By: Emily Angold, ACA Marketing Manager

The Angel Capital Association was honored to have Martha Miller of the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) participate in ACA 2020 – The Summit of Angel Investing.

By: Dror Futter, Legal and Business Adviser to Startups, Venture Capital Firms and Technology Companies

If your venture is confronting a down round, you should not wear it as a badge of shame. Even in normal times, few ventures make an uninterrupted march up and to the right on the valuation curve. More importantly, if you are doing a down round, it still means you were able to raise capital. Although a down round will dilute your economics, no venture has ever died from excess dilution, the same cannot be said for lack of funds. 

By Lucy Howell, ACA Director of Partnerships 

You strive to be a successful angel investor. Yet, the world is a wildly different place than it was just a few months ago.

In response, ACA wanted to provide our members and strategic partners some valuable updates, as we re-group post Summit for 2020 Showcase Awards, reflect on the past year, and look forward to what is in store for the organization.  

By: Emily Angold, ACA Marketing Manager

Three new board members were elected at the ACA Annual Members’ Meeting during ACA 2020 – The Summit of Angel Investing held virtually May 12-14, 2020.  In addition to the election of the new board members, one current board member was re-elected for a second term and a Vice Chair was elected.  The Board of Directors is currently made up of 15 members and four Chairs Emeritus. 

By: Brent Gleeson, Founder & CEO at TakingPoint™ Leadership, Navy SEAL

Whether you are an entrepreneur, working in corporate America, or building a startup, it is imperative to continually seek new ways to stay inspired and driven. Being a self-starter is a fantastic quality, but we are all human and get distracted by the minutiae of our day-to-day responsibilities. 

By: Dror Futter, Legal and Business Adviser to Startups, Venture Capital Firms and Technology Companies

Focusing on Anything but Your Runway 

• Obsessively focus on extending available cash. All those financial projections in your pitch decks were amusing optimism two months ago. If you are still running your business with the same set of assumptions, you will not survive. 

By: Pat LaPointe, Frontier Angels

After my last post, quite a few people asked if I was suggesting that ALL early stage companies should be pulling back in this uncertain time. 

By: Pat Gouhin, Chief Executive Officer

We are deeply saddened and disturbed by the senseless deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others.  The Angel Capital Association stands for social justice, equal opportunity, and social mobility through the power of entrepreneurship. We have no place for racism. 

By: Kevin Learned and Denise Dunlap, Sage Growth Capital

“My investors want to renegotiate terms” or “I thought my round was committed but now my investors are backing out”. If this sounds like you, you’re not alone – we have been hearing similar stories from several entrepreneurs over the past two months. 

By: Dan Rosen, Alliance of Angels

To: The Angel Community

After publishing my companion piece, “How Startups Survive the COVID-19 Economic Crisis,” I have received a number of comments about how this impacts angels and angel investing.  Here are my thoughts.