Internship Angel First Experience (1)

Some time ago to participate in the financing process of several friends, and angel investors have contact, feel very interesting. Recently, we have the opportunity to represent several traditional industry friends who want to net contact with entrepreneurial projects, from the position of investors to participate in the project, have a few experience, write down.

one. The private idle capital is the angel investment main body

I think that professional investment institutions are not the mainstream of angels, a lot of idle private capital is, but they do not have the right way to associate with the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs need to get financing, not necessarily to squeeze professional investment institutions of these highly competitive bridge, diversified access to private idle funds may be better. Finding investment through the trust path of acquaintances is more reliable than sending information to an organization you don't know.

Investment institutions choose more, the performance is expected to be larger, the corner of the eye is also higher. They are not interested, perhaps private individual investors, especially the relevant industry investors will be interested.

two. Angel investors are also entrepreneurs

It may be more appropriate to interpret Angel investment as an investor, perhaps not too well, and see them as "entrepreneurs who realize their entrepreneurial ideals through others". This is not just for individual investors, at least for the investment institutions I have contacted. From the perspective of communication, so positioning angel investors, may help both sides of the exchange of understanding. It is better not to think of angel investors as money, but to communicate with money more than with entrepreneurs.

Early in the angel stage of financing, project life and death two boundless, the value is really hard to say. VC is a relatively clear business rapid amplification, the risk is small; and the angel to explore with you unknown, to bear a relatively high project risk of being drowned. The entrepreneurial confidence in the success of the project is just as unreliable as the confidence of small investors in stocks, and the actual operation is likely to be different from the proposal. Angels have a great risk.

Some friends insist on their early projects to assess how many million value, in order to calculate the investors should be accounted for the shares, in the early exploration stage, I feel a little bit of nonsense. I remember an avatar story said, a restaurant owner bully, an egg charge a lot of money, the reason is that this egg if hatched into chickens, chicken egg regeneration ... Avatar's confrontation is, if Chan Seng interest, renewable interest ... In the early stage of the project, the value equals infinity, also equal to 0.

From the point of view of the ratio of value to consider the proportion of Angel shares, I think it is a misunderstanding. Instead of selling a part of the project, you introduce a "money-rich" start-up partner, and you should identify with his entrepreneurial value and historical position and give him an appropriate proportion of the entrepreneurial stakes. Selling shares or attracting partners, which is two completely different angles, leads to a completely different mentality and behavior. To invest in angels, I thought it would be appropriate to have an important initial venture partner, such as 15-25% up and down.

Angel investment is to go through the entrepreneurial initiative to start a business, must be to make entrepreneurs accounted for the bulk of the interests and have complete management rights. Some investors from the traditional industries, like to hold a holding or something, I think this investment concept is not very good, such investment does not need to be better.

The size of the investment is appropriate to the current needs, do not change the outcome, the important thing is to get the money immediately, this is similar to the treatment, the same is 1 yuan, early one months and one months are two different things; Another important thing is whether the angel's experience or resources can help you, Angel A and Angel B are not the same. From the value of time, entrepreneurial partner value, to consider.

three. The value that angels can offer

Once an angel has invested in you, it is a blood link that will help you as much as possible. It's a lot different from consultants and friends. can provide the value of help, I think it is the choice of angel investors an important indicator, its importance is not lower than the money. The most important of these values are:

1. The carding of business value. Investors with a wealth of traditional industry experience may intuitively focus on how your business value is built and presented, and how it is sold. Take the tourist community as an example, stationmaster usually only will pay attention to popularity, interact with these things, and investors will be more concerned about whether information and interaction are organized to sell the value of cooperation to potential vendors, for example, to the people who want to go to a certain place, to be divided into the most recent and desired, to focus on the former organization. Young entrepreneurs with less business experience are weak in the sense and intuition of business value organizations, and the most wasteful of startups is time, and the strategic grooming that investors help is likely to help ferment the greatest commercial value in the same time.

2. Financing value. Angel Investment is just an early fuel that helps you build or present the value of your project, and if the project does have a chance to be bigger, you probably need the next round of financing. Angels may be able to provide some context--interpersonal recommendations are important in financing, and may also provide some credentials for endorsement of trust.

3. Network value, especially personnel value. Entrepreneurs may not be complete, or although spite, but the personnel base is not strong enough to support big. Digging people on their own is not so easy, especially if you have the strength of the characters to a small team, a certain network of angel investors may be able to play some bypass function.

4. Resource value. It may be significant that some investors or their already invested projects have potential resources for you to use. For example, an angel investor I know has a lot of ground store resources, and for some projects, it's worth far more than investment.

If you choose angel investors with only the money in mind and you're going to do it on your own, you may not be a mature entrepreneur. Angel financing is a bit like a political marriage or a business marriage, and it should play that role.

Four. Reduce the sense of risk

The first element in reducing the sense of risk is the team.

Many of the proposals do not point to the team as a key element. Angel investors want to give you money to spend, the project direction is not enough, the team is more important, so the team information is investors particularly want to know immediately, the team includes who, before what. For interested projects, the first thing I will ask is the team situation, whether they can do things, do it and whether they are loyal to the cause.

In interactive communication, the establishment of investor confidence in the team is particularly important, project prospects are temptation, team confidence is insurance, angel investment first to reduce risk, insurance than temptation is important. Your ability to perform, your obsession with the project, your savvy, your leadership of the team, your loyalty, are all important information, even if it's not a major experience, and can be consciously communicated and strengthened with small fragments. Not necessarily in the proposal, but also in the future interaction. If you have failed in the past, and have harvested from it, it is also possible to introduce, the failure of the harvest is wealth.

Some teams, major entrepreneurs are still in the state of part-time watching, not determined to risk the venture. This state I think is not suitable for investment, because he is not necessarily strong enough, it is likely to encounter a little difficulty, will be dispersed. Will there be no difficulty in starting a business? The difficulty of encountering the past is the norm. The team has the ability, can insist, as long as the fund keeps the chain, adjusts the direction unceasingly, persists always to have the opportunity. Entrepreneurs put themselves in a state of high input and high risk, which makes them more confident. For example, a friend who has given up the option of a company that is about to start a business, has wasted a large amount of withholding tax to start a business, and a friend who has staked his personal reputation entirely on an entrepreneurial project, is an example of how investors can raise their trust.