Saturday, April 30, 2011
Five Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Angel Investors | Dr. Earl R. Smith II
Check out this website I found at dr-smith.info
Jg
Friday, April 29, 2011
Of Ideas, Opportunities, Angel Investors and VCs – 40 min video post
The following video, which is roughly 40 minutes in length discusses:
- The main types of startup businesses
- How to tell an idea from an opportunity
- Potential funding sources
- What potential equity investors, particularly VCs and angels are looking forStartupAlready – ideas vs opportunities and funding sources [click this link to access video]
It talks about these kinds of small business startups:
Hobby businesses
Lifestyle businesses
Franchise businesses
Self-funded growth businesses
Outside-funded growth businessesIt also talks about using the following criteria to screen business ideas and opportunities:
Startup investment required
Suits strengths of founders
Founder enthusiasm for industry
Founder enthusiasm for idea
Potential for residual income
Market growth rate
Number of competitors
Maturity/strength of competitors
Ability to take a vacation
High gross margins
Employee headaches
Potential for break-even in 12 months
Potential for “significant” income if successful
Liability risk associated with businessThe following types of startup funding sources are also covered:
Self-funding
Friends and family
Credit cards
Home equity credit line
SBA loan
Angel investors
Venture capitalFinally, it talks about the importance of covering the following in your pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists:
Market size – show that it’s a real problem with sufficient market size to pursue
Problem – what is customers’ key problem/point of pain and why is in not adequately solved today?
Solution – how does your offering solve this problem? (high level)
Offering Description – go into more detail on the solution; try to keep in layman’s terms as much as possibleCase study – actual or hypothetical customer – show revenue and profit flows where possible
Sales/Marketing/Distribution – how to you sell this solution / get it to the target market
Partner strategy – who can you partner with? What is their incentive? What do you get out of it?
Overview of financial model – high level – Sources of revenue? Recurring vs non-recurring? What are key costs?
Financial results – actuals, if available – otherwise, more detail on projected Income Statement – go out 3-5 years
Management team – who is the team that executes? Track record? Track record together?
Growth plan – how will you grow the business? Does it scale well? Timeframe?
See the 40 minutes video at the link below or at the beginning of this post and leave your comments and questions below.
StartupAlready – ideas vs opportunities and funding sources [click this link to access video]
Paul Morin
paul@companyfounder.com
www.companyfounder.com
Jg
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Dragon’s Den star launches Angel Network initiative - Business - Longford Leader
By Liam Cosgrove
Published on Wed Apr 27 15:14:41 BST 2011He is perhaps better known as a tough no nonsense businessman, but later today (Wednesday) Cavan tycoon Sean Gallagher will be doing his bit to rekindle Longford’s ecomomic prospects with the launch of a major new investment project.
Gallagher’s presence at the official launch of the €1m Longford Business Angel Network-a scheme devised to entice new business start ups to the county-is being viewed as somewhat of a coup for its organisers, Longford Business Network.
Leading business and commercial figures descended on Longford Rugby Club this afternoon as the search to find new and potentially lucrative business models of the future begins in earnest.
Armed with a €1m war chest, 20 financiers from different corners of the local business sector have stumped up €50,000 each as part of a drive to assist prospective enterprises keen on establishing a foothold in County Longford.
Key members of the Longford Business Forum hope the idea and first county wide proposal will form the blueprint for other districts designed to attract new business and stimulate job activity locally.
A spokesman from the forum said: “The availability of seed capital funding at a time when it is very difficult to access bank finance might just be the hook we need to bring inward investment to Longford and we will be working hard post-launch to market the availability of this €1m fund,” he said.
The media launch was followed by a seminar presented by Mr Gallagher.
Jg
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
From Seed Capital to Angel Investors to Venture Capital - Startup Company Financing Model
Seed capital (Seed round/ Seed funding) Say, three people decide to start a business in biotechnology. They do so by incorporating a company limited by shares. They provide the initial capital. They are the only three shareholders. They are the founders of the company. The initial capital they pro
via wisepreneur.com
Jg
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Business Start-Ups Competition Business Plan Competition Marketest
Announcing the publication of The CEO’s Handbook – Volume Three Angel Investors | Dr. Earl R. Smith II
Check out this website I found at dr-smith.info
Jg
Announcing the publication of The CEO’s Handbook – Volume Three Angel Investors | Dr. Earl R. Smith II
Check out this website I found at dr-smith.info
Jg
Friday, April 22, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Music 2.0: Tools + Tech for Musicians, Marketers + Managers: The 2011 Edition
Boston's entrepreneur hub for jobs, events, news, resources and organizations.
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Angels lend a hand to startups
Sarah Endline asked Golden Seeds, a group of mostly female angel investors, to help contribute $1.5 million to expand her candy company (all figures U.S.). She sweetened her pitch with samples of dark cacao pieces, about one calorie each.
Endline, who got her MBA from Harvard Business School and worked at Yahoo! Inc. in marketing before launching sweetriot in 2005, already received about $1.5 million from the group, and other investors, in 2007.
Turning to Golden Seeds again Friday was a natural choice, said Endline, 39, because "we're a women-powered, women-certified company whose core consumer is women."
Golden Seeds, based in New York, is one of the largest angel groups in the country and is focused on supporting companies led by women. The group is helping to add more women to the ranks of investors in startups. That's key to helping female entrepreneurs since six years of survey data on angel investing found that women entrepreneurs were more likely to seek funding from groups with a higher number of female investors, said Jeffrey Sohl, professor of entrepreneurship and director of the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
Thirteen per cent of women entrepreneurs who asked for money from angel investors received it in 2010 compared with an overall rate of 18.4 per cent, based on data from the Center for Venture Research.
"Many women entrepreneurs trying to get financing from a small number of women angels results in a lower success rate," said Sohl, referring to funding. "One of the goals is to get more women angels."
There are nine U.S. womenfocused groups of angel investors, who generally invest their own money in earlystage companies, said Marianne Hudson, executive director of the Overland Park, Kansas-based Angel Capital Association, an industry trade organization with 162 member groups.
Angels are different from venture capitalists, who tend to manage a pool of investors' money and give larger amounts to more established companies, Hudson said.
There were 265,400 angel investors in 2010 and they put $20.1 billion in 61,900 entrepreneurial ventures in the U.S., the Center for Venture Research said. Women represented about 13 per cent of angel investors and female entrepreneurs accounted for 21 per cent of those seeking angel capital.
Some of the companies that Golden Seeds backs offer products that target and understand women, which is a prudent investment strategy, said Deborah Jackson, who worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. from 1980 to 1990 as a vice president and joined Golden Seeds in 2009. Sweetriot, Endline's company, creates fair trade, organic chocolates in bite-sized portions.
Another company seeking funding at Friday's forum, held in midtown Manhattan, is a platform for personal clothing stylists, fronted by Stacy London, who co-hosts the television show, What Not to Wear on the TLC network.
Women control 73 per cent of household spending, according to a Joint Economic Committee report released in December by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat. Women's earnings will recover faster than men's as the economy rebounds, which means companies that market to females may perform well, said a Bank of America Corp. December research note to clients.
One of the major barriers for women CEOs of startups is a lack of access to the networks that lead to funding, said Amy Millman, cofounder and president of Washington-based Springboard Enterprises, which has helped 445 female-led companies connect with angel, venture and corporate investors to raise about $5.5 billion in equity financing over the past 11 years.
"It's very difficult for any entrepreneur to get capital and it's even harder for women," said Stephanie Hanbury-Brown, 54, who worked at JPMorgan Chase & Co. for 15 years, most recently as head of e-commerce before starting Golden Seeds in 2004. Serving on JPMorgan's diversity steering committee made Hanbury-Brown realize that the culture of large companies wasn't going to change and having more companies run by women is what would help lead to more gender equality in the workplace, she said.
Golden Seeds has about 180 active members who invest directly in startups that have at least one woman in a top executive-level position with equity in the company. Active members may also assist the startup company by mentoring the CEO or serving on the company's board. Since 2005, the group has invested more than $22 million in 36 different firms. There were also about 50 passive investors who put money in a fund created in 2008 that invested in 16 companies.
A second fund is currently raising up to $25 million and is open to accredited investors through the end of the year. Investors must be accredited to participate in Golden Seeds, which means they must have a net worth of at least $1 million excluding primary residence or $200,000 in annual income. Members are required to invest at least $25,000 in one deal a year. Passive investors must put at least $250,000 in the fund and active investors must invest at least $100,000, Hanbury-Brown said.
The lack of well-known, successful women investors coupled with the fact that she had never been approached to be an angel investor helped prompt Peggy Wallace, 54, to join the group in 2005 after more than 20 years on Wall Street with jobs in structured finance at JPMorgan and Citigroup Inc.
"Where's the female Warren Buffett?" said Wallace, a managing director of Golden Seeds.
Endline, whose candy company is based in New York, said her connections with Golden Seeds led her to a spot on television's HSN. Other companies pitching at Friday's two-hour event, such as a website for custommade home furnishings and a developer of medical retraction devices, are hoping they'll be able to tap those same connections.
"The top three things we look for are a great entrepreneur, a great entrepreneur and a great entrepreneur," Hanbury-Brown said. "We back the jockey over the horse, unlike some venture capitalists who are OK backing the idea or the technology."
Golden Seeds makes investments in multiple industries rather than just focusing on technology. About 30 per cent has gone to startups in consumer goods, 30 per cent to life sciences, 30 per cent to technology and the remainder to media and hardware. The group has locations in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco, unlike many angel groups, which tend to be more regionally focused.
Jim Estill, who started a technology distribution business from the trunk of his car that had sales of $350 million before he sold it, has been a Golden Seeds member for 18 months and is part of the group's 15 per cent male contingent. Estill, who's made more than 100 angel investments, said he was attracted to the group because it allowed him to diversify beyond technology investments since he felt comfortable with the group's due diligence process.
"Golden Seeds is a filter. I know if they make it through the process, they have a gold star," said Jacki Zehner, a former partner and managing director of Goldman Sachs and cochair of Women Moving Millions, a group of women who have made $1 million gifts to non-governmental organizations. Zehner has invested in both Golden Seeds funds.
Potential investors in startups should be aware that it's risky and early-stage companies can fail, said Estill, who was on the board of Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, from 1998 to 2011. Bankruptcies accounted for 27 per cent of the exits from the angel investment market in 2010, according to the Center for Venture Research.
Hanbury-Brown said her personal return on investing in women-led companies since 2005 is 28 per cent a year in realized and unrealized gains. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index has returned 24 per cent from 2005 through the end of March. Annual returns for angel investors whose companies were either part of a merger, acquisition or IPO range from 24 per cent to 36 per cent, the Center for Venture Research said.
Another reason for joining an angel group like Golden Seeds is because of the ability to better control risk, said Jo Ann Corkran, 56, a managing director of the organization. "The ability to manage my risk in the public equity market is harder and harder, so I want to put more of that risk into people risk, where I feel like I have more control."
Cognition Therapeutics Inc., a Pittsburgh-based Alzheimer's disease research company that began in 2007, received part of its $2.5 million in the second round of funding from Golden Seeds, said Susan Catalano, chief science officer and founder. In addition to the money, Golden Seeds connected Catalano to other angel investor groups as well as a Golden Seeds member, Nada Jain, who's on the board and whose background as a scientist and patent attorney helped the firm.
"We're trying to support women entrepreneurs by expanding the pool of resources," said Zehner of Women Moving Millions. "We're trying to level the playing field, and one playing field is access to capital."
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
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Saturday, April 16, 2011
Early Bird Rate Ends Today - April 7th - for Investors' Circle Spring Venture Fair & Forum | 3BL Media
WHO SHOULD ATTEND Investors’ Circle members, angel investors, philanthropists, fund managers, family office managers, wealth, financial and philanthropic advisers and their clients and other accredited investors ONLY.
WHAT CAN I EXPECT To support great entrepreneurs that are addressing social and environmental issues! We’ll look at 15-20 high impact deals that are seeking investment now. Experience a program that provides ample networking time and space, collaborative knowledge sharing workshops plus a due diligence process that starts right away!
Venture Fair Impact Sectors:
Energy & Environmental Solutions, US Community Development, Global Economic Development, Education, Sustainable Agriculture & Consumer Products, Health, Biotech & Wellness
What: Investors’ Circle Spring 2011 Venture Fair & Forum
When: May 2-4, 2011
Where: Westin on Market St, 50 Third St., San Francisco, CA
Who: Investors' Circle members, angel investors, fund managers, family office managers, foundation executives and trustees, wealth, financial and philanthropic advisers and their clients and other accredited investors only.
How: Register online at investorscircle.net
Cost: Reg Fees range from $795-$1295
Investors’ Circle is the largest and oldest investment network dedicated to early stage impact investing. IC has facilitated investments into 220 companies and put $145 million into enterprises and funds. The IC community is one of purpose, practice, thought leadership and action. Please visit investorscircle.net or call 415-255-6844 for more information.
INVC12944
via 3blmedia.com
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Friday, April 15, 2011
NY Angels Behind The Times
According to a recent article in BetaBeat, the NY Angels, a consortium of NY independent angel investors, might be behind the times. Adam Neary, founder of the startup Profitably, ended up with zip when working with the group after an investor missed his closing deadline upon committing to lead a financing round. According to a nameless VC mentioned in the article, everything at NY Angels “suffers from being decided by a giant committee.”
Brian Cohen, vice-chairman of NY Angels, admitted to BetaBeat that the group may have fallen behind but countered with the fact that a tapping the wisdom of the collective allows them to make educated investments.
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Thursday, April 14, 2011
The Wharton Journal - The Wharton School of Entrepreneurship
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The Wharton School of Entrepreneurship
By Davis Smith, Cherif Habib, Stephan Jacob, Ayo Omojola (WG '11)-->Published: Sunday, April 3, 2011
Updated: Monday, April 4, 2011 15:04
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Entrepreneurship at Wharton is thriving. In the last year, we've seen several successful exits of student-launched companies, including AdMob (GOOG), Invite Media (GOOG), Milo.com (EBAY) and Diapers.com (AMZN). On the other side of the table, Wharton alums Fred Wilson (USV), Aydin Senkut (Felicis), Yuri Milner (DST), Josh Kopelman (First Round), and Michael Aronson (MentorTech) have stayed busy investing in the next generation of great companies. Closer to home, the class of 2010 is having a strong run with Warby Parker, PayDivvy and Clipik doing exceptionally well, and Hector Beverages recently receiving a $1m angel investment from the founder of Infosys.
Student entrepreneurs at Wharton have benefited immensely from the resources here. The folks at Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, the Weiss Tech House, the Venture Initiation Program, Founders' Club, e-Club, Tech Club, classmates, faculty, and alumni have all helped tremendously. But we still have a lot of work to do, to strengthen the startup community at Wharton and Penn. Here's how you can help:
1. Use the products: Give feedback - nothing is more valuable to an entrepreneur than users and buyers of a product.
2. Tell your friends: Your word is better than any advertising we could do. If you like what we're doing, email your friends, or better yet, share on Facebook or Twitter.
3. Introduce us: You probably know venture and angel investors, advisors, and industry and product experts. We'd love to meet them.
4. Help us directly: You could help shape the product, craft the message or model the business - your skills and time make a huge difference.
5. Give back as an alum: When a student entrepreneur reaches out, please take the call.
Many of our classmates and our accomplished undergrad friends are working hard to launch real products, generate revenues, attract top tier press coverage, and raise venture capital. This sample is by no means comprehensive - please do what you can to help Wharton's wonderful startups:
- Careercup.com - Career prep for tech jobs (Gayle Laakman - WG '11)
- Catapulter.com - Door to door ground travel search (Adam Waaramaa & Jenny Cheng - WG '11)
- Coursekit.com - Changing the way you interact with your classes (Joseph Cohen & Dan Getelman - W '13, W'12)
- Gamma Basics - Radiation safety compliance software (Mike Kijewski - WG '12)
- Meeteor.com - Taking the work out of networking (Philip De Cortes & Chris Lee - WG '11)
- Mooblue - Real-time bidding for mobile ads (Nimit Maru & Roberto Sanchez Garvin - WG '12)
- Osus Athletics - Weight lifting you can wear (Steve Dong & Corey Lerch - W '12)
- PoverUP – Student microfinance lending network (Charlie Javice – W '14)
- Rendezwho.com - Make new friends in your city, over dinner (Matt Stephenson - WG '11)
- Squid.by - Make videos with your friends (Bill Kang & Marty Brown - WG '11)
- Stylitics.com - Analytics for fashion brands (Rohan Deuskar - WG '11)
- TerViva BioEnergy – Low cost, environmentally responsible biodiesel production (Sudhir Rani – WG ‘11)
You can find out more at vip.wharton.upenn.edu or by following @WhartonEntrep & @wfounders on twitter.
Lastly, we urge you to launch a startup, or help one. If you have an idea, get in touch and we'll help you launch. If you don't, then help a startup - you never know what it might become.
Davis Smith (davis@baby.com.br) is the founder of baby.com.br, an e-commerce site focused on the baby space in Brasil. Cherif Habib (cherif @kembrel.com) and Stephan Jacob (stephan@kembrel.com) are co-founders of Kembrel.com, a private shopping community for students. Ayo Omojola (ayo@flicsy.com) is the founder of flicsy.com, a service for sharing photos with groups.
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Monday, April 11, 2011
Davis County Clipper - Firms pitch business ideas to investors
Check out this website I found at clippertoday.com
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Saturday, April 9, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
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