Lawyers You Can Love

Angel Financing--Live Phone Calls, Face to Face Meetings Essential to Find Angels (PartVII)

Rule 7: Virtual contact won’t get you real angels.

Whether it’s virtual contact through LinkedIn, another network service or sending out loads of e-mails, asking for a cold introduction is no better than a cold call. Rather, find the companies and people you need to get to and work from the people you know to get to them. And yes, that means real live phone calls and face to face meetings. If you are like most entrepreneurs, you don’t have enough time in the day to do all the things you need to do. When it comes to money, you have to allocate some time for fundraising. You have to be brutally strategic about what efforts, contacts, meetings, calls can garner funds quickly enough. And, oh yes, you have to do it with the polish and persuasiveness of a diplomat, coupled with the passion of an entrepreneur. Remember the clock is ticking on the money search. The smart entrepreneur fishes where the fish are—persistence and strategy are key.

Angel Financing--How to Use Trade Associations (Part VI)

Rule 6: Use Trade/Industry Associations to Find Angels

Forget trotting to the local meeting and talking to folks looking to make a sale of their own. Go to the top. Look for the board of directors, the ex officio members and even the professional service advisors. These are the folks you’ve got to meet and develop a relationship with, find out if they or someone they know might likely invest, and get introductions to those folks.

Don’t just look at your immediate trade association. Look at the trade associations of your most critical existing or potential customers. If your product or service really does solve huge problems for these customers, you are more likely to find potential investors at those trade groups.

Angel Financing--Local /Industry Business Tycoons may be Angels (Part V)

Rule 5: Look for Business Sales, Retirements, Home Runs to Find Angels.

Compile a list of the top 25-50 business sales where founders made big bucks; include the names of founders and others who cashed out. Are these folks around, do they have any interest whatsoever in investing, and who do you know that knows them?

Even if these folks are not amenable to investing, they may be willing to mentor you and/or lead you to others who will invest.

Likewise, are there senior executives in your industry who have retired or hit major home runs (promotions, landed huge deals)? Again, are they worth pursuing and who do you know that knows them?