Archive for February 2013

ACA made a big announcement last week - we are expanding our membership to include individual accredited investors and accredited platforms. We also plan to include single family offices this year.  I think this is the right thing to do, while still noting our strong belief in the importance and relevance of angel groups.  Our current members will be better connected to the evolving ecosystem of early-stage investors and may also get some new individual members themselves.

One of the questions I get asked about the most is the valuation of angel deals, so I want to connect everyone to two resources with some data behind them:

As the startup funding landscape goes through so much change, there is quite a lot of conversation about the role of angel groups in the startup community. I enjoyed a recent discussion among ACA members in our LinkedIn Group for members and investors on this topic, following a blog, Can Angel Groups Regain Their Relevancy?. Feel free to check out the whole discussion, but I got a couple of great kernals from ACA's members that I want to share:

Angel group activity is growing and better than ever. From Brian Cohen, New York Angels: If anything the angel group environment is growing, getting smarter and much more in-tune with the needs of the startup community - particularly in New York City, where the growing network of angel groups (new one recently called 37 Angels - for women angels), super angels, micro-VCs look for every opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other to be smarter investors and most importantly advise young entrepreneurs flooding in to the City from all parts of the globe.

The Angel Capital Association is making a difference in Washington. For the past 24 months, the ACA has made a concerted effort to make sure we take the voice of angel investors to Capitol Hill. A special fund was initiated to help cover the expenses of that effort, our Public Policy Committee put together an all-star volunteer cast of some of the best legal minds on the planet (like Joe Bartlett of Sullivan & Worcester in NY), and we engaged a lobbying firm called APCO Worldwide to help us maneuver our way through the halls of Congress. And it has paid off already.

The initial call to arms came in 2010 when Congress, influenced by North American Security Administrators Association, proposed changing the rules on private company filings (so-called Reg D Filing) that would have made it difficult,

Welcome to Angel Insights, the new blog of the Angel Capital Association. We want to use this blog for more dialogue with our member investors, but also to engage with the startup funding and support community, policy makers, and others interested in active angel investment and the innovative startups angels support with money and expertise.

This week and over the coming months, Angel Insights will include postings from me as ACA's Executive Director, but also from ACA Chairman David Verrill and members of ACA's Board of Directors. We also plan to include some of the great blog posts from our members and partners.

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ACA On the Road by Angel Capital Association  on  March 11
ACA Announces Keynote Speaker for Summit: Kwame Anku by Angel Capital Association  on  March 08