Tag Archives: ACA

Angel Investing – “Back to School”

As a Keyboard with "Back to School" Button.parent, Septembers were always filled with the chores of “back to school” – books to be purchased, sharp pencils, the search for that perfect lunchbox….. As an angel investor, September also puts me in a “back to school” frame of mind. At Golden Seeds, I have the privilege of overseeing The Knowledge Institute, which houses our Investor Training Series. Our fall sessions in New York begin in September when members are back from summer vacations. In preparation for our training sessions, I am constantly looking for new resources, books, etc. to continue to enhance or improve our training materials.

Although by no means an exhaustive list, here are some resources that I have found to be quite helpful: Continue reading

Angel Investing – Avoiding “Energy Vampires”

focus on solutions conceptEarlier this week, I was listening to an NPR program on “energy vampires”, those special individuals whose interactions can literally drain the energy from us.  The term “energy vampires” was coined by Dr. Judith Orloff, a clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA in her book Positive Energy. Now everyone has had some experience with “energy vampires” – those special people who cause some of the following reactions:

  • You hope a call to them goes directly to voicemail
  • You need a trip to Starbucks before and after meeting with them
  • You would rather have a root canal  (the extreme version)

You get the point…… Continue reading

Angel Investing – Inside the Brain of an Angel

Power Of The MindIn a recent post, I published an excerpt from a new book called “What Every Angel Investor Wants You to Know” by Brian S. Cohen and John Kador.

I had the opportunity to read the book en route to the Angel Capital Association (ACA) Summit and would highly recommend it to both entrepreneurs and angel investors alike. Written in the first person and filled with anecdotes, war stories and wisdom gained from Brian’s many years of angel investing, this book is both a fun and insightful read.

Having started investing in this space back in the late 90’s (yes I was only 14 at the time!!), I have learned that when all is said and done, for me angel investing is all about investing in great people and helping them build great companies.

Thank you Brian for sharing your wisdom and insights in your new book! I am looking forward to the next one!

Angel Investing – Resolutions 2013

Ready for year 2013It’s a New Year and time to make those resolutions. In addition to thinking about personal goals for the year, it’s a great time to review your angel investment portfolio. As angels we see many interesting investment opportunities and it helps to set a goal at the beginning of the year for the investment amount that you want to commit to this sector over the next 12 months. When setting this goal take into consideration: Continue reading

Are You Ready to Be an Angel Investor?

The term “angel investor” is used to describe a wide variety of investors in early stage companies. From the reality-show world of Shark Tank where entrepreneurs are grilled in front of a prime-time audience to established professional networks of angel investors including Tech Coast AngelsNew York Angels, Golden Seeds and others, it is clear that there is more than one type of angel. Continue reading

Angel Investing – Flying Solo or Joining an Angel Group

Once you have made the decision to become an angel investor, you need to decide if you want to fly solo or join forces with an angel group to make your investment decisions.

Continue reading