tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post6663969766967957889..comments2024-03-18T17:28:44.693-07:00Comments on Rondam Ramblings: Things I wish someone had told me before I started angel investingRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11752242624438232184noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-40926737315703438532017-07-19T19:36:18.144-07:002017-07-19T19:36:18.144-07:00I second that - You shouldI second that - You shouldAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18432560273862115007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-82099812631552837182017-07-19T09:16:03.837-07:002017-07-19T09:16:03.837-07:00Thanks Ron, brilliant post! I mostly agree, but n...Thanks Ron, brilliant post! I mostly agree, but not fully. Yes, the cool kids don't beg, they can (to some extent) pick their investors; but they will still be glad to take money from a newbie angel, what they will avoid are toxic angels, that waste your time and peace of mind.<br />Plus, you still won't be able to understand if those who are picking you are the winners or more con men.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01253189694600420674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-30237829559055839862017-07-19T09:14:25.573-07:002017-07-19T09:14:25.573-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01253189694600420674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-82750199775253633182017-07-18T18:34:03.983-07:002017-07-18T18:34:03.983-07:00Thanks for this post, Ron. I'd be curious abou...Thanks for this post, Ron. I'd be curious about your thoughts on these AIHADITF (i.e. admittedly I have a dog in this fight) musings... <br /><br />I'm a second $500K of funds seeking entrepreneur out in TNRNMWNMNH (i.e. take no risk no matter what no matter no how) Detroit with HeroHomes.com, my Zillow.com for the 23.3 million of my fellow military vets, our up to $424-721K each of Reed M Benethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06954650501542529342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-51596730363075919392017-07-18T18:26:47.757-07:002017-07-18T18:26:47.757-07:00what are your thoughts on equity crowdfunding plat...what are your thoughts on equity crowdfunding platforms like SeedInvest? they generally require a min. investment of $500 or $1K. Is it worth it for a small time angel to invest $1K in 10 different companies or $500 in 20 different companies?JPYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12610233490654423386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-32083840164004372082017-07-18T14:52:39.436-07:002017-07-18T14:52:39.436-07:00Did anyone figure out the second kind of successfu...Did anyone figure out the second kind of successful companies ?roger dusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02215400168370496716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-50706239513965006092017-07-17T09:54:47.822-07:002017-07-17T09:54:47.822-07:00So what kind of things did you invest in?So what kind of things did you invest in?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16275604828416301856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-60223067333401842212017-07-17T07:02:57.930-07:002017-07-17T07:02:57.930-07:00@Dave:
>> "experienced investors are p...@Dave:<br /><br />>> "experienced investors are pretty good at spotting them" [them = successful entrepreneurs]<br /><br />> no, this is demonstrably false.<br /><br />It's not "demonstrably false" because I didn't define what I meant by "pretty good". At worst, it's a vacuous claim.<br /><br />Experienced investors reject bad deals with odds Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11752242624438232184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-6445695133362125882017-07-17T05:00:23.856-07:002017-07-17T05:00:23.856-07:00Great article, thank you!
The last paragraph is o...Great article, thank you!<br /><br />The last paragraph is one that hits particularly close to my own experience. Raising money isn't the issue, but raising good quality relationships with depth and how they believe in you despite the challenge. <br /><br />Kissing frogs is part of the game and most times you are the frog, but if you keep at it, keep reinventing, and hold your ground you Droconnel22https://www.blogger.com/profile/12445605464199600728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-37977933836094457472017-07-16T23:00:29.784-07:002017-07-16T23:00:29.784-07:00@meitnerium, you can sometimes invest solo with $2...@meitnerium, you can sometimes invest solo with $25k but if you want to be able to negotiate you will need to get several friends together and put in $100k or sometimes double that.<br /><br />If you join an angel group, that group will have more combined capital and you can probably go in with as low as $5k per investment. You will learn a lot and meet a lot of people your first few years in an Michael Palmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08742024737947062522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-33445669971699981962017-07-16T20:18:21.657-07:002017-07-16T20:18:21.657-07:00If the suggestion is to invest in ~50 companies ho...If the suggestion is to invest in ~50 companies how much is recommended per company, is ~$50,000 about right? That would come to $2.5 million for a portfolio of 50 companies. That's discouraging for first-time investors who may not have that amount of money to begin with. Lucymariehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08314626065664495672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-68708183556110436452017-07-16T20:00:01.689-07:002017-07-16T20:00:01.689-07:00"experienced investors are pretty good at spo..."experienced investors are pretty good at spotting them" [them = successful entrepreneurs]<br /><br />no, this is demonstrably false. as you mention with YC, if investors really knew what they were doing, then their portfolio size would be n<5-10, rather than n>20-40 (or for early-stage, n>50-100).<br /><br />even the best angel and VC investors get it "right" (ie, Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09348336102518491739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-12857073791221693072017-07-16T16:40:23.455-07:002017-07-16T16:40:23.455-07:00@vasilakisfil:
Green angels are only a problem if...@vasilakisfil:<br /><br />Green angels are only a problem if they don't recognize they are green. Experienced founders should want to cultivate new investment talent no less than experienced investors should want to cultivate new founder talent. A new investor who said, "I have no idea what I'm doing, but I want to write you a (small) check (which I'm absolutely prepared to Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11752242624438232184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-34117333068157291422017-07-16T16:26:47.880-07:002017-07-16T16:26:47.880-07:00There is one problem though. Angel investors that ...There is one problem though. Angel investors that are "learning" the process are really bad for the companies that they are learning from. Basically these meetings that you are talking about, is wasted time for founders. Even worse, when such angel investors are influencing the development process (because hey! Cool company A does that, we should it as well) then developers have vasilakisfilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15846719066765624934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-9149018004621321352017-07-16T14:55:19.778-07:002017-07-16T14:55:19.778-07:00@ meitnerium:
There is no "most frequent rea...@ meitnerium:<br /><br />There is no "most frequent reason." The world is incredibly creative in coming up with new ways for companies to fail. Just when I think I've seen it all, someone always comes along and surprises me.<br /><br />I could (and maybe I should) write a book about all the different ways I've seen companies fail.<br />Ronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11752242624438232184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-11654883979623639202017-07-16T12:54:56.534-07:002017-07-16T12:54:56.534-07:00Your article is really interesting. I would appre...Your article is really interesting. I would appreciate knowing, in your experience, what has been the most frequent reason for startup failure? <br />Lucymariehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08314626065664495672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5592542.post-64046142721666033262017-07-16T12:11:15.733-07:002017-07-16T12:11:15.733-07:00Thank you for your incite! Recently, I've been...Thank you for your incite! Recently, I've been looking into the concept of investing; reading the Wallstreet Journal, countless YouTube videos, and online news stories, but none of them were this honest.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15898476911581902856noreply@blogger.com