Showing posts with label success. Show all posts
Showing posts with label success. Show all posts

Monday, January 20, 2020

How to Screen Potential Angel Investments - Ren Carlton Investment Criteria - Doing Your Research as an Angel Investor

Angel investors can earn high rewards, but it is not without risk. There are 400,000 businesses started in the U.S year. How can you choose the right ones for investment? Below are my general selection criteria. Ideally, I confirm that a company appears to meet as many of these as possible before I invest. 
- Scalable
- Fast path to profitability and positive cash flow
- Not a lot of hard assets
- 10X potential return in 3-5 years
- Moat to protect against competition
- Unfair advantage
- Access to capital
- Likable founders with skin in the game
- Hot industry
- Low regulation
- Avoid companies with legal risks, especially ones with risk of imprisonment
- Low startup costs
- Ability to leverage technology
- Ability to compete with the FAANG companies if they enter your market, Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX); and Alphabet (GOOG) (formerly known as Google)

Geographic convenience and industry familiarity are also nice. It is also important to note that not all of my investments meet all of the above criteria. It is not much fun being an entrepreneur if you cannot break some rules--even if those rules are self-imposed.

Traditional due diligence methods are often ineffective when analyzing early-stage businesses because you are frequently investing in the future. Reviewing financial information and customer data is not possible when they don’t exist.

Before investing, we evaluate several aspects of the company or concept: the business model, the game plan, the leadership and the potential return. Key goals during the evaluation process include confirming that the entrepreneurs are exceptionally talented and that there is a need in the marketplace for what they offer. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

What’s being offered? 

The startup’s product or service should be clearly differentiated relative to competitors. It should fulfill an important customer need and compete in a market that has solid potential. Most importantly, the target audience should be excited about the product and be able to articulate how the product will make their lives better.

Does the game plan make sense? 

The startup should have a business plan with reasonable goals. The plan for investing angel funds should make sense and be based in sound logic. The startup should have a scalable model and attractive unit economics. You need to ensure that the amount of cash raised will be enough to cover the length of time required to firmly establish the business. A startup that runs out of cash will surely fail.

How competent is the leadership? 

Successful startups are led by a founder or a team with the right experience, talent, and vision. Important character traits include confidence, fortitude, creativity and determination. Having the ability to identify talent and build a strong team is critically important.

What’s the potential return? 

Tanya Prive, the co-founder of 1000 Angels, provides some helpful perspective on the returns you should expect from your startup investments: “We focus solely on highly curated direct investments and aim to offer a well-balanced portfolio selection with startup investments that can yield an IRR (internal rate of return) of 25% or a cash-on-cash return of approximately 3X over 5 years and 9X over 10 years. Again, returns are never guaranteed and it is possible to lose all of your investment. Angel investing can yield binary results, meaning you can either enjoy a healthy return or lose everything. This is why it is important to build a diversified portfolio of startup investments that help mitigate the risk.”

Before making any investment decision, you may also want to talk to a CPA, attorney, and/or financial planner.



Are you looking for funding for an idea or business, send us your stuff and we will take a look, Funding@OmegaSeedFund.com

Are you interested in investing time or money into any of our businesses, Invest@omegaseedfund.com

Are you interested in promoting your product or service to our audience, contact Opportunities@OmegaSeedFund.com


Sources
https://www.angelcapitalassociation.org/blog/how-to-become-an-angel-investor/
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/how-to-become-and-angel-investor
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2016/04/28/what-returns-can-i-expect-from-startup-investing/#304808477964
https://rencarlton.blogspot.com
https://twitter.com/RenCarlton
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmxQWgUDlPJo0IHCIa6SzrQ
https://omegaaccelerator.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TheOmegaAccelerator/
https://www.instagram.com/omega.funding/
https://rencarlton.blogspot.com/2019/09/funding-session-with-ren-carlton.html


Disclaimer: This is only for informational and discussion purposes. This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice.Please consult the appropriate professional before doing anything you learn from the content posted on any of our digital properties. Stories shared are mostly based on true events, but may be altered to protect the identity of the parties involved. Any numbers or figures are possibly estimates based on assumptions that may be proven to be inaccurate or subject to change.

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Why Don’t More People Make Angel Investments?

Just in case you have not heard the news, almost anyone can be an angel investor. See What Qualifications are Required to be an Angel Investor for further details. We also explored Why Angel Investors Fund Startups in another article.

What inspires people to become angel investors? I will examine some key reasons below.   


They are Looking for an Extraordinary Return on Investment (ROI)

According to Techcrunch.com, Angel Investors can expect to earn a gross multiple of 2.5X their investment in about four years. That is a 250% ROI. Investors that are comfortable with the risks of angel investing may be able to enjoy this type of return.

They Want to Become a Mentor

They relish in the idea of being a mentor to the younger generation of startups. If you have the income and you want to make this type of impact, maybe start making angel investments.

They are Business-Minded Entrepreneurs Who Want to Network

If you’ve made it far enough in your professional career to have the time and money to consider investing, then you are probably already pretty good at networking. angel investors take this to the next level. You can gain unique opportunities to network with people from a totally different perspective. When you are at a networking event, people will find you to pitch ideas.

They Care About Innovation

High-tech angels often care just as much about ROI as they do about introducing high-tech and innovative solutions into the world. These investors might even care more about the mission or impact of a company. If you want to make a difference in the world of medical tech, fintech, or any other industry that has the potential to make a huge impact, then you should consider making angel investments.

They are Looking for Something New

Angel investing is an easy way to give you access to the world of entrepreneurship. This often includes access to new ideas, events, and opportunities. Boredom was one of the reasons I quit my job as a CFO to become a full-time entrepreneur. I have not been bored a day since that decision!


But only 8% of the people that can make angel investments actually do it according to angelcapitalassociation.org. Why?


We have identified several challenges associated with angel investing, including:

-How do I select angel investments to evaluate?
-How can I screen angel investments that interest me?
-How do I monitor my angel investments?
-How can I help my angel investments succeed?
-How do I value an angel investment?
-When will we receive returns on this investment?
-When can I do if the founders you funded wants to quit?
-When can I do if the business fails?

We will address these concerns in future posts. Ultimately you will need to decide whether the benefits of being an angel investor outweigh the risks.


Are you interested in investing in startups today, but are struggling with some of the concerns listed above?  Learn how we can help, email info@OmegaAccelerator.com.



Are you looking for angel investors or accredited investors for your business? Contact us today, funding@omegaaccelerator.com 



Sources:
https://rencarlton.blogspot.com/2019/12/why-dont-more-people-make-angel.html
https://rencarlton.blogspot.com/2019/09/what-qualifications-are-required-to-be.html
https://rencarlton.blogspot.com/2019/09/why-angel-investors-fund-startups18.html
www.angelcapitalassociation.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rencarlton 
https://rencarlton.blogspot.com
https://twitter.com/RenCarlton
https://www.facebook.com/TheOmegaAccelerator/
https://www.instagram.com/omega.funding/
https://rencarlton.blogspot.com/2019/09/funding-session-with-ren-carlton.html


Disclaimer:  This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service.  We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice.  Please consult the appropriate professional before doing anything you learn from the content posted on any of our digital properties.  All stories are based on true events, but are altered to protect the identity of the individuals involved.