Angel Insights Blog
Thursday, March 13, 2014
New Angels – Important Tips for Starting Your Journey
By: Bill Payne, Vegas Valley Angels and Frontier Angels
It is an exciting time to start the journey to angel investing. For many there is nothing more rewarding than being able to invest in an early stage company, share your knowledge, insights and connections with entrepreneurs and have a hand in their success. At the same time, learning how to be a successful angel investor requires dedication. Naturally, most angels start the process with a myriad of questions.
A few I have heard along the way include, should I:
- Invest close to home?
- Syndicate deals?
- Invest only in certain industries or avoid certain industries?
- Fund pre-revenue companies or only later stage?
- Invest through LLCs, convertible debt, common shares, preferred shares?
- Invest using a family trust, personal funds, community property or from an IRA?
- Follow-on with more money if the company can demonstrate the need?
- Get personally involved in the company after investment
- And, how will your angel investments be influenced by
- The specifics of the negotiated term sheet?
- The due diligence finding of your angel group?
If you are an accredited investor who is new to angel investing, I invite you to attend the discussion I will be facilitating at the ACA Summit in Washington DC – where the new angels get to ask any question they would like. This is a great opportunity to talk with angels who have been on this journey and to ask your burning questions with recognized angel leaders such as John Huston (Ohio TechAngels), John May (New Vantage Group), and Michael Cain (Wilmington Investor Network) will share their hard-earned experiences. Kelly Rodriques, CEO of PENSCO, sponsor of the session will add expertise.
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