Good 7-Point Summary on Raising VC Money
With so much “stuff” on the web about raising venture capital, I want to pass on this very good list of 7 tips for raising venture capital that I caught this morning when it was re-posted on Small Business Trends. The author, Prasad Thammineni, says he raised venture capital money last year, and it shows....
By Tim Berry
Two Good Posts on Angel and VC Investment
Fred Wilson offers a good answer to a frequently asked question with his AVC: Angel vs. VC? post earlier this week. This is great timing, too, because both angel investment and venture capital are in the midst of rapid readjustment to longer-term changes in the economy of startups and entrepreneurship. He takes it as a...
By Tim Berry
Is Venture Capital Broken?
Audrey Watters posted Is Venture Capital Broken? this weekend on ReadWriteWeb’s startup channel. The title is direct reference to an essay, titled “Venture Capital is Broken”, which angel investor Chris Sacca released as the “creed” of his new investment firm, Lowercase Capital. Here’s Audrey’s excellent summary: In it, Sacca observes that 10 years ago, it...
By Tim Berry
Angels Rush in Where VC Fear to Tread
About three years ago I attended a Web 2.0 conference at which a couple of professional venture capitalists and a couple of successful angel investors talked about trends. This was before the great recession, but in the middle of the explosion of web apps and social media. One thing that came up repeatedly, then, was...
By Tim Berry
Are Angel Groups Hiding Foxes in Henhouses?
If you read this blog regularly, then you know I’m a member of an angel investor group (Willamette Angel Conference) and a fan of angelsoft.net, which our group, and hundreds of others, uses to manage the process. Still, I was quite concerned the other day to read the fox-in-henhouse problem posted in a very well-written...
By Tim Berry
Angel Conference Decides Today
After sifting through almost 40 submissions, reading business plans, listening to pitches, talking to entrepreneurs, their customers, their attorneys (in some cases), plus a lot of discussion and comment and review and revision, today my local angel investor group–The Willamette Angel Conference–meets at the McDonald’s theater in Eugene, Ore. (my hometown) to choose its winner....
By Tim Berry
Startup Myth: Investors Want the Best Companies
As I delve into my business plan marathon season, and the angel investment group I’m in starts looking in earnest at a flock of new companies, I find myself constantly bumping into several very common myths. This is first on my list. And no, by the way, it’s not an April Fool’s Day joke. The...
By Tim Berry
3 Things I Look for in Angel Investing
I’m actively reviewing more than three dozen submissions as a member of the Willamette Angel Conference. I participate in the investment, and I get one vote. Our group is reviewing companies and will award a six-figure investment at an event held May 13 in Eugene, Oregon, my home town. Our behind-the-scenes process to review companies,...
By Tim Berry
