Angel Investor Guru

Angel Investor Blog

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:48:35 +0000

Angel Investor Blog

Welcome to AngelInvestorGuru.com! This blog is a free educational resource to learn more about angel investing and talk about issues facing angel investors and entrepreneurs.

I noticed there is a significant lack of quality, frequently updated blogs devoted to angel investors. I will update this website with news, trends, analysis, videos and whatever other resources I find related exclusively to angel investing.

I hope you enjoy this blog and thanks for stopping by!

tags: angel investors, angel investor blog, angel investor blogs, angel investor, angel investing

Venture Capital Angel Investor

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:56:45 +0000

The Differences Between Angel Investors & Venture Capital

The line between venture capital and angel investors is often blurry. The typical distinctions are in the size of the investment, stage of financing, structure of the fund or investor group and the background of the venture capitalist and that of the angel investor.

Size of Investment

The size of investments range by the investor, but typically an angel investor will invest a significantly smaller amount of capital in a start-up than a venture capitalist would. This is true for a few reasons: investable income, stage of the business, risk and structure of the investor and/or fund.

Many angels are high net worth individuals who had a successful career and are now retired or working less. These angel investors often have less capital that they are willing or able to put into what is often a risky investment. Venture capital firms, on the other hand, collect capital from investors and pool their money into funds so they have more capital on hand for investing in a start-up. Venture capital firms can invest anywhere from $100,000 to millions of dollars in a single start-up while angel investors on average invest around $40,000 but that number can be much higher and much lower.

Stage of the Business

The stage of the business is important, meaning that angel investors tend to invest in start-ups at the very early stages of the company. This involves a great deal of risk which limits the investors’ capital commitment. But that is typically not a big impediment to the start-up because in the first year(s) of operation, the business requires less capital from outside investors. Once the firm has developed and proven it has the management or the idea that could evolve into a much larger, more profitable business, a venture capital firm may step in. Though some venture capital firms focus on early stages of the start-up, many invest in companies with a short but proven track record of producing a consistent profit. Venture capitalists therefore focus on the later stages of a start-up and give guidance to the management team during what can be an extremely trying expansion process.

Structure of the Fund

While some angel investors work together in angel investor groups and form venture-like funds, many times angel investors invest independently in a business. This goes to the nature of angel investment, which is that angels often have a personal connection to the business or the owner(s). Angel investors often work or formerly worked in the area of business. So, a former Silicon Valley tech company owner may become an angel investor who looks for new technology firms. The angel investor will use his past experience to advise and assist the start-up so the investment is more of a close partnership than simply a monetary transaction.

Venture capital firms often have a similar background but the venture capital fund’s management team are full-time venture capitalists, not part-time investors. The venture fund’s goal is to produce successful businesses to generate returns to the fund’s limited partners. Unlike angel investors, the venture capital fund derives its income directly from management and performance fees paid by the fund’s investors. Of course, the larger performance fee is contingent on the portfolio investment’s ability to make a profit so the VC team has a big incentive to grow young companies into bigger, more efficient firms.

Background of the Investor

As I’ve just written, angel investors and venture capitalists are different in that the former often invests independently almost as a hobby or part-time interest, while venture capital firms invest through funds and sometimes alongside other venture firms in club deals. But the background of angel investors and venture capital investors have some connections. For example, many venture capitalists and angel investors come from a background working in technology. In the last 12+ years, many angel and venture investments have been in tech start-ups (although this is not the only area of investment, health care, biotechnology, financial services, etc.) so the investors reflect the companies invested in. The Center for Venture Research provides a profile of a typical angel investor that gives some insight into angel investors’ backgrounds:

The average private investor is 47 years old with an annual income of $90,000, a net worth of $750,000, is college educated, has been self employed and invests $37,000 per venture. Angels often invest close to home with seven out of ten investments made within 50 miles of the angel investor’s home or office. According to CVR “Informal investors are older, have higher incomes, and are better educated than the average citizen, yet they are not often millionaires. They are a diverse group, displaying a wide range of personal characteristics and investment behavior.”

I hope this has given a clear distinction between venture capital and angel investors.

Tags: angel investor venture capital, venture capital, angel investor, venture capitalist, venture capital firms, angel investors and venture capital firms, what is the difference between angel investors and venture capital firms

Angel Investor Firm Profiles A-L

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:06:30 +0000

We have created individual profiles for hundreds of Angel Investor Firms which we will be updating with the latest news, videos and information on each firm. We have researched and found contact details for each one of these angel investor firms including:

Name of Angel Investor Firm
Name of Contact
Phone Number (84%+ Available)
Email Address (82%+ Available)
Physical Mailing Address
City, State, Zip Code & Country
Assets Under Management (AUM)
Year Established
Description of Fund

If you would like contact details for this angel investor firm or other angel investors please see our Angel Investor Directory

The following is the first part of our list of angel investor firms, to see M-Z follow this link.

Angel Investor Firms

Angel Investor Association

Advantage Business Angels

Advantage West Midlands

Alaska InvestNet

Alberta Deal Generator

Alsace Business Angels

Ambient Sound Investments

American Technology Investments Corp.

Amiti Ventures

Andorra Development and Investment

Angel Association New Zealand

Angel Capital Group

Angel Capital Network

Angel Forum

Angel Healthcare Investors

Angel HQ

Angel Investment Fair

Angel Investment Forum of Florida

Angel Investor Forum

Angel Investors of Greater Washington

Ansel Capital Partners

Aprilis Ventures

Arab Science & Technology Foundation

Ariel Savannah Angel Partners

Arizona Angels Investor Network

Arizona Technology Investor Forum

Armor Angels

Arts et Métiers Business Angels

Asebio

Associação Portuguesa Business Angels

Astia

Atlanta Technology Angels

Atlantic Business Angels Booster

Aube Investissement

Aurinvest

Aurora Angels

Australian Association of Angel Investors

Auvergne Business Angels

Ben Franklin Technology Partners

Birmingham Angel Network

Bi-State Investment Group

Blue Ridge Angel Investor Network

Bluegrass Angels

Bluesky Capital

BlueTree Allied Angels

Business Angels Network of Catalunya

Business Development Company of Rhode Island

Bulgarian Business Angels Network

Business Angel netzwerk|nordbayern

Business Angels Agentur Ruhr

Business Angels Club

Business Angels de la Manche

CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund

California Investment Network

Cambridge Angels

Camino Real Angels

Canadian Angel Investment Network

Capital Angels

Capital Community Angels

Central England Business Angels LLP

Central Minnesota Growth and Transition Fund

Central Texas Angel Network

Central Wisconsin Business Angels

Charleston Angel Partners

Cherrystone Angel Group

Chesapeake Emerging Opportunities Club

Cincinnati’s Angel Capital Hub

Cleantech Angel Network

Cleantech Business Angels

Club 3C

CLUB ABANT

Club de Angeles del IAE

CLUB DE BUSINES ANGELS, INSTITUTO DE EMPRESA

Club Invest 77

Coach & Capital

Columbia Investor Group

CommonAngels

Concho Valley Angel Network

Connect London

Connecticut Venture Group

CoreNetwork

Cornerstone Angels

Corporate Angels

Creative Arts Investment Network

Croatian Angel Network

CTEK Angels

Darling Downs Angels

DDIDF

Delaware Crossing Investor Group

Desert Angels

Développement Durable en Ile-de-France

DNA Cascais

Dutchess County Angel Network

Early Oxford Investments

Early Stage East

Eastern NC - Investor Network

ENSAE Business Angels

E-VALORA FINANCIAL SERVICES

eVentureCat Investors

Exemplas

Eye of Texas Angels

Fa Diese 2

Fargo Moorhead Angel Investment Fund

Federacion Asturiana De Empresarios

Femmes Business Angels

Finance et Technologie

Finance South East Limited

Finaqui

Finistère Angels

First Angel Network

First Run Angel Group

Fish Taco Seed Funds

Florida Angel Investment Alliance

Fund for Arkansas’ Future

Fundamental Technologies II

Gathering Of Angels

Global MarkeTeam Ventures

Go Beyond

Goban CAastilla La Mancha

Gold Coast Angels

Golden Gate Angels Investment Group

Golden Horseshoe Angel Network

Great Eastern Investment Forum

Great Lakes Angels

Great Opportunities, LLC

Great Valley Pennsylvania Angel Network

Grenoble Angels

Grow Utah Ventures

GSO Investissement

Gulf Coast Venture Forum

HALO

Hampton Roads Angel Network

Harvard Angels

Hawaii Angels

HeadStart Network

Health Care Angel Group

Heartland Angels

HEWICK RESEARCH

Highland Park Angel Group

Houston Angel Network

Hub Angels Investment Group

Hunter Angels

Huntsville Angel Network

Illinois Business & Investor Forum

Imporium Angels

Inception Micro Angel Fund

Inception Micro Angel Fund Charlotte

Inception Micro Angel Fund East

Inception Micro Angel Fund Triad

Inception Micro Angel Fund West

InnoBAN Business Angel Network

Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham

Innovation Valley Angels

InvestIN forum of angel investors

Investors’ Circle

Invicta Angels

IQ2b GmbH Business Angels Network

Kingston Innovation Centre (Services) Limited

Lakes Venture Group II

Lancaster Angel Network

Les Business Angels du Nord

Les Business Angels du Val de Marne

Lewiatan Business Angels

Life Science Angels

Limousin Business Angels

LINK Inversiones

Logoden Participations

London Business Angels

Lone Star Angels

Long Island Angel Network

LORE Associates

Lorraine Business Angels

Louisville Angel Network

Lyon Angels

Tags: Angel Investor Directory, Angel Investors, List of angel investors, angel investors United States, Angel Investors database, angel investors contact, angel investors database, database of angel investors, directory of angel investors

Angel Investor Firm Profiles M-L

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 23:44:14 +0000

Name of Angel Investor Firm
Name of Contact
Phone Number (84%+ Available)
Email Address (82%+ Available)
Physical Mailing Address
City, State, Zip Code & Country
Assets Under Management (AUM)
Year Established
Description of Fund

If you would like contact details for this angel investor firm or other angel investors please see our Angel Investor Directory.

The following is the second part of our list of angel investor firms, to see A-L follow this link.

MADBAN

MADRID EMPRENDE

Maine Angels

MALAGA BUSINESS ANGELS

Maple Leaf Angels

Marquette University Golden Angels Network

Mass Medical Angels (MA2)

Mavrick Angels

Media Deals

Méditerranée Investissements

Mid-Atlantic Angel Group

Mid-Atlantic Capital (MAC) Alliance

Mid-Atlantic Diamond Ventures

Midwest Venture Alliance

Minority Angel Investor Network

Mississippi Angel Network

MIT Angels

Monadnock Angel Investors

Montreal Start Up

Nashville Capital Network

Natalus Life Science

National Angel Capital Organization

National Angel Organisation Quebec

National Association of Seed and Venture Funds

Nebraska Angels

Network of Business Angels and Investors

Newfoundland and Labrador Angel Network

Nippon Angels Investment Co. Ltd.

NoCo Angels

Norm’Angels

Normandie Business Angels

North Dallas Investment Group

North East Angels

North Sea Angels

North Star Fund

North Texas Angel Network

Northern Arizona Angels

Northern Colorado Angels

Northern Ireland Science Park

Northern Ontario Enterprise Gateway

Northern Plains Investment

Northwest Angel Network

Northwest Business Angels

Northwest Energy Angels

NRW.BANK – Win Business Angel Initiative

Okanagan Angel Network

Olympus Angel Investors

Orange County Angel Network

Oregon Angel Fund

Österreichischen Investment Network

Ottawa Angel Alliance

Ouest Angels / Irus Partenaires

Oxfordshire Investment Opportunity Network

Pacific Northwest

Paris Business Angels

Park City Angels

Pasadena Angels

Pennsylvania Angel Network

Peterborough Region Angel Network

Phenomenelle Angels Fund

Piedmont Angel Network

Pine to Praire Fund

Plug and Play Angels

Pocono Mountain Angel Network

Portland Venture Group

Prairie Capital II

Prairie Winds Capital

PROEXCA

Promontory Angels

Provence Business Angels

Reed Elsevier Ventures

Reno Angels

Re-sources 1

River Valley Capital

River Valley Investors

Roanne Angels

Robin Hood Ventures

Rochester Angel Network

Rock River Capital

Rocky Mountain Innovation Initiative

Russba

Ryerson Angel Network

SA Angels

SAINT

Salt Lake Life Science Angels

San Joaquin Angels

Sand Hill Angels

Saskatchewan Advanced Technology Association

Saskatchewan Angel Investor Network

SATAI Network

Savoie Angels

SDSU/Brookings Angel Fund

Seed Capital Fund of CNY

Seed Step Angels

Seedfund

SER Angel Investors Network

Seraph Group

Show Me Angels

Sierra Angels

Silicon Garden Angels Investors Network

Silicon Pastures

Silicon Valley Band of Angels

South East Capital Alliance

South Metro Investors

South Mississippi Angel Network

South Texas Angel Network

Southern Utah Dixie Angels

Southwest Michigan First

Southwest Pennsylvania Angel Network

St. Louis Arch Angels

StepStone Business Partners

STN Labs

STOC Angel Investment Network

Strathclyde University Incubator

Successful Entrepreneur Investors LLC

Sud Angels

Susquehanna Investment Network

Tech Valley Angel Network

TechRanch

Tevel Angels Club

Texas Women Ventures Fund

Thames Valley Investment Network

The Alliance of Angels

The Angel People

The Angels Institute

The Atlantis Group, LLC

The Brook Road Group

The European-American Angel Club

The Foundations Club

The Golden Angels Network

The Great Valley Technology Alliance

The Island Group

The Meyering Corp.

The Mid-Atlantic Angel Group Fund I

The Tamiami Angel Fund

The Texas Angels

The Viking Business Angels Club Ltd

Tigris Capital Pte Ltd

Top of Utah Angels

Toulon Var Technologie / Var Angels

Traverse Angels

Tri State Ventures

Triangle Accredited Capital Forum

Tribe of Angels

Tri-Cities Regional Angel Investor Network

Tri-State Investment Group

Tri-State Private Investors Network

Turkish Business Angels Network

Twin Cities Angels

Two Rivers Angel Investment Network

UNIBAN

University of Warwick Science Park Limited (Minerva Business Angel Network)

Upstate Carolina Angel Network

Valley Angel Investment Fund

Valley Angels Investment Group

Vancouver Enterprise Forum

Vantec Angels

Vegas Valley Angels

Venture Forum Neckar e.V

Veraventure

Vermont Investors Forum

Vested for Growth

VikingAngels

Virginia Active Angel Network

Vivarais entrepreneurs

Waco Angel Network

Walnut Venture Associates

Washington Technology Center

Wayne Brown Institute

Wed 3

Wedgwood Circle

Williamette Valley Angel Network

Wilmington Investor Network

Winners Investors Network

Winnipeg Angel Organization

Winter Park Angels

Wisconsin Angel Network

Women’s Capital Connection

WomenAngels.net

Wyoming Angels Network

Yorkshire Association of Business Angels

ZINO Society

J Curve Angel Investing

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:51:12 +0000

J Curve Angel Investing

An Introduction to the J Curve & Angel Investors

The following is a brief introduction to the J Curve and its application to private equity and angel investing. Understanding the J Curve is very helpful in angel investing and planning your investments and businesses realistically. Most start-ups follow the J Curve model so it’s good to know.

The J-Curve shows an investor the compound return over time (IRR) of a start-up in order to asses its performance. Most start-ups will exhibit strongly negative returns in the early years as the money is drawn down through expansion costs, mistakes, and other ways that initial investment is spent in the early years. After the business begins to mature, positive inflows of cash come back into the company until the amount of outflows precisely matches the amount of inflows, creating an internal rate of return (IRR) of zero.

As the start-up continues it’ lifespan, the IRR should move into the arena of positive returns demonstrating long-term maturation and an ability to generate profit that is returned to the angel investors.

The J-Curve is so named because the curve resembles a J, usually with a less sharp curve. It is often compared to the shape of a hockey stick. Here is an example of the J Curve:

This is just a brief introduction to the J Curve, if you want to add more to this article send me an email.

Adapted from Private Equity Blogger

Tags:

Film Angel Investors

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:27:35 +0000

Finding Film Angel Investors

If you’re looking to finance a new movie or just trying to get seed capital for your film company, it can be hard to find interested investors. The odds seem against a new film company, considering that many more films flop than succeed and that still more business fail than succeed. But don’t lose heart, there is an angel investor group looking for indie filmmakers like yourself.

FilmAngels is a group of film angel investors who focus entirely on that area. The group is comprised mostly of tech executives and investors who rely on their experience in business and venture capital investing to help develop independent films and (hopefully) make a return on the investment if/when the film makes it to the big screen.

The group is very active and entertains at least five pitches a month from promising filmmakers. The group’s angels invest in whatever films they find particularly entertaining or have a high potential profitability. It was founded in 2005 and as of 2009 the group had given capital to twelve films.

For a great profile of the film angel investors see this WSJ article.

Or visit the group’s website to learn how you can get your film seen by the FilmAngels.

In the last few years I have been approached by MANY filmmakers looking for help financing their film, so it’s great to see that this group has addressed this need.

Tags:

Delta Angel Group Angel Investor Firm Profile

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:44:56 +0000

Below please find the Angel Investor Profile for Delta Angel Group.

At this time we are still constructing this profile for Delta Angel Group. If you would like contact details for this angel investor firm or other angel investors please see our Angel Investor Directory

Tags: Delta Angel Group, Delta Angel Group investors, Delta Angel Group angels, Delta Angel Group contact, Delta Angel Group email

Active Angel Investors

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:27:33 +0000

Directory of Active Angel Investors

Some companies offer angel investor directories but then you open the database and find many retired or inactive angel investors.

To address this concern, we have developed the Angel Investor Directory that has been developed and thoroughly researched throughout the last 6 months to ensure that this edition is as recent and as useful as we can make it. It’s impossible to guarantee that the angel investors will be active but with such a new and updated directory we have done our best to ensure these angels are active.

In this directory of angel investors we provide the following information:

Name of Angel Investor Firm
Name of Contact
Phone Number (84%+ Available)
Email Address (82%+ Available)
Physical Mailing Address
City, State, Zip Code & Country
Assets Under Management (AUM)
Year Established
Description of Fund

Tags: Active Angel Investors, Active angels, active angel investor, directory of angel investors, where to find active angel investors, finding active angel investors, active angel investor database

Private Equity Directory

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:12:57 +0000

Directory of Private Equity Firms and Database of Investors

Is your company looking for larger investors and a management team that can help your business? Angel investors focus in smaller deals and provide less capital to business but private equity firms focus on big deals and later stage financing.

Private equity firms can be hard to find and even more difficult to contact. That is why our team has created a database of over 1,000 private equity firms with full contact information including the contact’s website, phone number, as well as mailing and e-mail addresses.

Our team has invested our time in developing and updating a deep, constantly-improved directory of private equity firms and their contact details in Excel format. This is a valuable resource for firms, capital raisers, individuals trying to meet with private equity firms, students, internship or job-seekers and private equity service providers.

This Private Equity Firm Directory contains the private equity fund firm name, primary contact name, physical location, assets under management, phone number, fax, and email address as well. Collectively the 1,000+ private equity firms in our database control well over $200B in assets. This directory is a great way to gain access to hard-to-find contact details for private equity firms. Click here to learn more about this directory of private equity firms.

Directory of 3,800+ Private Equity Investors

If you are a private equity firm and would like to raise capital by contacting private equity investors, see our Private Equity Investor Database. Use this Private Equity Investor Database to broaden your fundraising efforts with our diverse pool of thousands private equity investors. The Directory contains the private equity investor firm name, primary contact name, physical location, strategy, phone number, fax, and email address for more than 3,800 private equity investors. Collectively, the thousands of potential private equity investors within our directory control well over $500B in assets.

Gain access to the contact details for the following private equity investors:

700 Family Office Listings
730 Wealth Management Firm Listings
265 Institutional Investment Consultant Listings
924 Endowment Fund Listings
50 Sovereign Wealth Fund Listings
600 Pension Fund Listings
600 Foundation Listings

If you would like to learn more about this Private Equity Investor Directory please follow this link.

Or if you would like contact details for this angel investor firm or other angel investors please see our Angel Investor Directory

Tags: private equity directory, private equity firms directory, list of private equity firms, private equity firm database, list of buyout firms, buyout firms, private equity firms in the united states, US private equity firms

http://privateequityblogger.com/2009/06/private-equity-directory.html

Angel Investor Advice

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 07:17:50 +0000

Angel investors are usually wealthy individuals with an eye for a special industry or niche investment areas. But becoming an angel investor is not easy and it involves a lot of risk. Brad Feld has some great advice to those aspiring to be angel investors, here is the abbreviated version:

1. Be promiscuous: To be a successful angel investor, you have to make a lot of investments.

2. Have a long term financial strategy: Early on I decided that I was going to write the same size initial check in every angel investment.

3. Understand the difference between 0x and 100x: I’ve had two of my angel investments return over 100x each. Since I had a strategy of investing the same amount in each company, all I needed was one 100x to allow me to have 99 companies completely flame out and return 0 and I’d still break even.

4. Choose people over ideas: I have never regretted making new friends through an angel investment that failed.

5. Decide quickly: My best investments as an angel were made after one meeting and I’ve often committed in the meeting.

6. Don’t torture entrepreneurs: Remember, you are supposed to be an “angel investor”, not a “devil investor.”

7. Run in a pack: The best angels run in packs. They share deals. They love to work together. They don’t feel obligated to invest in each others stuff, but they often do. And they communicate with each other. Source