How to raise Angel finance?
I’m not sure exactly how one should raise Angel finance, but I have some tips and learnings which I’ll share here. Given that this is more art than science please take my input and adapt it as you see fit.
1 ) Talk to people who have made money in the area/industry you are targeting
2 ) Listen and learn and be prepared to change quickly (before you have talked to everyone)
3 ) Pay attention to what people didn’t like versus the things you explained badly
4 ) You are presenting yourself more than your business plan, team-up if you are not backable
5 ) Concentrate on people who actively invest and know what they are doing
6 ) People are much happier to follow than lead, concentrate on getting a lead investor first
7 ) Ask everyone who is ‘not ready’ to invest to introduce you to someone else
8 ) Everyone has the right to be lazy, don’t make people think or read to find the value
9 ) People know what you are after, but like dating, be subtle - ask to meet for a chat over coffee
10 ) Don’t be afraid to ask how much people would consider investing
11 ) ‘Competition’ does not mean ‘the same as’. Everyone has competition
12 ) Demonstrate you understand the companies and start-ups in ‘your space’
13 ) You don’t have an answer for everything - take some questions away
14 ) Don’t expect anyone to invest until you have shown real commitment first
I’ll continue to add to this list, please comment below if you’ve got advice to share.
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A very good list.
The only point that I’d add is that it takes time. (And it takes a lot more time if your angels haven’t invested in much before.) It took us three months to get a lead investor, three months to get enough angels lined up behind the lead and three months to close the paperwork. That’s a long time in start-up-land! If you’re going to try and raise money, I’d strongly urge you to be realistic about putting enough time into it to make it happen. To raise money (especially as a first time entrepreneur) will require kissing a lot of frogs and - unfortunately - kissing frogs takes time.