This year marked a significant milestone for The Angel Next Door podcast, hosted by Marcia Dawood. With a full year of weekly episodes, we celebrated key achievements, impactful conversations, and global recognition for our contributions to angel investing and impact-driven funding. Here are some of the year’s highlights:

Milestones Achieved

🎉 Winner of Best Financial, Investing, and Money Podcast: We are honored to have received this prestigious award from the Women in Podcasting Awards, recognizing the show’s commitment to educating and inspiring listeners in the world of early-stage investing.

• 🎉 100th Episode Celebration: In December 2024, we celebrated a major milestone with a special episode featuring Catherine Gray, Executive Producer of the award-winning documentary Show Her The Money. This conversation spotlighted the funding disparities women face in venture capital, discussed how education and awareness can drive systemic change, and highlighted the transformative potential of investing in women-founded funds for both economic and social progress.
• 🎉 20,000+ Downloads: This year, the podcast crossed 20,000 downloads, a testament to the growing interest in angel investing, impact-driven funding, and the role listeners can play in shaping the future of startups.
• 🎉 A Year of Weekly Episodes: We committed to delivering fresh, insightful content every week, ensuring that our community of listeners stayed up-to-date on the latest trends, strategies, and opportunities in the angel investing world.
• 📚 Launch of Marcia Dawood’s Book: Do Good While Doing Well: In September 2024, Marcia released her highly anticipated book, Do Good While Doing Well, which demystifies angel investing and empowers individuals to make impactful investments in early-stage companies. The book serves as a “why-to” guide, helping readers understand how angel investing can be accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy. It offers practical tools to align financial contributions with personal values while supporting startups that drive innovation and social change. The book launch was celebrated with a virtual event attended by listeners, readers, and angel investors from around the world.

A Few Episode Highlights

AI and Entrepreneurship

• One of the year’s most thought-provoking episodes featured Sharon Zhang, an AI expert, who provided a forward-thinking perspective on AI’s impact on business, society, and entrepreneurship. Key takeaways included:
  The growing AI ecosystem — from chips to infrastructure and foundation models.
• How AI is unlocking new business models and entrepreneurial opportunities.
• Insights into data privacy, user sovereignty, and the financial hurdles faced by AI startups.

Philanthropic Investing

With Sally Boulter from Impact Assets, we explored a powerful way to merge philanthropy with investment. This episode shed light on how to use donor-advised funds (DAFs) to invest in for-profit startups, creating both financial and social returns. Highlights included:

• How philanthropic capital can fuel impactful, for-profit startups.
• Success stories like Seth Goldman’s journey with Honest Tea.
• The growing opportunity for individuals to leverage DAFs as a meaningful way to support entrepreneurship while achieving impact-driven goals.

Equity Crowdfunding and the Future of Private Markets

The conversation with Kendrick Nguyen, founder of Republic.com, spotlighted the evolution of equity crowdfunding and its potential to democratize access to private market investing. Key insights from this episode included:

• How regulatory changes enabled everyday investors to participate in private markets, opening up new opportunities beyond traditional tech companies.
• Republic’s early challenges in competing with established platforms and the importance of transparency and trust between companies and investors.
• The role of blockchain technology in fractionalizing assets, reducing participation costs, and providing education for new investors.
• Kendrick’s inspiring journey from a career in law and traditional finance to building Republic into a trailblazing platform, driving accessibility and opportunity in private market investing.

Looking Ahead

As we wrap up this incredible year, our mission remains the same: to empower individuals to see themselves as change-makers, investors, and catalysts for innovation. Whether it’s unpacking the complexities of AI, exploring new ways to use philanthropic dollars, or shining a light on the importance of investing in diverse founders, The Angel Next Door continues to drive conversations that matter. We’re beyond grateful for our listeners, guests, and supporters who have made this year so memorable. Thank you for being part of our journey. Here’s to more insights, inspiration, and impact in 2025! 🚀🎉