Angel Insights Blog

By Dr. Ethel Rubin, Entrepreneur in Residence, National Institutes of Health.  (NIH is an ACA Annual Partner)

You don’t need to read these sobering stats to know that Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is decimating the aging population, quite literally. One in 10 people age 65 and older has Alzheimer’s, and nearly two-thirds are women. Today, there are 5.5 million people suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRA) in the US alone and the numbers are only rising. The burden to healthcare and care providers is likewise huge: $200 billion USD. At NIH, we are doing our part by using both the SBIR and other grant funding mechanisms to tackle the problem. It’s not just a focus area whose time has come, it’s mandated by law (Public Law 111-375 The National Alzheimer's Project Act of 2011). 

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

It's my pleasure to announce Seraf Investor as ACA’s new Education Partner. Seraf co-founders Hambleton Lord and Christopher Mirabile are considered two of the top angel investors in not only New England, but the world – and our missions to educate and professionalize the angel communities align extremely well.  As ACA was embarking on our new strategic initiative to provide more education for our members, we learned that Seraf was also expanding their extensive article series into books and courses and we all realized we had a match made in heaven.  Below you can read Seraf’s account of its new education materials.  Know that ACA is incorporating and adapting the content from “Ham” and Christopher into ACA seminars we deliver at ACA events and provide in ACA member communities in many formats.  If we are successful in our Regional Innovation Strategies grant proposal, we’ll also be able to work together on a deep set of online learning videos and podcasts for you.

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

Recent progress to the American Innovation Act of 2018 (AKA “tax reform 2.0”) to include a proposal to protect Net Operating Losses (NOLs) of startups has the Angel Capital Association cheering.  ACA, along with the National Venture Capital Association, Biotechnology Innovation Organization and AdvaMed called for Congress to address an unintended consequence of rules blocking “loss trafficking.” The bill was introduced to reform rules that can unintentionally punish startups for attracting investments to support the growth of their companies.  Reform to the existing rules, written in the mid-1980s, will have significant impact on startup companies and their ability to gain full valuation for additional investments and exits.

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the board meeting of the Center for American Entrepreneurship.  This non-profit, non-partisan organization provides education and advocacy on the critical importance of entrepreneurs and startups to innovation, economic growth and job creation to America’s policymakers.  CAE has advocated for several issues that ACA cares about.

By: Charlie Brock, ACA Member, Launch Tennessee

Over the last five years as the CEO of Launch Tennessee, too often I’ve seen founders raise angel or seed funding, develop a product line and a small customer-base, but not gain any real traction.  

By: John O. Huston, ACA Chair Emeritus and Ohio TechAngels

Like most ACA member groups, the Ohio TechAngel Funds (OTAF) conduct postmortems after our exits, regardless of whether they are positive or negative.  From our positive exits, we’ve gleaned that even our best entrepreneurs have always fallen woefully short of their revenue projections.  From the autopsies of our losing investments, we’ve realized that rarely had we missed major risks, but often grossly underweighted their likelihood, impact, or both.  And, we had insufficiently discussed them with management to ensure all possible efforts were being taken to mitigate them.

By: Tim Keane, ACA Member, Golden Angel Investors

This post originally appeared on Tim's blog.

Preparation: Key to Successful Private Transactions, especially in Hot Markets

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

This blog post first appeared on the Mainstar Trust blog.  

Being an angel investor has a certain cache. You’re sought after by entrepreneurs and assess the value of their ideas. You choose whether or not to invest, and how to make those investments – whether it is a self-directed IRA or with non-retirement funds.  And when things go well, you make money and you are a part of getting a business off the ground. In this light, who wouldn’t want to be an angel investor? 

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

The 2018 version of a US Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant competition may be just the ticket for multiple ACA members.  The Regional Innovation Strategies program offers a total of $21 million for locally-devised strategies to help more businesses start and grow.  As the program’s director, Craig Buerstatte, put it recently, the program is a “funding opportunity for business accelerators and incubators working to support job creation and economic development, and for venture fund managers, or angel groups working to address funding shortages in startup communities.” 

By: Ham Lord, Managing Director of Launchpad Venture Group and Co-Founder of Seraf-investor.com and Christopher Mirabile, ACA Chair Emeritus, Managing Director at Launchpad Venture Group and Co-Founder of Seraf-investor.com. 

This post originally appeared on Seraf-investor.com

Note: This article is the thirteenth in an ongoing series on valuation and capitalization. To learn more about the financial mechanics of early stage investing, download this free eBook today Angel Investing by the Numbers: Valuation, Capitalization, Portfolio Construction and Startup Economics or purchase our books at Amazon.com.

The first time you receive stock options as an employee is a magical moment. You feel suddenly part of something bigger than just earning a paycheck. You daydream about how various financial scenarios might play out. You take a sudden interest in the wellbeing of your company and the factors which affect its stock price.