By: Elizabeth Usovicz, General Manager of Transaction Commons, as part of a series she writes for ACA aimed at entrepreneurs, "Your Pitch is Just the Beginning."

If you’re a startup founder, you probably have an investor-ready answer to the question, “Who are your competitors?” Your biggest competition isn’t always the industry heavyweight identified in your competitive analysis. Sometimes, a stealthy competitor shows up instead in your sales pipeline - as the prospect’s decision to do nothing. Is the status quo your competitor?

Competition from the status quo can surface at any time during your business development activities.  In a conversation with a prospect, the status quo is often expressed as “Thanks, we’re all set.”   If you’re hearing repeated requests for more information, long after you thought the prospect was purchase-ready, it’s the status quo again.

Many in the world are waking up to the huge importance of entrepreneurs – who create high quality jobs and innovations that change people’s quality of life.  Entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, universities, and a wide variety of community leaders have known about this for a long time, but now the public and elected officials are also seeing it.

They’re also celebrating entrepreneurs and now angel investors in a series of events, proclamations, articles and other programs:

• Global Entrepreneurship Week – “GEW,” which is all this week, is the world’s largest celebration of entrepreneurship and is the innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare.  During one week each November, GEW inspires people everywhere through local, national and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators. These activities, from large-scale competitions and events to intimate networking gatherings, connect participants to potential collaborators, mentors and even investors—introducing them to new possibilities and exciting opportunities.

• Global Business Angels Day – The first ever “GBAD” (I’m still thinking on that acronym) is a part of GEW, aimed at highlighting the role that business angels play in helping new firms start and scale – driving innovation, jobs, and economic growth around the world.  ACA and our colleague angel associations all over the world are part of the celebration – including Canada, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

By: Christopher Mirabile, ACA Board and Launchpad Venture Group

This post originally appeared on Inc.com

If you can’t describe what a great mentor does, you’ve probably never had one.  A great mentor relationship is actually a pretty rare and special thing.  It doesn’t come about all that often, and it’s not something that can be forced.  But it is worth trying to find one or more if you can, because having great mentors can be so powerfully helpful. 

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

This post originally appeared on Forbes.com

Dave Berkus is one of the most successful angels I know.  He has made 108 investments in early-stage companies and has an IRR of 97 percent.  Dave is a special case – he is a top speaker, expert in corporate governance, and has a valuation methodology named after him – even so, are there insights smart angels can pick up from this Los Angeles-based investor?

What is it about Dave that makes him that good? More to the point--are there traits we can emulate from successful angels like him?

By: Elizabeth Usovicz, General Manager of Transaction Commons, as part of a series she writes for ACA aimed at entrepreneurs, "Your Pitch is Just the Beginning."

Call it high optimism.  Every entrepreneur puts a positive spin on his or her situation occasionally. Maybe you’ve done it yourself: your deal with a big customer is only days away from closing; the next version of your product will be released in less than a month. Marketing is, after all, presenting a product, service or brand in the best possible light, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s crossing the line from positive spin into wishful thinking that leads to trouble.

When startups cross the line, it’s often in an effort to get to “yes” prematurely with an investor or business partner. Unfortunately, the results can be far-reaching.

By: Doug Doan, founder of ACA member Hivers and Strivers, an angel investment group that invests exclusively in companies started by military veterans. ACA is supporting the celebration of National Veterans Small Business Week with a Veterans Syndication Event on November 12 in Boston.

An important fact about American veterans is also the least reported and understood.  Our Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard veterans are turning into superb entrepreneurs and are unusually successful starting and running new business enterprises.  Surprised?  You shouldn’t be. Many military vets use the very skills, leadership, and drive learned the hard way from service in wartime to build and run great companies.  Let’s call it Post Traumatic Growth or PTG. 

Companies such as Ridescout, founded by two West Point grads and combat leaders, brought the drive, determination, and fierce execution skill skills learned in the Army. They have been so successful in opening up a new market, their company was recently gobbled up by Daimler Benz, with a nice return for the angels involved.

By: George Bittlingmayer, professor of finance at the University of Kansas and member of Mid-America Angels

This blog post originally appeared as a column in RealClearMarkets 

The startup scene in Kansas City has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, mirroring the upswing in cities nationwide. In fact, the big, welcome news of the last decade is that tech innovation hubs have expanded beyond Silicon Valley to cities from Austin to Pittsburgh and Boulder to Nashville. Unfortunately, those new, thriving ecosystems of entrepreneurs, incubators and early-stage investors may soon hit a headwind blowing in from Washington, D.C.

Angel investors, the first and often crucial providers of funding for high-growth startups, provided $24.8 billion in growth capital last year, not too far behind the $29.6 billion that came from venture capital. While the overall amounts are similar, angel investors play a distinct role, typically funding businesses earlier and with smaller amounts per company.

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

We have good news. Several ACA members have asked about the "1202" exemption that expired December 31, 2013. The Senate Finance Committee approved the 100% exemption of gains in investments in qualified small businesses earlier this month as part of its "tax extenders" bill. We have even better news - the extension is for two years and would be retroactive to January 1, 2014.

We’re looking out for you. The Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act still needs to be approved by the Senate and House, but it appears to have bi-partisan support. More details on the bill are in the Senate Finance Committee website.

For those of you who are not awar of this tax exemption, its formal name is Qualified Small Business Stock, and full IRS information is here.  If you don't know about it, at least make sure that your accountant does!  It can be a great tool to catalyze investment in job-creating startups and help our economy.

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

We had a great gathering of angel investors last week at the ACA Summit. The event in Washington, DC attracted more than 600 people, from 30 countries and 44 American states. Thank you to the Summit planning committee for putting together a terrific agenda and speakers, and also to our partners and sponsors, which added value and expertise to the event.  Everyone will have different highlights for the Summit, but here are mine:

• Great networking events. Thursday evening’s ACA reception was at 1776 DC accelerator, with great food (from an entrepreneurial food incubator!) and opportunities to meet some of 1776’s entrepreneurs. I loved the reception for women investors at Foley Hoag law firm, as we saw a huge increase in the proportion of women at the Summit! The Canadian Embassy also hosted a great dinner for international guests, which also included a tour of Washington monuments.

• Keynote presentation by Michael Chasen, co-founder of Blackboard, Inc and now CEO of SocialRadar. How many people can talk about leading a company from two people in a brownstone to 3,000 employees in a publicly traded company? His “5 Pieces of Unconventional Wisdom I Learned Building a $2B Company” had great insights and was hilarious.  

Want to find the best deals? The best exits?  Curious about syndicating on accredited platforms? How about getting answers to your questions about the new SEC rules on general solicitation and what you really need to do (from the SEC and from leading attorneys)?  Want to rub shoulders with some of the best and most successful angels in the world?

The world of angel investing is changing dramatically. To stay current with today's proposed rules and trends - and to hear from the best in the business, plan to be in Washington, DC March 26-28 for the 2014 ACA Summit - Angel Impacts:  Entrepreneurial and Economic Success.  (You can register here.)

We're inviting the media with lots of great stories about how angels support startup companies with passion, experience and funding. In 2012 angels invested nearly $23 billion in about 67,000 ventures. Read more about what reporters will be writing about here.

We hope to see you at the Summit, where hundreds of angels will gather to help determine the future of angel investing!  You will definitely bring home ideas you can implement immediately.