Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Nova Spivak, West Coast (Part 4)

By guest author Irina Patterson Irina: What do you think a single most important thing that angels could do to increase their chances of success? Nova: I advise a bunch of entrepreneurs and help with some of their companies, and the biggest problem entrepreneurs have today with angel funding is actually getting angel funding because

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Nova Spivak, West Coast (Part 3)

By guest author Irina Patterson Irina: How about a team? Do they have to have a complete team? Nova: No, they have to have the technical lead and the product lead. Irina: Is there any specific character trait you can identify? Nova: I’m usually looking for people who are on the technical side. They have

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Nova Spivak, West Coast (Part 2)

By guest author Irina Patterson Irina: From all the sources, do you have an idea how many pitches you get a month? Nova: I would say it’s probably about five to ten a month. Irina: Out of those five to ten, how many deserve a closer look? Nova: Usually one or maybe two.

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Nova Spivak, West Coast (Part 1)

By guest author Irina Patterson This is the twenty-fourth interview in our series on financing for entrepreneurs. I am talking to Nova Spivak, a serial entrepreneur, who is currently the co-founder an president of Live Matrix and an angel investor soon to be based in Los Angeles. Irina: Hi, Nova. Let’s start with with your

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Russ Fradin, The Bay Area (Part 4)

By guest author Irina Patterson Irina: Have any of the companies that you invested in exited already? Russ: Yes, first of all I was an investor in Adify, which is nice. I was investor in Playdom, a social gaming company, that Disney just acquired. I am an investor in one more thing that should exit

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Russ Fradin, The Bay Area (Part 3)

By guest author Irina Patterson Irina: Do you think in terms of equity? Russ: I don’t have an ownership threshold. I don’t say, I wouldn’t do this unless I can have x percent. Irina: Do you think about the returns that you might be getting over a period of time? Russ: The majority I’ve done

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Russ Fradin, The Bay Area (Part 2)

By guest author Irina Patterson Irina: If an entrepreneur decides to seek funding from you, what is the best way to reach you? Russ: I am maybe the easiest person in the world to get a hold of. I will meet with almost anyone if I think there is some interesting reason to do it.

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Russ Fradin, The Bay Area (Part 1)

By guest author Irina Patterson This is the twenty-third interview in our series on financing for entrepreneurs. I am talking to Russ Fradin, a serial entrepreneur, who is currently the cofounder and president of Adify and angel investor in the Bay Area.