Angel Insights Blog

By: Elizabeth Usovicz, General Manager of Transaction Commons, as part of a series she writes for ACA aimed at entrepreneurs, "Your Pitch is Just the Beginning."

If you’ve attended or presented at a startup pitch event, you’re familiar with the entrepreneur’s pressure to provide a comprehensive, entertaining and compelling view of the company in just a few minutes. At many events, a moderator or attendee asks the presenters, “How can I/we help your company?”

Several months ago, I began to notice a sameness across different pitch events in presenters’ answers to this question. It didn’t seem to matter whether the question was asked in front of a large audience, in small group or during a one-on-one conversation.

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

Crowdfunding experts have poured through the 685 pages of SEC rules and created a reasonable 43 page practical guide on how equity crowdfunding for the masses work.  Take advantage of this step-by-step guide that Crowdfund Capital Advisors have put together for entrepreneurs to raise funds when the rules allow it beginning May 16, 2016.

By Daniel DeWolf, Chair, Technology Practice Group and Co-Chair, Venture Capital and Emerging Companies Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.  He is also a member of the ACA Public Policy Advisory Council. 

This article originally appeared in VC Experts.

The SEC has finally provided clarity as to how an issuer of securities can conduct a private placement in a password protected web page under Rule 506(b), without it being deemed a “general solicitation” and thereby being subject to the additional requirements imposed by the new Rule 506(c). The guidance has been provided by the issuance of the Citizen VC No Action Letter (the “CVC Letter”), which request was authored by Mintz Levin.

By: William Carleton, Counselor @ Law, and volunteer chair of ACA Public Policy Advisory Council

The following is adapted from remarks prepared for the Angel Capital Association's 2015 Angel Insights Exchange, held in New Orleans the week of November 9. Bill is the volunteer chair of an advisory council to the ACA, but the views he expresses below are personal to him, and not a reflection of ACA views or policy.  This post originally appeared on Counselor @ Law.

As we all know, Dodd-Frank (2010) and the JOBS Act (2012) brought big changes to the rules that govern what’s okay and what’s not okay in the world of federal exemptions from securities registration requirements.

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

Last Friday, November 13 was an extraordinary day for angel investors across the globe:  during the first ever Global Angel Investing Forum a new book on angel investing was released, with chapters written by investors in 27 countries.  Angels without Borders: Trends and Policies Shaping Angel Investment Worldwide was released during the forum event in Beijing with many of the authors in attendance.

By Hambleton Lord, ACA member, managing director of Launchpad Venture Group and co-founder of Seraf Investor.  This blog post originally appeared on the Seraf blog, as part of their “Angel 101” series.

Experience is what you get, when you don’t get what you want. Fifteen years ago, when I made my first angel investment, I wish I knew then what I know today. As a newly minted angel in 2000, I assumed that angel investing would be easy to jump into and become successful at. I was partially right… it was easy to jump into. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy to become successful.  

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

Two years after proposing rules for equity crowdfunding, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved rules for entrepreneurs to raise up to $1 million per year from all investors.  The new U.S. crowdfunding market will officially start in late April or early May of 2016.  The SEC also proposed new rules to modernize crowdfunding within states for public comment during its October 30 meeting. 

Here’s the early “skinny” on the approved rules, noting that they are 686 pages (not a typo):

By Krista Tuomi, Associate Professor, American University

Entrepreneurs often explore a range of funding sources to expand and/or finance working capital, including ‘alternative’ ones such as peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and invoice financing.  These have recently been enjoying media exposure, sometimes erroneously grouped in the same category as angels.  As with my previous blog post on bank loans, this table is supposed to give a rough idea of the advantages and disadvantages of each source.  Such information is useful when advising a firm, or considering investing in one which has already tapped this pool of money (and probably is paying dearly for it).

By: Joseph W. Bartlett, Special Counsel, McCarter & English LLP; Chair Emeritus, ACA Public Policy Advisory Council

Entrepreneurs waste a lot of time soliciting professionally managed venture funds. Venture capitalists operate according to their own largely unwritten rules. In order to play the funding game, you must learn these rules. Below, I’ve listed some of the most-common mistakes. They won’t tell you everything you’ll need to know, but these simple rules should help you understand the VC process and avoid an enormous waste of time, energy, and opportunity.

Rule #1: Choose the Appropriate Audience

By: Elizabeth Usovicz, General Manager of Transaction Commons, as part of a series she writes for ACA aimed at entrepreneurs, "Your Pitch is Just the Beginning."

In films and on television, characters routinely breeze through sophisticated software, easily cracking codes and accessing just-in-time information. In Jurassic Park, for example, thirteen year-old Lex Murphy reboots the park’s sophisticated computer systems - just after surviving a velociraptor attack in the kitchen. 

In the real world, software applications are not as user-accepted and intuitive. As reported in Fortune, a 2014 a survey of failed startups found that that 42% self-identified the reason for failure as lack of market need for their product.