Most of us have heard of an “angel investor” but don’t truly understand what they are, how they can kick start your start-up idea and where to find one.
Founding a start-up is hard, but with the support, advice, experience, and funding by an angel investor, you can step into your new venture knowing that you’ll have the support there ready to catch you when you fall – and trust me when I say, there will always be hurdles and setbacks.
So, what exactly is an angel investor? It is someone who invests their own personal money into a company privately or through a private group of people. They usually do this because they are looking for outside returns but also because they believe in what the company is doing and want to see the company succeed. It’s a very high risk, high reward investment strategy!
Now they may not exactly fly down from heaven, but they’re called “angels” because these people come down to provide support when others won’t. Whether that be the bank won’t give you a loan or other forms of financial support aren’t available – Angel’s step in to help!
Angel investors are usually very talented, extremely experienced in a particular domain, well connected to other people in different industries and can come in different forms. They can be as close as a friend or family (these may not have the skills, experience, and networks as others) but they are looking to support you from the very early days of your start-up idea.
The next stage of angel investors are those that invest during the pre-revenue phase. This is usually around when the product, brand or service is in the building/ launch stages.
Angels are all-around champions. We champion founders in terms of advice, support, funding and even promotion – you’ll hear me bragging about my portfolios all the time!
So, now that you know what angel investors are and how beneficial they can be for your start-up, you’re probably already Googling, “find me an angel investor”…am I right?
The good news is they are not that hard to find! On LinkedIn, you’ll find hundreds of investors just waiting for an opportunity to pop up in their inbox. Since I have put “Investor” in my LinkedIn headline, I get at least one-to-two pitches a day.
Events are also a great place to find angel investors as they attend specifically to find founders and deal flows. They are there to have open conversations with you about what you’re doing. Events are also super efficient, you may be able to pitch to 10 investors in a day!
One of my favourite events to connect with founders and investors is _SOUTHSTART. This festival brings innovators and investors together and the events are designed and optimised to connect attendees with the key people and ideas most relevant to who they are and what they care about.
In Australia, there are also investor lists online like AirTree Ventures that collect a list of investors so you can be sure to find an Angel that is relevant to you with a click of a button.
Lastly don’t forget your network! Reach out to other founders in your networks as those founders are very likely to be connected with Angels – you’ll be surprised about how many are around you.
