Core necessities

Raising Angel money starts with a clear vision.  The market opportunity typically is greater than $200 million. The team should be full time dedicated to the business, and have the necessary skills to execute. The value proposition must be unique, defensible and easy to understand.  It must drive clear valuable outcomes for end users. There needs to be a  believable capital staging plan. There must be logical exit scenarios that can be achieved in 7-10 years.  

 Angels tend to invest from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million.  The best Angels have a track record of adding human capital to their investments, and also participating in future rounds of company financing.  

Founders often struggle with capital staging.  They believe their goal is to get outside money at the highest valuation possible.   My experiences suggest over valuing early rounds make future financing needs extremely difficult, and can often lead to more dilution for Founders.  In addition, early growth milestones tend to be slower than planned, even for the best ideas. 

Did you know the average start up Unicorn (>$1Billion valuation) took 4.5 years to achieve $10 million in revenue?

 Larger Angel rounds tend to focus on companies that have proven their thesis, often through a Friends and Family round.  Professional Angel investors then  enter to help fund the next few years, with a focus on achieving very clear milestones, and for most businesses, positive cash flow.  (Companies seeking regulatory approvals to sell their product/service likely have different milestones.) This is a bit different than Venture Capital rounds where 5-7 years of losses with "growth at any cost" can be the strategy.

Each company and situation is unique, but Founders should typically expect to sell 10-15% of the company in Friends and Family rounds and 20-30% in their initial Angel Seed round. 

At this phase of my career, my goal is to help start ups be successful. I have unusually broad corporate experiences that can often help. Below are a few endorsements from  folks I have worked with:

"Ian possesses deep knowledge of both transactions and SaaS. He was a critical member of our Board of Directors and a huge asset in Listenwise achieving a quality exit."  

Monica Brady, Founder & CEO - Listenwise

"Ian is the most intelligent, well thought through and innovative business professional I have ever come across in my career.." 

 Robert Smith, Chief Revenue Officer - Livingston International

"Ian is an Executive leader who understands the entire Go To Market from strategy-planning-process to closing business."  

Kevin Gilligan, CEO  - Structural Graphics