By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Randy: So, getting back to our revenue model, it’s membership, renewals, and then we rely on sponsors to help us grow and underwrite our employees. Finally, we charge an administrative fee for companies to present, and that fee – in smaller chapters it’s less and in robust
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: How do these local chapters operate? Randy: They have great autonomy, but conversely, they enjoy the structure and the model that we’ve developed over the past ten years. It started off in the East Bay of Northern California. Keiretsu Forum started in September 2000, and the
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold This is the fifth interview in our series on seed financing and angel investing. Our guest today is Randy Williams, founder and CEO of Keiretsu Forum, a growing angel network that currently has 850 investors in 19 chapters around the world. The forum has made 265 investments
We need to nurture entrepreneurs a lot more. Read how in this week’s Forbes column, Calling All Angel Investors.
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: What is your preferred investment type? Malvern: I usually receive preferred stock but have also done straight stock or LLC deals. Irina: Do you do debt financing? Convertible? Non-convertible? Terms? Malvern: Most of my deals are preferred stock deals or a combination of preferred or common
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: How many companies do you have under your belt that you’ve invested in? Malvern: I’ve currently got seven. Irina: That’s a pretty good number for an individual investor. They keep you busy, right? Malvern: Right. Irina: What is the typical valuation of a company you invest
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: How long does it take for a company to receive funding from your group? Malvern: It usually takes from one to three months to get comfortable with the company and complete due diligence. Irina: And the people are very important, right? Malvern: Oh, absolutely. The people
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold Irina: Approximately how many deals have you invested in so far? Malvern: The total, including the ones I’ve exited, would probably be about 12, maybe more. But that includes deals that I’ve already exited for one reason or another . . . or they didn’t work. Irina: