Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Tim Cartwright, Chairman, Tamiami Angel Fund – Naples, Florida (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: What is your geographical focus?

Tim: The state of Florida. As stipulated in our fund document, we are not allowed to invest in companies outside the state of Florida. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Tim Cartwright, Chairman, Tamiami Angel Fund – Naples, Florida (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: Who are the people who invested in the fund?

Tim: They are all angel investors, all private individuals. We don’t have any venture funds or other institutions in the fund right now.

Irina: Where is the fund located? Does it have a physical address?

Tim: Yes. The angel fund is located in my office. I’m an investor in the fund, so I have my own $50,000 in the fund – but then my company, Fifth Avenue Advisors, has a subsidiary called Peninsula Fund Administrators, which acts as the third-party administrator for the Tamiami Angel Fund. We do have a physical address. It’s 350 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 203, Naples, Florida 34102. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Tim Cartwright, Chairman, Tamiami Angel Fund – Naples, Florida (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

I am talking to Tim Cartwright, chairman of the Tamiami Angel Fund. Created in October 2010 in Naples, Florida, this member-owned and -operated fund, offers early-stage capital in the range of $250,000–$750,000 to high-growth companies located anywhere in the state of Florida. There are 30 investors in the fund, who each put in $50,000. Tamiami Fund is the first angel fund for southwest Florida. >>>

Business Incubator Series: An Interview With Chris Heivly, Executive Director, LaunchBox Digital (Part 7)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: What is your own background? How did you arrive at this point?

Chris: Thank you for asking. I’m an entrepreneur. I’ve done four or five of these things. I’ve had successes and I’ve had failures. My biggest success is that I was one of the founders of MapQuest. >>>

Business Incubator Series: An Interview With Chris Heivly, Executive Director, LaunchBox Digital (Part 6)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: Would you talk more about warrants?

Chris: The concept here is that, if we think one of the companies – or two of the companies – has a lot of promise, we could put an additional $250,000 into that company and really help move them into their next round, whether it’s funding, just getting them off the ground hiring people, whatever the next step is for them.

When we do that, we take a much more active role. We get a board seat. We put in some of our people . . . some of the LaunchBox partners get very involved with the companies to help them go through this next phase. We still have, of course, our role with the other companies. We’re still active, but we’re doubling down on the handful of companies that we think show the most promise. >>>

1M/1M: VCs, Angels, Incubators, Accelerators – What Are You Doing With Your Rejects?

When I first talked about the 1M/1M program, I had observed the need to contain the immense infant entrepreneur mortality prevalent in the startup ecosystem. Over the past year, we have been talking to various investors – VCs and angels, and incubators and accelerators –  asking them the question: What are you doing with your rejects?

To give you some further context, we recently spoke with a VC in Boise, Idaho, who gets 500 deals a year. His firm invests in four. That means that less than 1% of the entrepreneurs who apply succeed in getting financed. If you look at the numbers of super angels in Silicon Valley, they are even more scary. Mike Maples told us that he gets 7,000 deals a year and invests in 12 to 15. That’s a 0.21% hit rate. The flip side: a 99.79% rejection rate.

Friends in the investment ecosystem, this is the most obvious opportunity for us to address through 1M/1M and make a dent in infant entrepreneur mortality.

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Business Incubator Series: An Interview With Chris Heivly, Executive Director, LaunchBox Digital (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: Do you compensate mentors who come in to help your entrepreneurs?

Chris: They’re all volunteers.

Irina: What are your metrics of success at LaunchBox?

Chris: There’re two measuring sticks today. The ultimate measuring stick, as a venture fund, is a return on investment to our investors. That’s obvious. We all know that that’s probably three, five, or seven years out that we see that.

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Business Incubator Series: An Interview With Chris Heivly, Executive Director, LaunchBox Digital (Part 4)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Chris: The board of advisors for each company enrolled will include two LaunchBox partners and two to three outsiders, who will meet every week for an hour and help to drive this company through the 12-week program. It’s really great. I sit in on every one of those [meetings]. It’s just the most fun thing in the world. >>>