Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Michael Gruber, Founder and Managing Director, Cornerstone Angels (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: Will your new Independence Equity fund be making seed investments?

Michael: It will be the first institution round, so typically it will be series A and series B type investments. Depending on how large the fund gets to be down the road, the size of investments will change slightly. When we first launch, the fund – this month, next month – the size of the investments is likely to be between $500,000 and $1 million. When we reach some of the higher thresholds, we may be investing $2.5 million initially in a company with the ability to invest more down the road for future rounds. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Michael Gruber, Founder and Managing Director, Cornerstone Angels (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: Could you give us a timeline of your career up to this point?

Michael: I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. I studied international relations and economics. It was basically an East Asian studies within the international relations. I studied Japanese, and I spoke Japanese pretty fluently. Later on, I studied Mandarin as well. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Christina Brodbeck, Silicon Valley (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: What do you look for in the people? I see you’re very young yourself.  What kind of experience do you look for in the people?

Christina: For two of the companies I’ve invested in, the founders have been very young. I think both of them were around 19. For me, there is no set age range. They just really have to be passionate about what they’re doing. Sometimes you meet founders and they have this “it” quality about them. And if I feel or sense that, there’s probably a really good chance that I’m going to invest. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Michael Gruber, Founder and Managing Director, Cornerstone Angels (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

This is the thirty-ninth interview in our series on financing for entrepreneurs. I am talking Michael Gruber, founder and managing director of Cornerstone Angels, a Chicago-based group of angels that seeks to provide financial capital and mentorship to early-stage companies in the greater Midwest. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Christina Brodbeck, Silicon Valley (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: When you see a promising pitch, what is your next step?

Christina: It’s two ways. If I just read about something that I like, or hear from somebody, I’ll usually reach out to [the entrepreneur], and say, “Hey, I’m really interested. Let’s sit down and grab coffee and talk about it.” Or if somebody sends it to me and I really like it, the same thing. I’ll follow up by saying, “Hey, let’s meet and talk about it more in depth.” >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Mike Hirshland, General Partner, Polaris Ventures (Part 9)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: You were talking about public debate about angels versus VCs, throughout the blogosphere and how in some instances it has gotten pretty colorful.

Mike: Yes, it doesn’t make sense to be antagonizing an entire category of investors that you’re going to need to be partnering with. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Christina Brodbeck, Silicon Valley (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

This is the thirty-eighth interview in our series on financing for entrepreneurs. I am talking to Christina Brodbeck, a Silicon Valley angel investor and the co-founder of a soon-to-be-launched startup called TheIceBreak. Christina was part of the YouTube founding team. She designed YouTube’s first user interface and later was responsible for creating interface that brought YouTube videos to cell phones. She invests primarily in the Bay Area. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Eric Pozzo, Fund Manager, Oregon Angel Fund (Part 12)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: What is your advice to entrepreneurs? What could they do better?

Eric: If you’re out there [working for a big company] and you know your customers well, they’re going to ask for things that the company you work for does not want to provide for some reason or another. It may be too small a niche. They may not see the profit in it. It may not fit into their sales channel. >>>