By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: What about the angel-backed companies, what can they do to improve their chances of success? Corey: Reach out and get some of the coaching that you were just talking about [I was talking about 1M1M initiative] I’ve heard of other groups that do similar things, so
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Corey: I think where you can get into some trouble is if you have too many of the ride-along types in the group, too many who are there more for the social aspect and don’t really have the time to put in. If you have too many
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: Do you charge a fee for entrepreneurs to present? Corey: We do not. We charge no fee. In fact, not only do we not charge a fee for presentation, but we give free coaching services, for which most angel groups that have some kind of coaching
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: What do you do with the deals that you decide not to invest in? Corey: I’d say a slim majority of them don’t end up qualifying for our group’s interest. I’d say it’s accurate that less than half of the deals that my brother and I
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: Do you ever invest in deals that can go on generating dividends? Corey: Yes. As a matter of fact, we’re looking at a deal right now. We haven’t invested in them yet, but we’re at the stage of negotiating terms. We’re just entering that stage. And
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: Do you pay attention to the total available market (TAM)? Corey: Absolutely. That’s a huge factor, the size of the market. And how accurate we think the entrepreneurs are [in calculating it]. Irina: Do you have a benchmark for what size the market should be? Corey:
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: What is the typical return that RVI investors seek? Corey: Like all angel groups, we’re always looking for 5 times and 10 times. We’ve had two exits so far, and both were profitable. I believe it was in the 33% area. I don’t remember the exact
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: How many investments have you made in the past 12 months? Corey: Good question. I would say in the past 12 months, we’ve probably done maybe four deals, maybe five. I think there was a follow-on round with one of our portfolio companies. Irina: Do you