Tony Clemendor 📈’s Post

Most people assume angel investing is simply about rich people passively maximizing financial gains by proving capital to founders who do all the work. The truth is that the most impactful angels take that title to heart, and actually help guard founders from unnecessary mistakes, while hopefully guiding them toward success. Their capital contribution is a way of having skin in the game, on top of providing their expertise, connections, and support. I've learned a bunch from impactful investors like Arlan Hamilton, Elizabeth Yin, Jason Calacanis, and many others. I even embarked on my own journey as an angel by first serving as an advisor, and then investing small checks into startups I care about. The truth is that we need many more purpose-driven angels to truly move the needle for startups who have so much to gain from our knowledge and resources. During economic downturns, angels are especially crucial as traditional funding is even harder to come by. Check out the intro-level course I put together for first-timers looking to get started. Regardless of the amount of money in your bank account today, you can begin adding value to high potential startups and have skin in the game. When in doubt, remember what Beyoncé said, "Pay me in equity..." Join our community at Bison Venture Partners: https://lnkd.in/e9BYXgmy #education #startups #venturecapital

The Biggest Mistake New Angel Investors Make Welcome to 0 & 20, a series of Last Money In Below is from Andy Ayim MBE, Founder @ Angel Investing School on the Biggest Mistake New Angel Investors Make Andy launched The Angel Investing School 3 years ago and has trained over 450+ new angel investors globally who have cumulatively invested over $5m with nearly a dozen new syndicates created such as Turn Off Turn On Ventures and Black Angel Group. He has also invested in gap-closing startups such as Farmlend, Definely and Patch. Let’s dive in. Let's set the scene for a second, you were an early employee of a startup that became a rocketship, 5 years into the journey the scale-up gets acquired and you receive your lump sum reward in cash.  You have heard about backing startups, sounds kinda awesome so you start attending demo days, speaking to friends and meeting founders here, there and anywhere. Adrenalin takes over, and you feel super passionate about this charismatic founder who has got you excited at the prospect of how they plan to change the world and you cut them a check. Fast forward to 10 angel investments made and you look back and realize, you allocated way too much money to those first few deals which are both now dead and you lost out. The biggest mistake new angel investors make is that they invest more than they can afford to lose in their first few deals. Startup investing can be exciting but remember that wins are slow but losses happen quickly. Play the long game and think about portfolio construction, not just the deal in front of you. -- Last Money In is the most actionable venture capital newsletter. Written by Zachary Ginsburg and Alex Pattis, global leaders in VC with >$200M AUM, we’ll teach you how to become more informed VC investors and gain access to the VC ecosystem, both as a fund manager and limited partner

Revolutionizing angel investing! 💡 Meet Cherub, the Raya of angel investing, reshaping angel rounds with a groundbreaking new subscription model. Learn more about this innovative approach in the world of startups! https://lnkd.in/gU7WDC8q

As DC Palter and Terri Hanson Mead have experienced these challenges as being part of the VC and Angel Investing side of Life Sciences, we at SVA Life Sciences have also encountered too many early stage startups that have received generous VC & Seed funding but have no real plan to efficiently and effectively use it. Hiring talent, or more importantly these days deploying purpose-built, data-driven technology that won't deplete their funds, is key to preserving and stretching your capital investment. An eye towards scalability is critical, not to mention the use of AI. We at SVA call it finding the "Easy Button" from our years of experience helping companies on their Commercialization Journey. DM me to avoid adding to this frustrating experience, and let us help you find the early startup, Easy Button. #VCinvestingfrustrations #Seedstagedifficulties #SVALifeSciences #CommercializationJourney #EasyButton

This perfectly sums up one of my frustrations with VCs investing in early stages making it difficult for angels to effectively invest in early stage startups. The seed stage has blurred to pre-seed, post-seed, peach seed, mango seed, and whatever other kind of seed you want to name. When VCs invest too early in a start up, they also require more process and rigour than what is helpful for founders to be nimble and focus on getting to product, market, fit. We are seeing a lot of downrounds right now along with major cap table restructurings as a result of too much dumb money going in at the early stages. DC Palter

I really don’t understand how come angel investors don’t make money. It may be because they are not patient enough to build their portfolio. I have invested personally in 33 startups till date. My current active portfolio multiple is ~11X in about 8 years and my current total portfolio value is about 0.5 MN USD (INR 4 CR). With valuation of a few startups from my portfolio becoming double in the next 1-2 years, my portfolio value will also double down to 1 MN USD. And it will keep doubling down every 1-2 years. I have already taken exit from 3, 7 of my investments have gone bust and 23 are still active. Startup investing is all about patience and long term investing. It’s not about unicorn speed but it’s about cockroach patience.

🚀 Looking for investment for your startup? 🚀 Having already backed several innovative start-ups in Q1, we've just launched our Summer investment cohort, and are on the hunt for more: 🇬🇧 UK-Based (Eligible for EIS/VCT) 👩💻 ..high growth Seed to Series A start-ups 📈 ..with at least £500k+ ARR 💷 ..wanting up to £1.5m by late July 2024 Is this you or someone you know? Don't hesitate to DM me your pitch deck or tag a fellow founder in the comments. Blackfinch Ventures #venturecapital #techfunding #startupinvestment #growthcapital

If you didn’t grow up with folks investing in startups, you might discover that a friends & family round feels like personal recourse debt, no matter how it’s structured. This makes failure and down rounds extra stressful for some founders (me included). Solutions: 1. make F&F whole from dilution of down round with your founder shares. 2. give F&F founder shares in your next startup. The best solution: don’t raise from F&F, raise from your community of early adopters, collaborators, and folks who care about the problem you are solving. Community-led growth and venture capital: that’s Slyk IO

The power of angel investing. By the way this is a real story. In Sept 2020, amid COVID crises, one of my friend referred an opportunity. 2 guys from the toys industry with sales experience, wanted to sell their own stuff but didn't had enough funds to manufacture the products. We discussed, and I invested "ONLY 35K INR" (this was my first startup investment) Today, my holdings are 20x and I am getting a partial exit. Isn't it a good example for the one who wishes to start the startup investments? Want to become an angel investor? Join Entie Angels, it's an invite only investor community. DM for the joining details. Building Entie | Find Investors, Cofounders, & Startups. #angelinvestor #funding #businessdating

Raising venture capital is brutal right now, and it all stems from peak ZIRP. Some folks lost their minds in 2020-2021, and now those overpriced valuations and expedited diligence processes are hurting the entire industry. My guy Zach Coelius summed it up really well on a recent episode of This Week in Startups: "If you're trying to raise a fund right now, it's very challenging, and I'm not seeing any changes on the horizon." He explained how, during ZIRP, many startups were getting marked up every six months. "Any idiot with a checkbook looked like a genius." Because of this, a lot of funds are sitting on startup positions that look great... on paper. But in reality, billions of dollars in value destruction will occur as this group of ZIRP-icorns (h/t Aileen Lee) raises their next round or goes public. LPs understand this dynamic and are weary of the impact it will have on fund performance over the next few years. So, they are fleeing to "safety" and doubling down on well-established, larger firms, leaving very little capital left over for smaller and newer funds. #venturecapital #startups #tech #founders