Angel Insights Blog

Every experienced angel knows how important the quality of the founding team is when selecting investments. We’ve all heard the maxims: “Team, Market, Product, in that order!” “An A+ team with a B+ plan will out-perform a B+ team with an A+ plan every time.” And so forth. Experienced angels also instinctively know that CEO swaps are very risky and potentially costly. As a result, angels are always looking for a CEO who can “scale.” That magical person who not only has the skills to go from $0 to $1M and $1M to $10M, but also from $10M to $100M and even beyond.

Secondaries are assets that are being sold from the person, investor, or institution that owns them- not the company who initially issued them. These assets are often owned by employees who were issued equity, VC funds that invested when a company was private, shareholder stakes, etc. The key distinction here is that primary assets are assets issued by the primary owner, i.e. the company; secondaries are being sold by the secondary owner, i.e. the employee, investor, or institution.

On September 29, 2023, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) announced the rollout of the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technology (SBICCT) Initiative, a joint effort between the SBA and the DoD to increase private capital investment in critical technologies vital to U.S. national security interests.

Steve has also been an active member at ACA as he is a member of the ACA Marketing Committee, an instructor in Angel University, and has participated in various ACA Summit roles. His smile, wit, and intellect are all on full display as he undertakes whatever task is presented to him. He is a true leader in so many ways.

ACA believes in the impact and benefits of angel investing to entrepreneurs, job growth and the economy. Deeply active on the federal legislative and regulatory fronts, ACA helps safeguard and galvanize the rights of American angel investors so that we can protect the foundation that fuels the startup economy. ACA represents our members, but we invite investors to lend their efforts - a combined voice matters.

As the catalyst for companies at the earliest stages, we recognize that access to resources and opportunities needed to pursue founding a company are not equitably distributed in society.

The Angel Capital Association (ACA) has received an $123k award from the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIPs) designed to catalyze private investment in the Deep Tech Sector. This project is designed to better educate the early stage investor community on the benefits of Deep Tech investments with the intention of increasing the amount of private capital available for deployment in the Deep Tech sector. Grant activities will focus on the ten technology areas identified in the Chips and Science Act.

The SEC’s Accredited Investor Definition has been in place since 1982. This requirement uses two measures of wealth as surrogates for sophistication as an investor, as well as attempts to mitigate possible negative consequences of what is admittedly a risky asset class.

The Angel Capital Association (ACA), the world’s largest association of angel investors, has announced that Columbus, Ohio will host its 2024 Summit of Angel Investing. The three-day flagship event brings together new and experienced angel investors and business leaders from around the country to explore critical topics facing the angel investing community.

We sincerely appreciate the many contributions our Angel Capital Association (ACA) members, Angel Groups and other donors have made and continue to make to the Seed the Future (STF) Campaign. Since launching publicly in 2022, the Angel Investor Foundation (AIF) has raised over $1.4M towards the set $2.3M goal. With this generous support we have begun taking mission driven action and we are excited to update you on our progress.