Category Archives: Wharton School

Angel Investing – Books, Blogs & Bootcamps

IMG_0376Although 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

The First Round Review

Jalak Jobanputra’s The Barefoot VC

Golden Seeds Blog

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!

Angel Investing – Ringing in the New Year 2016

New Year 2016 conceptIt’s that time once again to reflect on the prior year and make some resolutions for the next. In last year’s post, I suggested that you develop your own investment strategy, take a closer look at the convertible notes in your portfolio and add some interesting reads to your list. Here are a few of my suggested resolutions for 2016: Continue reading

Wharton Venture Award: A Judge’s Perspective

Note: This was originally posted on the Wharton Entrepreneurship Blog 3/31/ 2015

This year was my second opportunity to serve as a judge for the Wharton Venture Awards.  In addition to working with a great team of fellow judges to select the award recipients, I also have the opportunity to continue to follow the progress of the students. After last year’s program, I was able to act as a mentor to one of the recipients, Katlyn Grasso, CEO and Founder of GenHERation. The progress she has made on GenHeration is amazing and I was thrilled to learn that Katlyn had recently been awarded the University’s “President’s Engagement Prize” which not only validates her business proposal but also provides funding to help her actually build her business. As an active angel investor, supporting young entrepreneurs and celebrating their successes is one of the most rewarding aspects of being involved in the early-stage ecosystem. Continue reading

Angel Investing – Happy New Year 2015

new year designAnother year has passed and it’s time to think about resolutions for the New Year. As an angel investor, it’s a great time to reflect on the past year and then turn your thoughts forward to investment opportunities in 2015. In last year’s New Year’s post, I suggested that you think about knowing your co-investors, getting your investment dox in order and looking at the world through the lens of an entrepreneur. Continue reading

Angel Investing – Tackling the “Big Idea”

Group of business people in shape of light bulb ideaLast week, I had the opportunity to attend the “Big Idea Innovation Tournament”, a pre-term exercise for the incoming 2015 MBA class at the Wharton School. The incoming students were asked to come up with a “big idea” on the topic of climate change and then present those ideas first to fellow students and then to a panel of alumnae/i and faculty judges. Students were given a very limited amount of time to come up with their ideas and formulate a presentation. For the final presentations, the student teams were given 2 minutes and 5 powerpoint slides to discuss their concept and convince the judges as to both the impact and the feasibility of their idea. The judging panel, on which I had the privilege to sit, then had the very difficult task of picking the winner from ideas ranging from managing energy usage, conserving water and our other scarce resources as well as measuring the carbon footprint of the foods we consume. Continue reading