Angel Insights Blog

With less than five months to go before a pivotal 2024 election, ACA’s Summit of Angel Investing was a perfect time to delve into the election’s implications on the angel community. During May’s summit, ACA lobbyists Chris McCannell and Blair Hancock provided their expertise on how the election could impact ACA.

Few would dispute that we are in the midst of a cyclical downturn in the early-stage funding cycle. Exit and IPO activity have dropped precipitously, and funding has declined across the board.

The Angel Capital Association (ACA), the world’s leading professional association for angel investors and startup entrepreneurs, is excited to announce a strategic collaboration with Thompson Hine LLP, a national law firm recognized for innovation that boasts one of the fastest-growing New Ventures practices in the country. As a central component of this new partnership, Thompson Hine is providing meaningful educational opportunities to angel investors and angel group leaders to benefit the angel investment community.

At the 2024 Summit of Angel Investing, the Angel Capital Association (ACA) awarded its most prestigious recognition, the Hans Severiens Award, to Sage Growth Capital’s Partner and past member of the Angel Capital Association Board of Directors Dr. Kevin Learned.

The Angel Capital Association formed a task force of established early-stage investors and attorneys who routinely represent both founders and investors in early stage financings. Read more and get the model...

As angels, we want to believe in the adage that “our human capital helps to de-risk our financial capital.” But what does that mean, and is there any factual basis for our faith? At Launchpad we wanted to find out, and we looked to see if we could use our data to do it. To see what our data told us, we looked at 105 portfolio companies that had been with us for at least 18 months from our initial investment, including both active companies and exited portfolio companies. As expected, we did see a lift in returns associated with both doing full diligence and with leading the round and providing the term-sheet.

The Luis Villalobos Award recognizes the most ingenious and innovative ideas recently financed by members of the Angel Capital Association. Two category winners will be selected to attend the ACA Summit and honored live and throughout the event. The award is presented to the winning CEOs during the annual awards ceremony at the 2024 ACA Summit (May 13-15, 2024). Companies in all investment sectors are invited to participate and will be considered for one of two Category Winner opportunities.

Every great startup starts with a great idea. Founders and investors need the help of experienced legal advisers to develop a thriving business.

This historical or look back perspective is based on a survey conducted by the Angel Capital Association in Q1 and Q2 of 2021 compared to the same survey conduct two years later in 2023. As a result, we are able to understand and contrast the sentiments of angel groups in 2023 compared to 2021. It is important to look back and review actual data around angel group behavior in order to dispel theories or unsubstantiated assumptions people may have during these two important timeframes.

In conducting due diligence for early stage companies, we often consider a company’s portfolio of patents and/or patents pending. If the idea behind the company is compelling, most likely there will be competitors and we’d like to understand what (if any) barriers the company has to such competition. Patents are an obvious potential barrier