Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Golden Seeds Innovation Summit. During this annual event, CEOs from the Golden Seeds Portfolio Companies, Golden Seeds Members, LPs in the Golden Seeds Funds and guest speakers come together for two days in NYC. It is a venue for the CEOs to update current and potential investors about their companies and also to interface with one another, a powerful networking opportunity. In addition to hearing about the progress of our portfolio companies, members are able to attend sessions on topics including; positioning for exit, brand building, trends in various industry sectors, and many others.
To me, angel investing is so much more than just writing a check, as I discussed in an earlier blog post. The ability to interface with our dynamic CEOs and to collaborate on investment opportunities with a great group of investors, like my colleagues at Golden Seeds, is “What it’s all about“. Each time I participate on a deal team, in addition to sharing my own expertise, I always learn something new. I follow my companies on Twitter and other social media venues and try to be a supportive “angel” (which means not trying to micromanage but being strategic with both advice and input). I feel extremely privileged to be a part of the Golden Seeds national network and look forward to investing with them in 2013.
“I am a serial entrepreneur with a business idea that will generate $100 million in sales in 3 years!!!!” , sound familiar? As an angel investor, I meet many passionate entrepreneurs who present a very optimistic outlook for the future of their business concept. Building financial projection models is a very difficult process for the CEO of an early-stage company and an even more difficult process for the investor to believe in.
Women Invest 