- I’ve mentioned on my LinkedIn page that I do some small scale angel level investing. I’m just a little guy. Heck are group is just a bunch of little guys. That’s ok because angel investing is for the first amount of angel,investment. Angel investing is for providing enough money for an entrepreneur to spend some money on development after they’ve already had lots of conversations with customers. Angel investments aren’t for major investments. Angel investments aren’t meant for millions of dollars. Why anyone would want to take the time to pitch me, I don’t understand.
I get tons of messages every week over LinkedIn. Trust me, I know what a pitch looks like even if you don’t call it a pitch. What I don’t like, and others don’t like, are the LinkedIn message bombardment, and even going beyond that. I’ve had multiple phone calls to me offices and to my cell phone. I’ve gotten plenty of emails to all of my email addresses. My father used to get emails with pitches meant for me. I’m not alone in this. I’ve watched a phone call on a cell number ant lunch wanting $10m in the first contact. Don’t hassle people on the weekends, don’t call their personal cell phone numbers. Entrepreneurs think that this shows enthusiasm and initiative. No, it doesn’t show anything good. To me, it shows desperation and the fact that you are uncoachable. There are ways to act to get to a pitch, so don’t blow it before you have started.
I invest via an angel group called Community Equity Partners. My max for any investment will be $5,000, so I’m insignificant. What I do expect is you to go to their web site. I expect you to fill out forms. I expect you to call them. They will perform the necessary due diligence on your startup. That is why I pay them to be a member, to check you out. They are designed for this process. There are a few people there that will check you out, check out your social media, make some calls, check your credit report, check to see if you’ve been arrested (I’ve seen people that have been arrested do shady things with other people’s money), have you skipped town with the startup’s money (I’ve seen that), etc.
Here are my suggestions.
- Don’t go on LinkedIn and blindly message people that have the terms angel, investing, venture capital, or similar words in their bio asking for money. That is not the right way to start a relationship.
- Don’t go call a phone number because someone gave it to you, or you found it via some data broker. For some reason, this is popular amongst the Reddit crowd of entrepreneurs, or maybe it’s just the data brokers that sit in those groups.
- Do go to Google and search on “angel investors near me.” Search on various versions of this term. If you live in an area that is rural, expand your horizons because investors expect you to come to them, not the other way around. Heck, I don’t expect you to come to our angel group, you can pitch remotely.
- If you are looking international for investment, good luck, but our group won’t invest. You need to go find an investment group that will invest internationally. There are plenty of good investments that are in the same country where I don’t have to worry with laws, regulations, a different legal system, etc.
- Do pick up the phone and call the offices of investment groups doing normal business hours. Do email them. Do whatever is necessary to get ahold of them. Ask questions like, how do your process work, how much money does your group typically invest, can I get started with your group. These offices want to hear from entrepreneurs that want a two way street. Your attitude will go a long way to help you in this.
- Be coachable. Don’t just nod your head when you are told something. I’ve been on the entrepreneurship side, so I know what needs to be done. If I give you a contact, in a couple of weeks, I’m going to follow up with my contact to see if you contacted them. I’m not a marketing expert, but I know the importance of talking to users, customers, and clients. That takes money, time, effort, and energy that I expect you to do, and by you, I mean you as a founder. Marketing is the biggest problem area I see for startups, and I’m talking about one on one founder directed marketing. Be coachable about marketing. One of the best lines I ever heard from a VC is “we’re looking for founders that can sell!”
So, do the above, and you’ll be in a good spot where our angel group will talk to you
PS. Why do I say “Don’t pitch me bro!” There is a time and a place for all things business related. I went to an investor/pitch conference once. I listened to the conference organizer talk about how to act. He had a great line where he talked about the right and wrong times to talk to investors. “When I’m standing at the urinal, don’t pitch me bro.” There is a right and wrong time to contact someone and make a pitch, and when I’m standing at the urinal, that’s not the right time. It’s a long story, but I made a similar mistake once (not pitching), so I remembered his line.
