Why I started Angel Investing?
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What is Angel Investing?
Angel Investing is the act of putting money into earliest investment rounds of a private business with the goal of getting back more money than you put in — much more than you can return in a safer, more established investment vehicle. The businesses angel invest in are typically less than three years old, have little or no “traction”, and are trying to find something we call product/market fit. If these businesses didn’t look completely crazy, then everyone would want to invest in them and there would be no need for angels. In fact, the term “angel” is used because angel investors are the ones who come to a founder’s rescue in their hour of need — when nobody else believes in them.
Disclaimer: Angel Investing is a very risky investment category and is only available to accredited investors. One should not invest in Angel Investment unless they are willing to lose all the money they invest.
Characteristics of an Angel
The best angels in the world have the following four qualities:
- They can write a check (money)
- Brainstorm with founders over important issues (time)
- Provide meaningful connections (network)
- Give actionable advise that saves founders time and money (expertise)
Why did I start Angel Investing?
Ever since I graduated from college, I knew I wanted to start a company of my own, but never got around to acting on it. Earlier in my career I wanted work experience, but once I moved to USA it was my work permit restrictions. I always had excuses for not acting on it.
The idea of building a startup was always very enticing to me, because i wanted to solve complex problems and create immense amount of value for millions of people around the world and generate high multiples returns for all the stakeholders (Investors, Employees, Advisors and Founders).
I tried being entrepreneurial at every stage in my career. From doing customer sales training and shipping toolsets to help customers to being an intrapreneur and build a team from scratch for the numerous internal customers (Studios) at EA. But it was never the…
