Angel Insights – New Blog of the Angel Capital Association


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. Please feel free to add your comments as you like. Agree, disagree, add new points - one of my favorite things about angel investors is that they have quite a variety of opinions, and they're not afraid to share them!

We've got a lot to say. I think you'll see postings on many topics:

  • Member investments, exits, and ideas - ACA's best assets are our member angel investors, angel groups, and family offices. They are supporting some really interesting, innovative companies all across the United States and Canada. As the economy seems to be improving, there are great stories of business growth for portfolio growth and also some positive exits. They also have ideas and tools for best practices in the field of early-stage investment.

 

  • Key issues for angel investors in evolving times - Now might be the most interesting time ever for early-stage investment, with an explosion of new ways to connect investors and entrepreneurs. With accelerators, Web platforms like AngelList and Gust, Super Angels, new types of crowdfunding, and a range of public policy issues, angels and angel groups need to evolve too. We need to talk about how different funders and platforms work together, what kinds of improvements are needed in the funding process, how angel groups grow their relevance, where or where not there is a "Series A Crunch", and much more.
  • ACA events - The 2013 ACA Summit - Navigating Change for Angel Success will be April 17-19 in San Francisco. It is the world's largest gathering of angel investors for professional development and offers top insights into this rapidly changing environment. Features include how social media is affecting the early-stage landscape, investment best practices, innovations in deal terms, and exits. With 600 plus investors from literally all over the world and some fantastic speakers and topics, ACA will have many interesting stories.
  • Impact of angels on the economy - The story of angel investing is a story of success, and in keeping with the entrepreneurial spirit of our nation. Here are several reasons why:
    • Angel-backed companies are the wellspring of our innovation economy. Angels fund early stage high growth companies - those that will go from a few jobs to thousands - and often high paying jobs at that.
    • Angels are on every Main Street, in every state and every sector.
    • Angels are the only source of capital for many early stage companies, and we do it even though we know that more than half of our portfolio will fail and we will lose our money.
    • Successful angel investments create a virtuous cycle - angels plow back our returns in more startups, and the management teams and employees of successful companies pay more taxes, consume more products and services, and most importantly, many become angel investors themselves.
  • Public policy issues affect angels and startups - Federal and state legislation and regulations are having - or can have - a huge impact on angel capital in 2013 and beyond. We're dealing with issues like the JOBS Act, with rulemaking coming for equity crowdfunding and general solicitation to accredited investors, but also many tax issues. ACA connects with Members of Congress, the Administration, and regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our first goal in all of this is to do no harm to angel investing - let's make sure there is a consistent set of policies that keep this asset class healthy, so angels can do what they do best: fund and mentor the entrepreneurs who will create jobs and amazing innovations.

We look forward to our blog conversations!

 

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