Angel InvestorsWritten by Ryan M. Hoback
Is it a bird?…Is it a plane?…….No, its and Angel investor!By Ryan M. Hoback, Motivated Entrepreneur Incubation & Consulting Look….up in air………....Is it a bird?............Is it a plane? …………………….....No, it’s an ANGEL INVESTOR! Angel Investors (or simply Angels) as defined by Wikipedia are affluent individuals who provide capital for business start-ups, usually in exchange for an equity stake. Unlike venture capitalists, angels typically do not pool money in a professionally-managed fund. However, angel investors often organize themselves in angel networks or angel groups to share research and pool investment capital. Before we start flying around in air with these angels, let’s talk a minute about capital phases. Capital phases are stages that a business passes through ideally when looking to generate “Early-stage / Pre-revenue” capital. The first section is concept phase, where typical needs are technical development, market research, feasibility analysis, and business planning. The sources of funding in this “Seed” stage are personal savings, grants, credit cards, and “family and friends”. Before moving into commercialization phase, we need to understand exactly what an angel investor provides. Angel capital fills gap in start-up financing between "three F" (friends, family and fools) and venture capital. Most venture capital funds will not consider investments under $1 million, while it is difficult to raise more than $100,000 - $200,000 from friends and family. Thus, angel investment is a common second round of financing for high-growth start-ups. Commercialization begins with a developed business plan, and progresses into next phase when revenue begins to flow in regularly. In commercialization phase your goal is to get your product to market. This means having an operation that is up and ready to run smoothly and that has ability to produce its product or service while executing transactions as orders are received. The challenges that you face in this stage vary; your capital needs now will require outside capital to start, in addition you may still be in pre-revenue phase which will make attracting capital even more difficult. Additional challenges may be no proof of market acceptance, banks won’t lend for this, SBA won’t lend for this, and venture capitalists are not interested either. This phase is what determines your market readiness. If you accomplish all your goals in this phase and reach a point where revenues are flowing in, you can begin to move into final stage, growth stage. The growth stage is when your product or service has reached market acceptance. Once your product has been accepted by market you begin to fall into a whole new realm of business operation and financing. By this point you may be self sufficient and an operation which no longer needs to look for outside capital. This is goal and this would be great! However, this also may be where your operation begins to look for venture capital in range of 25 million and up. We will cover this in another article, in near future. Right now, let’s jump back to talking about actual angel investor.
| | “WOMEN…Wake Up, Smell and Drink Some Coffee…Fourteen ways to succeed through networking”Written by Francine York
Feel like you need more contacts to expand or start your business and don’t know how to make those important connections? There’s an easy answer to your dilemma…drink coffee!!! No, not in your kitchen; but at myriad networking opportunities for women in business as well as those wanting to start a business. Men: this is for you too. So, what is all hullabaloo about Networking? The most important thing you should know about concept is…it works! All those business cards floating around can sometimes find their way to a person/business that needs you! Some examples from my limited sphere: 1- I networked with a person who sells insurance; after talking with her, I decided to ask her to give me quotes on my homeowners and auto insurance. She saved me $500.00 per year! And she got a new client. That’s great thing about networking…there’s a give and take, a Yin and Yang…you get a new client; and sometimes, you become a new client. Another person I networked with had products I was interested in buying and I had advertising opportunities she needed…voila…a perfect match! And on and on. Morals of story: 1.Always have plenty of business cards with you 2.Make sure your biz cards reflect who you are and what you can offer others; if not, make up new ones! 3.Make sure cards are up to date and have your current email address, web site and phone #. 4.If you can afford it, there are many inexpensive promotional items you can have imprinted to give out at these events. (Such as: magnets, pens, pencils, key chains etc. 5.Attend as many networking events as you can; many are free or low cost and take place either during day or in evening. 6.Try to utilize services / products of those representatives you have met; remember, they might do same for you.
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