributing a column at Inc.
Gust
MAY 22, 2012
This is a good time to reflect on my experience with locally based angel investment. I just finished with the fourth of our annual angel investment event for my local group based in Eugene and Corvallis, Oregon. I’ve been an investing member since the group — the Willamette Angel Conference , nicknamed (ugh) the WAC — started. . We try to make our investments as convertible debt.
Gust
JANUARY 25, 2014
There are actually no angel investing ‘journals’ per se, because there simply are not enough active, professional angel investors to make a market. There are, however, quite a few blog posts on the subject, although most are written for an entrepreneurial audience, rather than angels themselves. One good place to start would be with Bill Payne’s book The Definitive Guide to Raising Money from Angels. Good luck with your investing!
Gust
OCTOBER 17, 2012
I began studying angel investing returns about 10 years ago as a result of a problem I couldn’t resolve: The investing world seemed certain that angel investors were rubes. Conventional wisdom dictated that they made reckless investments in very early-stage ventures mostly doomed to fail. Are angel investors just unwitting philanthropists or legitimate entrepreneurial investors? The best estimate of overall angel investor returns from this data is 2.5
David Teten - VC
MAY 2, 2020
Competition Angel investing Venture CapitalI advise my portfolio companies to be careful about what information they make searchable publicly. But on the other side, I definitely recommend seeing what information others have made public.
propel(x)
APRIL 17, 2020
And, conversely, investing. So will there be no investments made in that time? Investing for example, where we have unique perspective. Newton Fund, managed by Propel(x) Advisors (a Propel(x) subsidiary), has made most of its investments on the merits of the opportunity, based on phone calls or video conferences with founders. And, of course, the classic example is investments made by angel investors online on the Propel(x) platform.
Fred Destin
MAY 14, 2011
Jeff Fagnan , angel and venture capitalist, first money behind VentureHacks. the blurring of angel and venture. how the fundamental shift in velocity means traditional angel club methods are probably dead or in need of drastic evolution. Angel Investing Panel - Highlights - 201105 by fdestin. . Angel Investing - BoCoupAtlas Panel - 201105 by fdestin
Gust
OCTOBER 2, 2012
I tell those stories because angel investment is a hit business too. Statistics notwithstanding (my apologies to Rob Wiltbank, the world expert on angel investment statistics), it’s a business in which the rare big hit pays for all the failures. They know that only 1 of every 10 investments (or so) will be successful, so they need to believe each one has a chance to return 100 times or more the initial investment.
propel(x)
DECEMBER 11, 2017
Investor Brian Cohen, a part of the New York Angels and author of What Every Angel Investors Wants You to Know outlines eight questions when looking at potential companies to invest in. Managing IP diligently may take effort and investment, but it can be well worth it. When a company has strong IP, such as patents, in the market and has gone to correct lengths to protect it, it can make your investments potentially much less risky.
The Seraf Compass
AUGUST 7, 2019
Things don’t always go exactly as planned in life or in angel investing. And just as in life, with angel investing, it pays to be prepared. So here are some thoughts on planning for the inevitable, and how to prevent catastrophes by fitting your angel investments into your estate plan from the beginning
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