Angel Investors

Reviews:

• How do you read and understand a Capitalization Table?

• How do you place a value on an early stage company with a limited track record?

• What are some of the financial paths that lead to a successful exit for angel investors?

• How do you construct your portfolio to improve the likelihood of successful returns?

• What does the underlying financial math look like in a top tier angel portfolio?

• What approaches do you use to exercise options and buy restricted stock that minimize taxes and optimize your financial outcome?

The 2019 Halo Report is based on an analysis of 2,492 transactions across 2,444 companies – all completed in 2019 

Angel Resource Report. 2020. Halo Report: Annual Report on Angel Investments. https://angelresourceinstitute.org/reports/ARI-HALO-2019.pdf, accessed August 15, 2020.

From 2000 (the year). Still relevant in terms of explaining whos and whats. In 100 pages.

Armstrong lecture on raising angel capital (19:12)

Google slides without narration

Make sure your startup is angel-investment-ready before you start establishing relationships with them; validate your key assumptions, build a milestones time table, know your cash burn rate and financing needs; they are busy people, what kind of first impression do you want to make?

Understand that getting an angel investment is a multi-stage process and that some angels are better suited to partner with you than others (education, experience, individual versus group, mentoring capacity)

Start professionalizing the way you run your startup, milestones, cash burn rate, key hires, go-to-market strategy, validation processes.

Early-stage investors often receive more than 100 pitches per month, which means they need to say "no" to over 99%. Alicia Syrett, CEO of Pantegrion Capital, frequent on-air personality on MSNBC and CNBC, shares the most common blunders that get startups rejected. 

Jason Calacanis is a technology entrepreneur, angel investor, and the host of the weekly podcast This Week in Startups. As a scout for Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and later as an angel investor, Jason has invested in 150 early-stage startups, including four that have achieved billion-dollar valuations (so far). His book, "Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups," is published by HarperBusiness. Calacanis and Google Research Operations Manager Heath Row discuss the skills needed to pick a hit investment, what to look for in founders and investment opportunities, why VC should be democratized, and the difference between Silicon Alley, the Digital Coast, and Silicon Valley. Get the book here: https://goo.gl/8MGKW5 

Jason Calacanis (Angel investor, Launch.co) shares his perspective on the increase and success of angel syndicates - why they are occurring, how they're professionalizing, and best practices he's learned after 90 angel syndicates. 

"Make a Copy" or "Download As" this google doc to do a very "rough" comparison of startups in the retail spirits industry. You are acting as an angel investor considering which of the three companies seeking funds from you is the best investment for you as an angel. You'll want to make sure founders' pre-money estimates are reasonable (or not) and compare their progress to the point where Beatbox Beverages got a $1M investment from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank. By "rough" I mean you will downgrade or upgrade the pre-money estimates for each of the three startups based on how they compare to Beatbox when they appeared on Shark Tank. Simplified instructions up front: Read all the case information, complete the table on page 4 of the document, and thoroughly answer the two questions on page 5. Submit your completed document using the google form link provided on the document.