Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Perhaps because of their focus on building a large portfolio, or their competitiveness, these angels sometimes accept valuations that cause later friction while moving to VCs, or even other angel groups. This can cause early investor dilution, lower ultimate returns or leave the startup stranded.

Angel Investor 342

Angel Investor Venture Capital Silicon Valley Portfolio 342

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2014

The partner most obsessed with the startup lifestyle tests the water by going to work in an early-stage startup, similar to one they might hope to start someday. Get to know the people there, and ask them for pointers to new ventures that are still in the formative stage. Your best job leads will come from other entrepreneurs.

Technical Review 250

Technical Review Stock Options Due Diligence Silicon Valley 250

David Teten

JUNE 10, 2020

SOP Capital is a new, early-stage, New York-based VC focused on East Coast companies. David is also Founder of HBS Alumni Angels of NY , the largest angel group on the East Coast. Company overview. The firm particularly has interest in fintech, edtech, and salestech.

New York 60

New York Venture Capital Technical Review Due Diligence 60

Gust

OCTOBER 12, 2011

To provide some reference points, I surveyed thirteen angels groups in North American to determine their recent experience in negotiating the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue companies. Because of the interest in the 2010 survey, I decided to survey a larger number of North American angel groups this summer (2011).

Angel Groups 125

Angel Groups Valuation Pre-Money Valuation St. Louis 125

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2015

The partner most obsessed with the startup lifestyle tests the water by going to work in an early-stage startup, similar to one they might hope to start someday. Get to know the people there, and ask them for pointers to new ventures that are still in the formative stage. Your best job leads will come from other entrepreneurs.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Entrepreneur Stock Options Due Diligence 120

Berkonomics

JUNE 26, 2014

Angel investors, particularly those in organized angel groups, are typically former entrepreneurs who have had successful liquidity events in their pasts, or executives of companies who’ve retired with the funds from their stock options.

Liquidity Event 76

Liquidity Event Technical Review Due Diligence Angel Groups 76

Gust

JANUARY 5, 2012

Company B raises $40,000 from five friends and family members and then $460,000 from twelve angels who are members of a single angel group. The angel group has one member of the board of directors. All opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent those of Gust.

SEC 131

SEC Angel Groups Technical Review Private Equity 131

Business Plan Blog

JANUARY 2, 2014

How Crowdfunding is Affecting Angel Group Investment. government’s long standing restrictions on fundraising has given life to a new type of financing called crowdfunding that allows Angel and other early stage investors to quickly assemble a group of investors over the internet.

Angel Groups 51

Angel Groups Accredited Investor Angel Investor Due Diligence 51

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

I think you have to listen to the queue’s.” “…if you look at a lot of the early stage investors, whether it be Union Square Ventures or First Round or Jeff Clavier at Softtech or Dave McClure – we want to try the product, we want to experience the product, we want to get a sense of how the entrepreneur is thinking about it.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Make sure these people understand the nature of early-stage angel investing. I still prefer angel route 1 (above) but this is the next best option in my mind. Professional angel associations – This one is the source of much controversy. The key to getting money is that the people writing the check trust you.

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Perhaps because of their focus on building a large portfolio, or their competitiveness, these angels sometimes accept valuations that cause later friction while moving to VCs, or even other angel groups. This can cause early investor dilution, lower ultimate returns or leave the startup stranded.

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup 314

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

Working within a network of angel investors also expands the pool of expert resources and helps divide the work of screening companies and investment due diligence. Earlier this month, I reported on the most current survey of angel groups: 2011 Valuation Survey of North American Angel Groups.

Valuation 146

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Technical Review 146

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

VI: Revenue-based financing: The next step for private equity and early-stage investment. David Teten , Versatile’s founder, was previously a Partner with HOF Capital and ff Venture Capital, two early-stage New York VC firms. in idea-stage and side-hustle founders using a Convertible Income Share Agreement, or CISA.

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

In venture capital in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. A major angel group used Influitive , an advocate management tool, to track, activate and motivate their members.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Berkonomics

APRIL 20, 2023

Here I am a professional investor in early-stage companies, and I attempt to find those with the greatest chance of success and growth in value over time. How about the early-stage investors? You might be interested in this data as viewed from the early-stage investor’s viewpoint. Data does not lie.

SBA 62

SBA Angel Investor Early Stage Liquidity Event 62

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

A major angel group uses Influitive , an advocate management tool, to track, activate and motivate their members. Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda. The Pocket Negotiator is very early-stage attempt to aid in the negotiating process itself.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

David Teten

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Annual Deal Pipeline for Selected VCs and Angel Investor Groups. Angel groups using Gust. Their late stage deals outside of the venture centers outperform by ~5% vs. those in the venture centers; early stage deals outperformed by ~4%. The median VC reviews 87 opportunities before making 1 investment.

Private Equity 114

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Equity 114

Up and Running

AUGUST 19, 2014

The type of deals and industries they invest in, the company stages, and the amount they invest depends on the individual or angel group. I have pitched to hundreds of angel investors over the years as a result of co-founding two tech companies and raising just shy of $1M in angel capital. 51 percent).

Angel Investor 161

Angel Investor Technical Review Due Diligence Startup 161

ithacaVC

MARCH 14, 2011

At the early stages of a startup, the founding team is probably the most important variable of success. Focusing on the early stage, the founding team typically will have a tech oriented founder and a business oriented founder. The management team continues as the critical success factor.

Early Stage 45

Early Stage Founder Burn Rate Cofounder 45

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

The other thing that happens to diverse founders is that they wind up talking to a lot of less experienced or later stage investors who seem to specialize in diversity from the outside--many of whom may not take the same amounts of risk as others. VCs don't go later and angels don't go earlier. It's not that straightforward.

Founder 60

Founder Angel Groups Cofounder New York City 60

View from Seed

AUGUST 26, 2015

Run in packs and learn from the group (but keep an independent mind). There are a lot of options to expand your deal sourcing, like AngelList, syndicates, angel groups, etc. There is no sub-prime market in early-stage investing. Find people who you think are great and don’t be worried about following their signal.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Angel Investor Software Review Silicon Valley 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 26, 2015

Run in packs and learn from the group (but keep an independent mind). There are a lot of options to expand your deal sourcing, like AngelList, syndicates, angel groups, etc. There is no sub-prime market in early-stage investing. Find people who you think are great and don’t be worried about following their signal.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Angel Investor Software Review Silicon Valley 120

David Teten

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

We have four non-US portfolio companies , many of which have or will soon have employees in the US. - Creating angel groups with other alumni organizations, using Harvard Business School Angels as a model , e.g., alumni of major NY schools (Columbia, NYU) and institutions (McKinsey, Goldman Sachs).

Government 146

Government Technical Review New York Offshore 146

David Teten

APRIL 29, 2014

However, VCs, who pride themselves on making bold bets, have rarely funded entrepreneurs in Quadrant IV, particularly at the early stage. A few additional venture funds and angel groups have also begun targeting the emerging domestic economy. Another example is 645 Ventures, a new venture fund founded by Nnamdi Okike.

Venture Capital 114

Venture Capital Los Angeles Cofounder Technical Review 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2012

We are talking about angel investors here, meaning people who invest their own money in early-stage startups for a share of the equity. Angel groups almost never supply financing for real estate purchases, or personal loans. First-time founders will find that most angels turn into mirages. Real estate.

Angel Groups 237

Angel Groups Angel Investor Early Stage Startup 237

Austin Startup

JUNE 27, 2017

Many investments in startups start with local venture firms in the early stages and then attract non-local venture firms for later stage and larger deal size opportunities. Entrepreneurs with early stage companies typically look for local funding before going out of region to pursue other funding sources.

Venture Capital 54

Venture Capital Austin Texas Private Equity 54

Gust

APRIL 23, 2014

Gust News angel groups businesses financial industry Gust innovations startups' The result is that nearly $2 billion has been invested directly as primary investments into more companies than in total are traded on the NYSE and NASDAQ combined. original post can be found on Quora @ [link] *.

Angel Groups 127

Angel Groups Accredited Investor Private Equity Deal Flow 127

Gust

JANUARY 22, 2014

Gust is the infrastructure that underlies much of the professional world of early stage finance. The answer, of course, is Gust —because that’s exactly the purpose behind the platform! Above is a screen shot I just took of my Gust investor dashboard.

Angel Investor 150

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor Early Stage 150

Berkonomics

MARCH 9, 2017

Here I am a professional investor in early stage companies, and I attempt to find those with the greatest chance of success and growth in value over time. Tech Coast Angels, one of the largest angel groups in the United States, published its data in 2016, showing sixty-eight percent plunging to less than the amount invested.

Angel Investor 106

Angel Investor Angel Groups Liquidity Event Early Stage 106

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

My suggestion is to get some of the angel groups – notorious for slow decision-making and hat passing – and pool their money into a small fund structure of say $5-10 million. If you’re working with early-stage companies you need to be spending quality time with them which means you need to be nearby.

Community 378

Community San Diego Silicon Valley Los Angeles 378

Gust

NOVEMBER 16, 2013

But because the single biggest problem with early-stage funding is ‘getting the first pickle out of the jar’ (that is, getting someone to provide a term sheet and make the first commitment), in recent years an interesting alternative to this has arisen.

Lead Investor 150

Lead Investor Term Sheet Early Stage Angel Groups 150

View from Seed

MARCH 16, 2016

This is true when it comes to early-stage funding, but also as it relates to support platforms being built by local firms to help Boston-based startups. This group includes firms like Hyperplane , focused on machine learning, and Procyon Ventures , focused on next-gen infrastructure, machine learning, and the IoT software spaces.

Boston 215

Boston Early Stage Artificial Inteligence Semantic 215

David Teten

JULY 3, 2013

I hope you can join me for this: So You Want to Be an Angel? what you need to know as an early stage investor: best practices in origination, evaluation, structuring and adding value. 8 – 8:30 pm: Meet other angels. Keynote Speaker: David Teten ( Presentation sneak peek: Introduction to Angel Investing ).

Angel Investor 114

Angel Investor Accredited Investor New York New York City 114

David Teten

JULY 3, 2013

I hope you can join me for this program, cosponsored by Empire Angels ; HBS Alumni Angels of Greater New York ; and the The Young Venture Capital Society. So You Want to Be an Angel? what you need to know as an early stage investor: best practices in origination, evaluation, structuring and adding value.

Angel Investor 114

Angel Investor New York Accredited Investor New York City 114

Austin Startup

MARCH 4, 2019

Meet the Locals Here are the most active early stage investors in town that you should meet while you’re here and do deals with. It’s a robust ecosystem so I’m only listing the ones we’ve done the most deals with here but Capital Factory is the most active early stage investor in Texas so this is a good sampling.

Silicon Valley 50

Silicon Valley Technical Review Texas Venture Capital 50

Gust

JUNE 25, 2014

Both are useful additions to the early stage entrepreneurial ecosystem. Both platforms allow investors (and others) to search for companies by criteria such as name, keyword and location. Note: the author is the CEO of Gust, and therefore clearly biased. original post can be found on Quora @ [link] *. Gust News'

Angel Groups 138

Angel Groups Curation Early Stage Search 138

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2011

We are talking about angel investors here, meaning people who invest their own money in early-stage startups for a share of the equity. Angel groups almost never supply financing for real estate purchases, or personal loans. First-time founders will find that most angels turn into mirages. Real estate.

Angel Investor 217

Angel Investor Angel Groups Early Stage Startup 217