Where do all the new companies that are emerging get their capital? A good idea and a plan to generate income are essential elements, but startups will always need financial capital and other resources to help them get off the ground. And that is precisely the job of business angels. Finding a business angel shouldn’t be that complicated. There are multiple platforms and companies that will connect you to several. Pareto, a company that can find investors, is one of the options you have at hand.
The business angel or angel investor is a figure who not only makes financial contributions to startups in which they see growth potential but also adds knowledge to leverage the business. Thus, this practice has become one more option for startups to take off, in addition to investments by entrepreneurs themselves and venture capital funds. Read more to understand how business angels operate.
Generally, the angel investor enters soon after the initial startup phase, while venture capital funds invest high amounts of money mainly in more mature businesses. If you want to know more about business angels, you can learn more in this article, we will list popular business angels in America.
Ron Conway
No. of Angel Investments: 190
Some companies financed: Digg, Google, Mint.com, Facebook, bit.ly, Twitter
A long career as an investor, the most veteran of angel investors, almost bordering on 200 investments. The most innovative and promising ideas that have emerged in Silicon Valley have passed through Conway. In his career, he has supported the most important ventures of the last decade, such as Facebook, Google, PayPal, and Twitter. He currently invests through his company SV Angel.
Chris Dixon
No. of angel investments: 23
Some companies financed: Skype, Postini, Milo.com, Knewton, and DailyBooth.
At 39, Dixon is in charge of the Hunch company, of which he is a co-founder. He was the CEO and Co-founder of SiteAdvisor, which he later sold to McAfee. He has worked at Bessemer Venture Partners, and it was there that he invested his own money in Skype, which eBay later bought for $2.6 million in 2005. He currently makes investments through the Founder Collective group, which he also founded.
Esther Dyson
No. of Angel Investments: 60
Some funded companies: Meetup, del.icio.us, GridPoint, 23andMe, and Flickr.
“The First Lady of the Internet,” as Bill Gates calls her. In 1995, she began investing away from the famous Silicon Valley in Russia and Europe, where she left her Version 1.0 newsletter addressing the latest technology trends. One of her early investments was Scala, a Hungarian and Russian software company sold to Epicor for a handsome profit. She currently sits on the Evernote board of directors.
Peter Thiel
No. of Angel Investments: 26
Some companies financed: LinkedIn, Friendster, Facebook, Zynga, and Yelp.
The founder of PayPay heads a group of business angels who have come out of this virtual payment company and helped finance various projects. Thiel belongs to the most select group of investors, who can boast of their good business acumen by betting on nascent businesses that have impacted the 2.0 world, such as Facebook, Zynga, and LinkedIn. He is also the founder of Clarium Capital Management.
Jeff Bezos
No. of Angel Investments: 18
Some companies funded: Twitter, Google, 37signals, Social Gaming Network, and Linden Lab.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has already helped 18 entrepreneurs start their own ventures, including Google and Twitter. In 1998, he invested 250 thousand dollars of his personal fortune in the search engine. He was among the first to believe in Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, in their abilities and ideas. Quite a visionary.
Mike Maples
Number of Investments: 39
Some companies funded: Twitter, Kongregate, Odeo, Digg, Circle of Moms, and Weebly.
Mike is the co-founder of Motive and was responsible for worldwide product marketing at Tivoli. As an investor, he is a director of Maples Investments, with investments in Twitter, Digg, and Spiceworks.
Dave Duffield
No. of Angel Investments: 18
Some companies financed: Bridgestream, Acta Technology, and Netcentives
Dave founded PeopleSoft in 1987, a human resources software company that became the second-largest company in its field before being acquired by Oracle in 2005. That same year, he founded Workday. He was an angel investor in GrandCentral Communications, acquired by Google for its voice services.
Kevin Rose
No. of Angel Investments: 12
Some companies funded: Twitter, Foursquare, 3Crowd Technologies, and SimpleGeo.
The Digg founder has lately set his sights on Gowalla, Square, and DailyBooth. He is also the founder of Milk and WeFollow.
How to Get a Business Angel?
The angel investor is a very common figure in startups — companies with a modern business model that seek to place an innovative idea in the market.
Finding an angel investor is a long process, which involves getting to know your potential clients, researching the market, talking to professionals in the field, among other issues.
In other words, it’s a job of research, preparation and dedication that can be transformative when you finally get an angel investor.
Where to Find a Business Angel?
Generally, the most efficient way to land a business angel is to establish contact with people close to the investor who can mediate between you. So you can be introduced directly to them.
But, if you don’t have these contacts, one way is to participate in the same events as angel investors, such as lectures and courses. At these events, you can try to get in touch to present your project to those investors who are more in line with your idea.
Another approach, perhaps less efficient, to find a business angel is as follows: try to contact the angel investor you want through the internet. For example, email your project to let them know your proposal.
When is the Right Time to Look for an Angel Investor?
The best time to start looking for an angel investor is after you’ve structured your business plan and managed to validate your idea, proving that your business model is viable and that it can be profitable.
In addition to ensuring that your business has a well-consolidated validation phase, another tip before looking for an angel investor is to prepare a test version of your product and file it with the relevant authorities if it needs to be patented.
