Tech Coast Angels, one of the largest angel groups in the world, has been evaluating and considering abadoning their own proprietary deal flow platform and moving to join the 425 investment groups using Angelsoft. Frank Peters, the TCA chairman, posted today on his blog the top 10 (actually 11) reasons why he feels that moving to Angelsoft is the right move for TCA.
The post is here where you can read all 10 reasons, and its a great read because it outlines not only why moving to Angelsoft makes sense for TCA, but really why it makes sense for most investment groups.
My personal favorite is number 7:
7. Is angel investing evolving, changing right before our eyes? The upset of the US economy is having an effect, but will the nature of angel investing change in other ways we can’t even imagine today? Very likely and Angelsoft will be a catalyst for this change.
At Angelsoft, we believe whole heartedly in number 7 not only for angel investing, but as more and more VC’s adopt our platform, we believe Angelsoft will bring positive change to all early stage investing.
A close second and third are:
5. The Wisdom of Crowds: This same world-wide community of users will generate more suggestions for improving Angelsoft than any one group would ever dream of. Just this month, Angelsoft released a new version with over 500 new features and improvements, all for free and available to all their angel groups. The TCA website has been tailored to our needs for the past few years, but its capabilities will never keep up with the capabilities of Angelsoft.
4. Syndication: We join a world-wide community of angel investors and VCs. Angelsoft has over 400 angel groups using their system and a growing number of VCs. Opportunities to syndicate deals among these many groups becomes as easy clicking the mouse to make an administrator in Las Vegas, Pasadena, or Boston aware of an exciting deal here at TCA that’s looking to top-off its round.
In this release we performed some much needed code cleanup, improving speed and stability considerably. We also refactored the Entrepreneur Application to work faster, cause less problems, and look nicer too!
All in all we’ve had 532 updates, among them 324 were general bug fixes, 7 were new features, and 62 were smaller improvements.
You can see all of them here. The highlights are below:
ENTREPRENEUR RELATIONS
We wanted to allow investment groups to better manage their relationship with entrepreneurs, and have better control over branding and message.
Entrepreneur Instructions - You can now compose a note to entrepreneurs. It will be posted right above the funding application, so that they can’t miss it. A default message is already posted there now.
Improved Branding - Your group’s logo is now given more prominent space throughout the application process.
Entrepreneur Color Themes - You can now select one of four color themes: Winter, Summer, Fall, and Spring - that will go with your logo and the entrepreneur’s application to your group.
Improved Entrepreneur Landing Page - Instead of a standard page with two buttons, the entrepreneur landing page for your group now contains your logo, your chosen color theme, and the ability to login or register directly from it.
Entrepreneur Educational Content - We’ve added educational content to the entrepreneur funding application, explaining key concepts in the application, and giving tips for an effective submission.
Improved File Uploads - Documents uploaded from the entrepreneur application and other places now have accurate progress bars that give a much better sense of how long you have to go.
Improved Speed - Many key processes have been optimized for speed. Pages should load faster and many actions should take less time to complete.
Improved Responsiveness - The interface (dialogs, buttons, menus) has been refactored to be more responsive, faster, and more solid.
Inline Validation for Entrepreneurs - Entrepreneurs can now copy and paste longer texts into the application, and edit it in line, without losing parts of their text.
Behind the Scenes Auto-save - Entrepreneurs can now enjoy more reliable Auto-save that works behind the scenes, much like Gmail. No need to stop while the application is saving.
INVESTOR IMPROVEMENTS
Deal Alert Attachments - You can now add an attachment when sending a Deal Alert.
Movable Deal Dashboard Dialogs - Many investors wanted to be able to view the application while composing a review. You can now drag the Rate & Review and Set Interest Level dialogs, to read what’s underneath.
New Referral Notice - New referrals from another group now send email notifications, just like New Submissions.
Your feedback is very important to us. So please send your requests, suggestions, or questions. Please comment here to sound off!
Angelsoft is backending the BootStrapper Summit, which will be held on October 2nd in New York.
The BootStrapper Summit is a Startup Showcase & Investor Conference for the East Coast PE/VC Community. It will feature 15 vetted companies, across 5 tracks (Seed Spotlight, Digital Media, Mobile & Telecom, Enterprise, Cool Concepts) and will be open to 100 investors.
All 15 companies have filled out Angelsoft applications, which will be available online for the attending investors to pull into their own Angelsoft accounts for further review.
The current RSVP list includes Grand Banks Capital, RRE Ventures, First Mark Capital, DFJ Gotham, Greenhill SAVP, Intel Capital, Shellback Partners, Goldman Sachs, Alliance Bernstein, Avenue A Ventures, The Connectors Fund, NY Angels, Golden Seeds, and Tristate Ventures.
The keynotes by Kevin P. Ryan (AlleyInsdier.com) and Scott Cohen (24/7 Media) round out what looks to be an impressive event.
If you are interested in attending this event as an investor you can register at http://bootstrappersummit.com. The event is full for entrepreneurs, but you can apply to be considered for the April event. If you already have an Angelsoft application, simply log in on their site, import your application answers, and click submit.
After watching the video of my “How to Pitch a VC” presentation at the TED conference, Garr Reynolds, who writes PresentationZen (the name of both the most influential presentation blog on the web, and also the best book ever written on presentation design) asked if I would mind if he created a summary slide show of my top tips that he could use with his students. Mind? I was delighted! So here’s the really, really short crib note version of my pitch training sessions. The first list are the personal qualities in YOU that an investor looks for; the next set are the inside tips that will make your presentation come across as uber-professional. Good luck with your pitch!
I also ask other investors to chime in and offer your own advice in the comments section below.
John and the Ohio TechAngels are recent converts to Angelsoft and have a stated goal of “being known as the most creative/complete user in your stable!”
John, we and the other 400+ groups on the system will consider the gauntlet thrown down!
Entrepreneurs can apply to the Ohio TechAngels here.
About John:
John O. Huston, Principal, USPrivateCompanies, LLC – During his 30-year banking career, Mr. Huston held positions ranging from Chief Lending/Chief Credit Officer to CEO at five banks in five states. Since retiring from banking in 2000, he has been an advisor, conduit, columnist and frequent speaker in his area of expertise…..optimizing a private company’s capital structure. An active business angel, he provides equity to entrepreneurs through his investment company, USPrivateCompanies, LLC. Mr. Huston was also pivotal in the formation of the Ohio TechAngel Fund and has been passionately engaged in the on-going success of the Fund.
Mr. Huston was one of seven Ohioans appointed by Governor Taft to the Ohio Venture Capital Authority, whose mission is to make professionally managed early stage capital more readily available to the state’s entrepreneurs. He has also taught Finance at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business, and is a frequent judge for business plan competitions at Ohio’s colleges and universities. In addition to serving on several Advisory Boards for his portfolio companies, Mr. Huston is an active member of The Ohio Venture Association, BioOhio, the Columbus Technology Council, and the Angel Capital Association (“The Professional Alliance of Angel Groups”).
Mark LaRosa and I recently attended the Ohio Early Stage Summit in Columbus and were thoroughly impressed at the progress being made to make Ohio one of the premier places to do business. The efforts by the State over the past few years to develop and foster an environment ripe for entrepreneurship and investment should be a model for others to follow.
Lt. Governor Lee Fisher kicked of the summit with a rousing speech that provided an overview of the various programs and incentives available to both entrepreneurs and investors. Based on the initial results, Ohio is doing a lotright and there is no shortage of enthusiasm to keep that momentum going.
The pieces are all in place. The next challenge Ohio faces, say Fisher and many others, is GETTING THE STORY OUT THERE!
I say they should play up the “Cleveland Rocks” angle…and Cincy, and Akron, and Columbus, and…
For more, click here to read a recent Op-Ed piece from the Wall Street Journal by Fisher and Governor Ted Strickland asking people to take a “look under Ohio’s hood” and see how “its engine is being redesigned and retooled in ways that offer important lessons on how to make an economy more competitive in a global marketplace.”
In addition to all of the speed and stability enhancements released with version 3.1 of Angelsoft, we have given investment groups increased control over the look and feel of the entrepreneur application.
Investment group logo and name are now much more prominently displayed at the top of the application.
Investment groups may now select one of four color schemes, as well as include an introductory paragraph with a group profile, investment criteria, and instructions for the entrepreneur so that you can ensure potential entrepreneurs will understand exactly how best to apply to your group.
Watch the video below to see exactly how to customize your group’s application:
In the early days of New York Angels, we noticed what appeared to be an anomaly in our operations. We had quickly established a good incoming flow of deals, and had followed that up with an effective screening process, but we found that we were actually funding a much smaller percentage of the presenting companies than we had expected. What was particularly puzzling was that we KNEW these were likely fundable companies, because we had spent over half an hour with them around a table during the screening session, and only picked the very best ones (typically the top 10%) to present to our whole group. But after hearing the fifteen minute pitches during our monthly meeting, our full membership just didn’t get excited enough to put their money to work. A puzzlement. We eventually figured out the problem: the companies were great, but the pitches were awful!
That was when we instituted mandatory pitch coaching for every single company that was selected to present to our membership. The result? Our investment rate more than DOUBLED, and we have funded over $35 million into more than 50 companies during the past six years. In that time, I have handled most of the coaching duties on behalf of the group, and have gotten pretty good at helping entrepreneurs refine their Powerpoint presentations to meet the need of their target audience: early stage investors. Word began to spread about these sessions, and soon BusinessWeek came by to do a story about them, giving me the moniker of The Pitch Coach. The next thing I knew, there seemed to be even more demand for presentation training than there was for my investment dollars!
These days, I spend quite a bit of my time teaching entrepreneurs how to clearly and persuasively get their message across. Most of this happens for New York Angels, at business schools like Yale, Columbia or NYU, or for institutions like the National Science Foundation. However a couple of years ago Chris Anderson, the Curator of the renowned TED conference (and a fellow New York Angel member) asked if I would do a session during the “TED University” event before the main conference. I agreed, but wondered how I would be able to compress what is usually an hour long presentation into the allotted 12 minutes. The answer? Talk faster! [grin] So, with the compliments of TED.com, here is The Pitch Coach, in the super-express-version of “How to Pitch an Angel (or VC)”. I hope you find it useful! (The ‘expand’ button in the corner will bring up a full-screen version.)
Its critical that entrepreneurs understand the key differences between angels and VCs before deciding on a funding strategy. It’ll make the process much easier for the startup as well as the investors involved.
1) The weather is too nice in the Bay Area
2) Recruiting is tough
3) Its too crowded with startups
4) The valley is very “exit” focused
5) Easier access to academics outside the valley
Since Angelsoft is based in NYC and heavily involved in the venture community, I think we’ve been dealing with that question for a while. Despite the pull of the Valley we’ve managed to get by the past couple years without having a full time presence out there.
That changed recently as we started to get more interest from the VCs, and now I’m stationed in the Bay Area. I can definitely report that its very crowded and its tough to stick out. It makes me appreciate the New York startup scene for being close knit and easily accessble.
Feel free to share you ideas about startup communities outside of the NYC and the Bay Area.
