Although long past are the days of racing up and down the aisles of Staples, kids in tow, to acquire all the school supplies on the “list” (probably these days best achieved with a one-click of Amazon Prime), the imminent arrival of the crisp weather of fall always turns my attention to “back to school” thoughts. These days, back to school means reviewing resources to help educate angel investors. Having had the privilege over the past six years to provide leadership to the Golden Seeds Knowledge Institute, I am always on the hunt for training resources to assist both new and seasoned angel investors under the assumption that learning is a lifelong process no matter the discipline. I like to segment investor training into three categories:
BOOKS, BLOGS, & BOOTCAMPS
BOOKS:
Although these are many great sources of information on angel investing, a few of the favorites on my bookshelf include:
Feld & Mendelson’s Venture Deals. Filled with rich content covering topics such as term sheets and how to raise money, this is a fabulous resource for both investors and entrepreneurs.
David Rose’s Angel Investing – The Gust Guide to Making Money & Having Fun Investing in Startups. This book is one of the most comprehensive guides to angel investing I have read incorporating a wealth of knowledge from David’s incredible history of investing in this space.
Brian Cohen’s What Every Angel Investor Wants You To Know. This is a fun read filled with both advice and anecdotes from the Chair of New York Angels for both the investor and the entrepreneur seeking early stage funding.
Alex Wilmerding’s Term Sheets and Valuations. For those of you who want to understand the intricacies of Term Sheets, this a resource and that I recommend to all investors who take my courses at Golden Seeds.
Basil Peter’s Early Exits. This book covers many topics relevant to the exit process such as exit strategy and investor/entrepreneur alignment.
Richard Lambert’s Financial Literacy for Managers. Although geared more towards public company financial analysis, this resource from Wharton Professor Richard Lambert discusses many of the concepts such as benchmarking, DCF analysis and cost analysis which are important to a startup’s financial health.
Clearly, there are many other great publications out there, these are some of my picks.
BLOGS
Subscribing to Blogs from experts in the field is a great way to keep yourself informed as an angel investor. Here is my list of VCs whose blogs I follow and find informative:
Mark Suster’s Both Sides of the Table.
Fred Wilson’s Daily AVC Blog
Jalak Jobanputra’s The Barefoot VC
Ed Zimmerman, Chair of the Tech Group at Lowenstein Sandler, provides great insight into may topics including his recent post in the WSJ regarding SAFEs – LINK
BOOTCAMPS
I am often asked for a recommendation for courses, either online or in-person, that address angel investing topics. Here is my current list:
Golden Seeds Knowledge Institute: Golden Seeds developed a series of investor training modules to help our members understand the basics of angel investing. Several of these modules are open to guests.
Angel Capital Association: through it’s Knowledge Center provides a variety of seminars and workshops on various topics.
First Round Capital runs a program Angel Track – a Masterclass for Emerging Angels.
Y Combinator and Stanford also have courses for angel investors
In addition, for women investors 37 Angels Bootcamp and Pipeline Angels have angel investor training programs.
Please use the comment section to add Books, Blogs or Bootcamps to the list!
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