Convertible debt is commonly used in seed stage transactions, and for anything but friends and family, or a true 90 day or less bridge, I cannot understand why anyone would use these to fund a company, regardless of whether you’re an investor or founder – it’s equally bad for both. There are a lot of […]
In a panel on angel return data at the Angel Capital Association Summit recently the speaker went back and forth between data using ROI (multiples of the original investment) and IRR (internal rate of return). These metrics are very different and it is important for angels to have a good understanding of how using each […]
If you’ve read ANYTHING about cryptocurrencies and ICOs (Initial Coin/Token Offerings), you’ve read opinions from people who believe that the value of these coins will go up 100 times and others who believe that they will all crash to zero because there is “nothing there”. If you believe either of these groups, you’ll be in […]
How Angel Experience Can Help Social/Environmental Impact Companies. The paradox in impact investing is that a large percentage of impact investors are hurting the very companies that they want to help. Neophyte impact investors have not yet figured out the difference between philanthropy and Impact investing, resulting in a confusion that causes serious damage to […]
We’ve known for years that Colorado has more startups per capital than anywhere else. Yes – per capita. It’s a great location to start up a company and maybe you’re wondering if there’s a Venture Capital infrastructure to support that? Well, now there’s incontrovertible evidence for Colorado’s leadership position in MicroVCs and it all comes […]
As the cost of starting a tech company has gone down, VCs have moved upstream, funding bigger and bigger deals while angels and angel groups have taken up the sub-five million funding space. Meanwhile, accelerators and platforms have also taken a place with funds to jump start companies going through their programs. MicroVCs are venture […]
Many professional organizations have a certification test of competency that members must pass to demonstrate their knowledge and ability to perform at a high level. Doctors, Lawyers, CPA’s and other professions must also take continuing education credits as well. The criterion for being an angel investor, however, has nothing to do with knowledge and does […]
It seems like a majority of pre-Series A deals are done with convertible debt these days and I’d like to point out a few reasons why this is a bad thing for entrepreneurs and investors alike. Just to get definitions out of the way, we’re talking about the decision to raise funding for startups by […]
It’s a common misconception that angel investing and venture capital is extremely risky. But when best practices for investing are followed, tax breaks and portfolio returns can consistently outpace even the best mutual funds. If you’re wondering how this can be true – read on! Angel investing involves capital investments by accredited investors (people with […]
Life Science Investing is Different than Software Tech Angel/VC Deals. Companies seeking early stage investment in their biotech, life science, medical device or digital healthcare companies face al l the hurdles that software tech companies face – and then some more. Many of the hurdles have to do with misconceptions that people have […]