Tag Archives: Equity

Angel Investing – Not a Spectator Sport!

Keyboard Illustration "Launch 2013"One of the aspects of angel investing that I enjoy the most, is the ability to become involved with my portfolio companies. Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the “Demo Day” for the 2013 crop of start-ups in TechLaunch NJ, a 16-week technology accelerator program.  As an investor in and mentor to this group of exciting young companies, I had the opportunity to participate in several of their Wednesday evening pitch sessions along with other mentors to provide feedback on the pitch deck that they would be presenting at Demo Day. Each company had 10 minutes to present their company to the audience and each also had an opportunity to network with the attendees and show off their prototypes or services. As I have often advised companies that I am involved with, the goal of a “Demo Day” is to get the next meeting.  It is important that the “10 minute pitch” really captures the audience’s attention and leaves them wanting more information. Continue reading

Angel Investing – What it’s all about

Collaboration concept in word tag cloudLast 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.

Angel Investing – Valuation Methods

Question Gold Dollar CoinsFor those of use entering the world of angel investing with a background in evaluating publicly traded equities, the valuation process for this investment class can be a real challenge. PE multiples and comps are very difficult to apply to companies that are not only pre-earnings but in many cases pre-revenue. The earlier the life cycle of the company, the less data points exist to determine a reasonable valuation.

In this post, I will outline some of the valuation methods you may want to consider for evaluating these early-stage investments (Note: please click on the title links to learn more about these methods): Continue reading

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

Cap Tables – Puzzles for Investors

A Cap Table, which is an abbreviation for capitalization table, is a record that outlines the ownership of a company. The details of a cap table include not only the names of the shareholders but also the type of equity security they own, the prices they paid and any other options or future equity that will impact the fully-diluted ownership of the company. Continue reading

The Jockey or the Horse?

I am frequently asked the “jockey or the horse” question – whether it is the team or the idea that is most important when considering an early stage investment opportunity. The real answer for me is that both are critical in the decision process. That being said, although I may invest in a company where the “idea” is not 100% formulated, I will always walk away from any opportunity where I am not completely convinced that the right team is in place and more importantly it is one that I want to be in partnership with over the long term. 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 is similar to playing golf…

OK, so you are looking at the title of this post and asking yourself, “what in the world is she thinking; how can you possibly compare angel investing to playing golf”?

Let me explain… Continue reading

Angel Investing -After the Check….

So you just wrote the check! Now what?

Image source: Fotalia.com

There is a perception out there that angel investors and venture capitalists are only focused on monetary gain and don’t work to support the success of their companies post-investment. Angels are making investments with the hope of a successful exit and unfortunately the statistics on the failure of startups are quite sobering. According to Shikhar Ghosh, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, the failure rate of startups is 30-40%. ( Source: HBS Working Knowledge Article by Carmen Nobel). But in addition to the potential investment returns, angel investing provides a unique platform for engaging with the companies in your portfolio, which is not the case when  investing in the public markets.

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.

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