My angel group completed its first “medium risk/reward” deal, one that has a much lower (we hope) risk profile than a traditional startup, but therefore likely has a much lower upside as well. Here is a copy of our announcement: RVI invests in Springfield-based DX Urgent Care Gary Martinelli leads RVI’s investment RVI Deal [...]
In two of my online classes I have the students play the role of angels deciding if they want to invest in a (fictitious) company. In the simulation the students are all angels, members of the same angel group, and a the deal before them is being championed by several of their peers from the [...]
Remember your executive summary and/or elevator pitch and/or slide deck is one of dozens or hundreds a potential funder will look at. EVERYTHING you write/say needs to help differentiate you from the other exec sums being looked at. Remember, when seeking funding your competitors are not the other companies selling stuff like you – they [...]
This interview brings one person’s view on social media & gaming. My major take-away is that the angel community might be taking stronger interest in the game industry… now that it is merging with mobile & social. http://www.bloomberg.com/video/66749774/
In my course that teaches the “flavors of capital” we of course start with Friends and Family. This is by far the largest source of funding for startups. Below are links to a video that walks you through a quick, inside view of how this flavor of capital operates, what incentives are at work, and [...]
Conventional wisdom is that, generally speaking, geek CEOs are a Bad Idea. Serial entrepreneur and entrepreneurship educator extraordinaire Steve Blank disagrees… How Scientists and Engineers Got It Right, and VC’s Got It Wrong Scientists and engineers as founders and startup CEOs is one of the least celebrated contributions of Silicon Valley. It might be its [...]
Last week students in my Intro to Entrepreneurship course were working through the Startup Marketing lecture. There was a delightful discussion afterwards as the students explored the idea of “positioning.” This is a topic that was very tricky for me until a wise mentor showed me a trick that plays a central role in the [...]
A nice interview (written AND video) with an angel investor sharing his top five best practices for securing angel capital. Find it at: http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/06/interview-angel-investors-five-keys-raising-capital/
If your angel group doesn’t know about the Power Of Angel Investing seminars, you should. These are structured, well-tested programs that can help the angels in your group, and the group itself, significantly increase their ability, and confidence, to execute deals.
Thanks to an interesting NYT article, I learned of the Pipeline Fund, an organization dedicated to helping aspiring women angels become extremely succesful women angels investing in woman-backed social ventures… The overwhelmingly male field of angel investing is about to become a bit more diverse. Ten women, including some business owners (TechCrunch has the full [...]
