Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Ira Weiss, Hyde Park Angels (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: Could you be more specific about the fees?

Ira: What I mean is that some groups may charge a carry or a management fee. We don’t do that. Our underlying legal structure is a state nonprofit and whenever we make these investments. For example, we have an investment in a company called UICO, everybody gets together and makes an investment in UICO. That group of people will collect and extra 3%, but that’s just to cover the entity’s fees like accounting fees, whatever fees relate to that entity. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Elizabeth Marchi, Frontier Angel Fund (Part 3)

By guest author Irina Patterson

Irina: On average, from all the sources, how many pitches do you receive a month?

Liz: I’ve been keeping a running tab this year just out of my own interest, and I’m talking to about 20 entrepreneurs a month.

But when our fund meets, we usually have wind it down to two or three. That’s to get to common pitch to the fund.

So, if you do 40 entrepreneurs in two months, two are going to come and present. But then you have to remember, of those 40 that I talk to, maybe one will come present two months later because they’ve gone back and refined the plan, done more work, found a partner . . . you know, that kind of thing. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Ira Weiss, Hyde Park Angels (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

This is the twenty-ninth interview in our series on financing for entrepreneurs. I am talking to Ira Weiss, who is the faculty director at University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth) and co-manager of Hyde Park Angels,  an angel network that is affiliated with the university and invests in seed and early-stage companies, primarily in the Midwest. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Elizabeth Marchi, Frontier Angel Fund (Part 2)

By guest author Irina Patterson

Irina: So, not all of your fund investors are based in Montana?

Liz: No, five are not. Some are here part of the year, and they really wanted to be  part of this, and that was part of the discussion when we formed the fund. For example, of the 33 investors, at my last meeting, I had 27, which is phenomenal, three years into the fund. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Raymond Chan, Tech Coast Angels (Part 7)

By guest author Irina Patterson

Irina: Right. Do you see any issues in the angel ecosystem? Is there anything that can be improved?

Ray: I think the key thing is, investors like us have to get involved, to educate entrepreneurs.

For example, Silicon Valley is the best ecosystem in the whole wide world. And for us to even match Silicon Valley is a dream. It would take ten to twenty years to do that. So we dare not to try to be a Silicon Valley. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Elizabeth Marchi, Frontier Angel Fund (Part 1)

By guest author Irina Patterson

This is the twenty-eighth interview in our series on financing for entrepreneurs. I am talking to Elizabeth Marchi, fund coordinator at Frontier Angel Fund LLC. It’s a member managed pooled fund – that is, they review deals together and then vote to invest their pooled capital. Their investments range from $100,000 to $200,000 and they invest in companies based in Montana and the inland Pacific Northwest. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Raymond Chan, Tech Coast Angels (Part 6)

By guest author Irina Patterson

Irina: What do you think is the most important thing that angel-backed founders can do to increase their chances of success?

Ray: The execution. It means you have to work with partners — work with partners like us, work with the team, and execute the plan. They also be able to change on a dime if things don’t go right, to be able to change the plan. I think that is very important.

Also, I would say, entrepreneurs have to be flexible. Because as entrepreneur you hear a lot of different opinions and ideas. You just have to be able to intelligently absorb all of these ideas, understand them, apply them, and see what works and what doesn’t work. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Dick Reeves, Executive Director, Huntsville Angel Network (Part 6)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: When you invest in e-commerce companies, do they have to be located in your geographical area?

Dick: That’s interesting. The one that exited here was a virtual company. One of the founders was here, one was in Boulder, Colorado, and one was up in New York State.

Officially, the company’s headquarters was here in my town, but their employees and principals were located all over. And the economic focus was here. The management focus was here. Unfortunately, the acquirer moved them to New York City because the acquirer owns about 50 e-commerce companies and they’ve got them all together in this big building in the Bronx where they can all rub elbows with each other.

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