Angel Financing: How to Find and Invest in Private Equity

I think anyone interested in investing in private companies or anyone who wants to understand the process of angel investing should read "Angel Financing"Many wealthy investors are turning to financing small businesses due to the huge potential return. Benjamin and Margulis tell us that the angel investor who put $100,000 into Ciena Corporation saw the value of his investment grow into $285 million in three years, when the company went public. Further, knowledgeable business people can enhance the value of their angel investments through their experience, knowledge, and contacts. Unless you're extremely wealthy, this ability to add value to your investments isn't available when you invest in large publicly-traded companies.Angel investing isn't for everyone. Benjamin and Margulis say angel investors expect about one-third of their investments to fail completely. Further, many bad deals out there must be avoided. So, anyone considering angel investing should have business experience. And, there must be good chemistry between the investor and the entrepreneur.To help new investors ask the right questions and avoid bad investments, Benjamin and Margulis provide a detailed due diligence questionnaire which will help investors understand what questions they should ask before making an angel investment."Angel Financing" is also a good book for entrepreneurs seeking angel financing. It helps entrepreneurs answer the questions: "Is my company financeable? Am I financeable?" And, "Angel Financing" helps entrepreneurs understand the private equity market.We learn that the average angel investor is 48-59 years old, has a postgraduate degree, has management experience, and, typically, invests between $25,000 and $250,000 per deal. Many angel investors are self-made millionaires with a net worth between $1 million and $10 million dollars. Eighty percent of angels have previously started a company and have small business experience.Benjamin and Margulis tell us that seeking private investments from people with a net worth below $1 million, or an annual income below $200,000, isn't usually desirable. These people do not possess the discretionary income to make angel investments and are usually not classified as accredited investors. This could create legal problems for the entrepreneur if the investment fails.Benjamin and Margulis point out that many of the wealthiest families and individuals have their wealth managed by conservative trusts or professional advisors. So, seeking an angel investment from an ultra-rich person may not prove successful, because the trust administrator often kills the deal because of the high risk involved.Because angel investors don't need to invest, Benjamin and Margulis tell entrepreneurs to be flexible in structuring the deal to meet the investor's needs. Many entrepreneurs do not listen adequately to what potential investors are telling them."Angel Financing" contains a good appendix about private placements, discussing such thi

There are many books in the marketplace that target different types of entrepreneurs with different types of approaches. Respectively, none of them work unless you are starting a mom-and-pop business. Believe me, I've gone through most of them! I have found that they are either based on a mom-and-pop "boilerplate business plan" start-up model or based from outer space, with grand delusions of fantasy by thinking that the start-up will rivet the attention of a venture capital firm or an investment banker. Forget it, those days are gone.If you are serious about finding and raising private equity for your start-up company, this book will give you plenty of facts, stories and anecdotes. Angel Financing will also give you the methods and processes to get it done properly.Promote your idea into a practical one. This book is pure common sense. Write a business plan to attract financing. The blueprint for operating your company is the next step. Look around and discover that Gerald Benjamin is a pioneer in this field and his views about how to raise private equity is gaining a foothold and turning heads. Recently, I attended one of his seminars and the people sitting next to me were simply top-caliber entrepreneurs.There are very few companies that will ever make it to the public equity markets. For example, many large companies such as SAIC (headquartered in San Diego) are employee-owned. Just look at the facts presented in his book and reconsider your options, especially if you would like to retain control of your start-up.I have one suggestion. Carefully review the how-to-do a business plan material out there. Make sure it is suitable for what you are doing, or you are going to go through many sleepless nights like I did. Read this book, prepare a Business Plan for investors, put together a PowerPoint presentation and "walk the talk."Good luck!

There are many books in the marketplace that target different types of entrepreneurs with different types of approaches. Respectively, none of them work unless you are starting a mom-and-pop business. Believe me, I've gone through most of them! I have found that they are either based on a fandango "boilerplate business plan" model or written by beings from outer space, with grand delusions that your idea will rivet the attention of a venture capital firm or an investment banker. Forget it, those days are gone.If you are serious about finding and raising private equity for your start-up company, this book will give you plenty of facts, stories and anecdotes. Angel Financing will also give you the methods and processes to get it done properly.Promote your idea into a practical one. This book is pure common sense. Write a business plan to attract financing. The blueprint for operating your company is the next step. Look around and discover that Gerald Benjamin is a pioneer in this field and his views about how to raise private equity is gaining a foothold and turning heads. Recently, I attended one of his seminars and the people sitting next to me were simply top-caliber entrepreneurs.There are very few companies that will ever make it to the public equity markets. For example, many large companies such as SAIC (headquartered in San Diego) are employee-owned. Just look at the facts presented in his book and reconsider your options, especially if you would like to retain control of your start-up.There is one suggestion. Carefully review all the how-to-do a business plan material out there. Make sure it is suitable for your exact needsGood luck!

This book is an extremely useful resource and is one of the only books we could find on the subject. Luckily this book helped us answer a lot of questions and has prepared us to work with our attorney and investors. This book really is an essential guide for anyone looking to raise private placement money or for someone who wants to simply understand the process.

I picked up this book in a bookstore expecting the typical rhetoric and was enlightened. It explained not only the typical demographic of an angel investor but also descriped the thought processes of several different types of angels. A must read for startup executives if you've never done a startup before. Should be a required MBA course.