DISQUS

Sounds like an exciting time for angel investing. To me it will always be going through this stage. I know many angels. Most are very accomplished, successful and wealthy entrepreneurs.

Despite this universally high level of business experience they are almost all new to investing and to tech investing in particular, so I am sure conferences will always cover the fundamentals.

Still, to the reader comments above, I certainly hope the angel industry does not follow the same path. As you pool larger funds you introduce agency risk and misalign your goals because it can be more interesting to get a management fee on the fund size than to earn your carry.

This is totally cool! Just gave it a try and posted about it

Great to see these people stepping up to the plate again. This + Radialpoint recently announcing its second acquisition + the provincial governments' recent commitments to financing innovation or all positive signs as we try and build depth and bench strength in the Canadian tech landscape. All good...

Colin, thanks for sharing my post. I am amazed that you make money with this average revenue per user. And you're absolutely correct about the cost of payment processing. Sounds like your approach is a good one.

I run a network for tech CFOs and entrepreneurs on Ning - http://startupcfos.ning.com/

It's a great platform.

Hey Ben,

It is important to have different plans based on different cash levels, but you should not share those with VCs. If you're talking to VCs, especially in the US, what they want to hear is that you want to build a big company. Go big or go home. Increase the risk. Deploy a lot of capital to grow quickly. This, for better or worse, is their model. It is a big factor in the failure rates Basil references.

If you tell them you have more modest plans based on lower spend they won't fund you.

There are some exceptions such as Union Square Ventures.

I too have called for some changes to the VC model:

http://startupcfo.ca/2008/11/questioning-vc-mod...

http://startupcfo.ca/2008/09/new-kind-of-vc-bri...

Mark

Cool. Thanks Chris. Profile created.

Hey Ben,

Thanks for the link in this post. You ask a good, timely question. While I recognize that excepions exist, I am as against strategic investment as ever. Strategic big public companies are reeling from the drop in their stock price these days. They don't have the confidence or patience these days to carry uncertain investments on their books.

In contrast, VCs are private and can take a multi year view.

Mark

This is something I definitely need to do more off. When I am fully present it is great - for me and the kids. It can be hard to unplug, but there's just no excuse. Nothing is so important that I can't take time for those few hours (even less) between when I get home and when the kids go to bed.

Great post. I completely agree that we have an issue when it comes to VC funding. Funds are waiting until an idea is fully baked (and market-validated) before investing. Also funds are getting bigger and want to write bigger checks at the same time as startups are getting more capital efficient and actually need less$.

I posted on this topic last week:
http://startupcfo.ca/2008/07/early-stage-fundin...

Silicon alley insider also covered it:
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/7/vcs-have-it-...

Mark