By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

2018 was a stellar year for many of our member groups, individual angels and platforms with fantastic exits, investments and significant milestones.  This calls for celebration!  National publications and media outlets also saluted these accomplishments and delivered well deserved coverage.  Several ACA members wrote great articles too.  ACA applauds the hard work of all our members and we wish you endless success in 2019.  Here are some terrific articles about and by ACA members in the last year: 

By: Linda Smith, ACA Chair

Last week, I made a very special announcement at the ACA Leadership Workshop:  after an incredible 14-year run, our esteemed Executive Director, Marianne Hudson, told us she intends to take early retirement.  When she told the ACA Board about her wishes quite recently, Marianne also graciously offered to stay with us until her replacement is brought into the organization.  The Board respects her decision and especially appreciates her dedication to continue leading the association until a new leader is with us.

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

The Angel Capital Association is excited to announce our partnership with Hockeystick, the premier data and software provided for the private investing market.  The relationship with Hockeystick will allow ACA to make huge strides with the Angel Funders Report, an ongoing data initiative to improve investment outcomes, by creating an easy to use, free portal to submit the data to behind the public report. 

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: Linda Smith, ACA Chair

ACA’s members are the most important asset to our organization.  It is through your participation and involvement that we are the world’s largest and most experienced community of angels, with more than 13,000 members.  Your continued support makes it possible for ACA to deliver new benefits and programs and achieve important changes in public policy that affect your investing.

I want to thank you for your membership and also thank ACA’s board and staff for a year of significant accomplishments.  Here’s a summary of key achievements over the past year:

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

As the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) went in to effect on May 25, 2018, you may have received many emails regarding the privacy policy of different websites and services.  Unclear on what GDPR is or what changes are being made?  Here is a quick overview from eugdpr.org.

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

ACA will have five new members joining the Board of Directors for a three-year term on July 1, 2018, Juliana Garaizar, Jim Goulka, Lorine Pendleton, Rick Timmins and Ron Weissman.  All were voted in at the ACA Annual Members’ Meeting during the ACA Summit in Boston.  The Board of Directors is made up of 15 members and four Chairs Emeritus. 

The Board of Directors focuses on supporting the success of angel investors through industry voice, professional development and public policy advocacy while maintaining the mission and values of the Angel Capital Association.  The incoming board members will bring a rich diversity of experiences, leadership and geography to the Board of Directors.  They will also assist ACA to grow and deliver more value to members.

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

As we celebrate the beginning of 2018, the Angel Capital Association celebrates a good 2017 for many of our member angels, groups, and platforms.  Many of you had awesome exits, which is always something to celebrate!  Media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Xconomy, and Forbes covered your milestones, great years, and recommendations to investors for great best practices or to entrepreneurs on raising equity capital.  And with #MeToo making big news in 2017, we especially appreciate our many members who provided true action to bring more women and people of color to angel investing.  Here are just some of our favorite articles about and by ACA members last year:

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

I’m so grateful for the insights, wisdom and guidance we hear from ACA members.

We are in the midst of a robust strategic planning process that many ACA Board members have put in an unbelievable amount of time into.  I’ll spare you the full process, but a key piece was a survey of members and the extended startup support community.  You told us you value ACA education programs and public policy work, and wanted us to provide even more education, data-driven insights, and guidance regarding smart practices in angel investing. 

It’s a “ta-da” moment. ACA is announcing two new strategic initiatives that provide what you asked for.   

By: Sarah Dickey, ACA Membership Director

One of my favorite parts of working with ACA members is attending the Regional and Special Interest Meetings where angels gather to learn about investing trends and encourage collaborative investing. ACA Regional Meetings connect new and experienced angels to each other for investor education, networking, and to syndicate angel deals in real-time. There is no substitute to the momentum that can be created by having angel investors in the same room debating smart investing practices and sharing investment opportunities. And sometimes, angels themselves become the innovators for getting deals done.  

Such is the case of the recent ACA Midwest Regional: Best of the Midwest – planned and hosted by Nebraska Angels in Omaha last week.  Held in a turn of the century warehouse turned community art and innovation center – Kaneko – the meeting began with a view of the Nebraska Angels history after turning near collapse in 2008 to a thriving group of nearly 70 investors with a Midwest-wide syndication portfolio – and recent exits. In her welcome Laura Classen, Executive Director of Nebraska Angels, encouraged the attendees to use the meeting to make networking among fellow investors and syndication a priority in order to support the innovative companies, create strong investment portfolios and overcome geographical barriers.